Adam Michnik

The ethics of journalism are one thing. Another thing is the ethics of business.

— Adam Michnik

Politics is the art of realizing what there is to realize.

— Adam Michnik

I believe that a man can only be useful to his country when he can look at it clearly.

— Adam Michnik

Why am I such a Euro-enthusiast? Because I knew it was an anchor of democracy.

— Adam Michnik

Politics and ethics belong to different worlds.

— Adam Michnik

If you're powerful, you are much more likely to be blind and deaf to signals from outside.

— Adam Michnik

For those of us imprisoned in Poland, the Prague Spring was a harbinger of hope.

— Adam Michnik

The real struggle for us is for the citizen to cease to be the property of the state.

— Adam Michnik

Politics is the art of achieving political goals - of achieving what is possible in a given situation - that is, in…

— Adam Michnik

In Czechoslovakia in 1968, communist reformers appealed to democratic ideals that were deeply rooted in the country's pre-second world war past.

— Adam Michnik

I do not accept being a prisoner of fear. Of Communism, of fascism. That, one can bear. But of one's fear. No.…

— Adam Michnik

Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Arabs can be elected to the parliament in a democratic election.

— Adam Michnik

“I think you can be an enemy of Saddam Hussein even if Donald Rumsfeld is also an enemy of Saddam Hussein.”

— Adam Michnik

An ethical action, like an unethical action, is usually analyzed by politicians purely in pragmatic terms.

— Adam Michnik

Poland is an ally of the United States of America. It was our duty to show that we are a reliable, loyal,…

— Adam Michnik

I do know that you have to choose between the logic of reconciliation and the logic of justice. Pure justice leads to…

— Adam Michnik

The Polish freedom movement of 1968 lost its confrontation with police violence; the Prague Spring was crushed by the armies of five…

— Adam Michnik

Start doing the things you think should be done, and start being what you think society should become. Do you believe in…

— Adam Michnik

We still have politicians who strive for a different type of country: Kaczynski as well as Orbán in Hungary. They want a…

— Adam Michnik

After the French Revolution, it was not the treason of the king that was in question; it was the existence of the…

— Adam Michnik

I think it's always dangerous to make political arguments in a religiously ideological way. And it's very dangerous to treat as traitors…

— Adam Michnik

The main difference between the Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution was that the former was mostly the work of Communist party…

— Adam Michnik

A part of society in our countries would still prefer an authoritarian regime today. These are people with the mentality of Homo…

— Adam Michnik

Every revolution, bloody or not, has two phases. The first phase is defined by the struggle for freedom, the second by the…

— Adam Michnik

Today we reject the notion of equality between a regime that belongs to the democratic world - even if it is conservative…

— Adam Michnik

We lack a political culture, a culture of compromise. We in Poland, as well as the Hungarians, have never learned this sort…

— Adam Michnik

After the fall of communism in Poland, we had a post-communist as president for two terms: Aleksander Kwasniewski. He was very good.…

— Adam Michnik

The threat to Russia isn't liberal Europe or America. It is nonliberal Islam and nonliberal China. Russia has to change. It can't…

— Adam Michnik

I can't remember any text of mine where I said that one should fight Hitler without violence; I'm not an idiot.

— Adam Michnik

There were free elections in Bulgaria, where the opposition has just won. In a democracy, the government is a reflection of society…

— Adam Michnik

Pacifism as a mass movement aims to avoid suffering; pacifists often say that no cause is worth suffering or dying for. The…

— Adam Michnik

I consider that 9/11 was the day when war was started against my own work and against myself. Even though we are…

— Adam Michnik

As a rule, dictatorships guarantee safe streets and terror of the doorbell. In democracy the streets may be unsafe after dark, but…

— Adam Michnik

France can never accept that it is no longer a dominating power in the world of culture. This is true both of…

— Adam Michnik