Lech Wałęsa quotes

It is hardly possible to build anything if frustration, bitterness and a mood of helplessness prevail. (Lech Wałęsa)
Freedom must be gained step by step, slowly. Freedom is a food which must be carefully administered when people are too hungry for it. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
If once again Germany destabilizes Europe, then Germany will be not be divided again, but wiped off the map. East and West have the necessary technology in order to enforce this verdict. If Germany begins again, there is no other solution. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
Everyone wants a voice in human freedom. There's a fire burning inside all of us. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
I'm lazy. But it's the lazy people who invented the wheel and the bicycle because they didn't like walking or carrying things. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
I belong to the generation of workers who, born in the villages and hamlets of rural Poland, had the opportunity to acquire education and find employment in industry, becoming in the course conscious of their rights and importance in society. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
The sole and basic source of our strength is the solidarity of workers, peasants and the intelligentsia, the solidarity of the nation, the solidarity of people who seek to live in dignity, truth, and in harmony with their conscience. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
I most sincerely wish that the world in which we live be free from the threat of a nuclear holocaust and from the ruinous arms race. It is my cherished desire that peace be not separated from freedom which is the right of every nation. This I desire and for this I pray. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
One could say I was goofy somewhere, and maybe even outed someone, but not that I was an agent. Not that I wanted to betray anybody. (...) I swear, and damn me if I lie. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
I am for, and even against. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
You can't change the facts with your lies, allegations and counterfeits. (Lech Wałęsa)
I turned around by 360 degrees. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
Positive pluses and negative pluses. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
I am convinced that Germany has drawn conclusions [from World War II] and Europe has drawn conclusions as well. And I can say an unpopular thing. If once again Germany should risk destabilizing Europe, then there would be no division of Germany - it would simply be blown off the map of Europe. With the kind of technology that exists, with the kind of experiences we have had, there can be no other way - and the Germans know it. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
He who puts out his hand to stop the wheel of history will have his fingers crushed. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
The fall of the Berlin Wall makes for nice pictures. But it all started in the shipyards. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
The defense of our rights and our dignity, as well as efforts never to let ourselves to be overcome by the feeling of hatred - this is the road we have chosen. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
The hope of the nation which throughout the nineteenth century had not for a moment reconciled itself with the loss of independence, and fighting for its own freedom, fought at the same time for the freedom of other nations. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
The program of our movement stems from the fundamental moral laws and order. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
I realize that the strivings of the Polish people gave rise, and still do so, to the feelings of understanding and solidarity all over the world. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
I got politics and economics moving and then others took over. (Lech Wałęsa)
Our firm conviction that ours is a just cause and that we must find a peaceful way to attain our goals gave us the strength and the awareness of the limits beyond which we must not go. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
Let the veil of silence fall presently over what happened afterwards. Silence, too, can speak out. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
My country is in the grips of a major economic crisis. This is causing dramatic consequences for the very existence of Polish families. A permanent economic crisis in Poland may also have serious repercussions for Europe. Thus, Poland ought to be helped and deserves help. View quote
Lech Wałęsa
My most ardent desire is that my country will recapture its historic opportunity for a peaceful evolution and that Poland will prove to the world that even the most complex situations can be solved by a dialogue and not by force. View quote
Lech Wałęsa