Václav Havel quotes - page 6

Man as an observer is becoming completely alienated from himself as a being. (Václav Havel)
They are periods when there is a tendency to quote, to imitate, and to amplify, rather than to state with authority or integrate. New meaning is gradually born from the encounter, or the intersection, of many different elements. View quote
Václav Havel
Czechs and Slovaks may be closer today than ever before. There is no animosity, and they are united in their goals: to fully participate in the European and global integration processes and, in their own interest, to gradually forsake some of their countries' sovereignty in favor of increasing influence in the life of communities vastly larger and more powerful than countries are. We live in an interconnected world, and we - Czechs and Slovaks - walk hand in hand in it. And that, of course, is what is most important. View quote
Václav Havel
What I am about to say may sound provocative, but I feel more and more strongly that even these ideas are not enough, that we must go farther and deeper. View quote
Václav Havel
The existence of a higher authority than man himself simply began to get in the way of human aspirations. View quote
Václav Havel
It is not true that people of high principles are ill-suited for politics. View quote
Václav Havel
The law is only one of several imperfect and more or less external ways of defending what is better in life against what is worse. View quote
Václav Havel
The dissident does not operate in the realm of genuine power at all. He is not seeking power. View quote
Václav Havel
Experts can explain anything in the objective world to us, yet we understand our own lives less and less. In short, we live in the postmodern world, where everything is possible and almost nothing is certain. View quote
Václav Havel
Vision is not enough, it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs. View quote
Václav Havel
Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good. (Václav Havel)
What's certain is that a totalitarian enclave like Cuba's can't continue to exist, so change will definitely come there, eventually. View quote
Václav Havel
I think it's important for one to take a certain distance from oneself. View quote
Václav Havel
It lies in human nature that where you experience your first laughs, you also remember the age kindly. View quote
Václav Havel
Life cannot be destroyed for good, neither ... can history be brought entirely to a halt. A secret streamlet trickles on beneath the heavy lid of inertia and pseudo-events, slowly and inconspicuously undercutting it. It may be a long process, but one day it must happen: the lid will no longer hold and will start to crack. This is the moment when something once more begins visibly to happen, something truly new and unique ... something truly historical, in the sense that history again demands to be heard. View quote
Václav Havel
When a man has his heart in the right place and good taste, he can not only do well in politics but is even predetermined for it. If someone is modest and does not yearn for power, he is certainly not ill-equipped to engage in politics; on the contrary, he belongs there. What is needed in politics is not the ability to lie but rather the sensibility to know when, where, how and to whom to say things. View quote
Václav Havel
There is only one Art, whose sole criterion is the power, the authenticity, the revelatory insight, the courage and suggestiveness with which it seeks its truth. ... Thus, from the standpoint of the work and its worth it is irrelevant to which political ideas the artist as a citizen claims allegiance, which ideas he would like to serve with his work or whether he holds any such ideas at all. View quote
Václav Havel
Those who rebelled against totalitarian rule and those who simply managed to remain themselves and think freely, were all persecuted. We should not forget any of those who paid for our present freedom in one way or another. View quote
Václav Havel
Our country, if that is what we want, can now permanently radiate love, understanding, the power of the spirit and of ideas. It is precisely this glow that we can offer as our specific contribution to international politics. View quote
Václav Havel
There appear to be no integrating forces, no unified meaning, no true inner understanding of phenomena in our experience of the world. Experts can explain anything in the objective world to us, yet we understand our own lives less and less. In short, we live in the postmodern world, where everything is possible and almost nothing is certain. View quote
Václav Havel
The idea of human rights and freedoms must be an integral part of any meaningful world order. Yet, I think it must be anchored in a different place, and in a different way, than has been the case so far. If it is to be more than just a slogan mocked by half the world, it cannot be expressed in the language of a departing era, and it must not be mere froth floating on the subsiding waters of faith in a purely scientific relationship to the world. (Václav Havel)
Genuine politics -- even politics worthy of the name -- the only politics I am willing to devote myself to -- is simply a matter of serving those around us serving the community and serving those who will come after us. Its deepest roots are moral because it is a responsibility expressed through action, to and for the whole. View quote
Václav Havel
I have found that good taste, oddly enough, plays an important role in politics. Why is it like that The most probable reason is that good taste is a visible manifestation of human sensibility toward the world, environment, people. View quote
Václav Havel
But if I were to say who influenced me most, then I'd say Franz Kafka. And his works were always anchored in the Central European region. View quote
Václav Havel
In my opinion, theater shouldn't give advice to citizens. View quote
Václav Havel