Vaclav Havel

Vaclav Havel
Václav Havel; 5 October 1936 – 18 December 2011) was a Czech writer, philosopher, dissident, and statesman. From 1989 to 1992, he served as the last president of Czechoslovakia. He then served as the first president of the Czech Republicafter the Czech–Slovak split. Within Czech literature, he is known for his plays, essays, and memoirs...
NationalityCzechoslovakian
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth5 October 1936
CityPrague, Czech Republic
danger task
Our task is to feel the danger of these regimes.
again attack fact freedom ignored threatens
It is as if many have again ignored the fact that an attack on the freedom of individuals threatens the freedom of all.
freedom solidarity striving uneasy
Just as many showed their solidarity with us when we were striving for freedom, so now we must show solidarity to those who are only striving for it in uneasy conditions,
danced delighted elected immense joy learned moment remember
I still very well remember the moment in 1978 when me and my friends learned that Karol Wojtyla was elected the pope. It was a moment of an immense joy for us. I even think that we were so delighted that we danced for joy.
enter freedom great leaving office realm speak
I feel with leaving office I will enter a new realm of great freedom than I have had ... and I will speak more freely,
imagine last quite
I can imagine this is something that will last quite a while,
afterwards behaves bourgeois burning capable commanding concentration death explain instance life man neutral petty possible rather returning sudden thousands tries
He tries to explain why man behaves most improbably, strangely, at variance with his nature, how it is possible for instance that a calm, rather neutral petty bourgeois is all of a sudden capable of commanding a concentration camp, burning to death or gassing thousands of people, and afterwards returning to his clerk's life as if nothing happened,
democratic divided equally great growth pulled slow tolerate wall
We long ago pulled down the great wall which divided us from democratic Europe, but equally we tolerate the slow and inconspicuous growth of new walls, no better than those which fell,
economical intelligence-and-intellectuals sort
Now we have a sort of economical drying of intellectuals,
atlantic doubt historic leadership mind north personal treaty
Mr. President, for the enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization there's no doubt in my mind that it was personal leadership that made this historic development possible.
becomes clear crisis deep directly freedom grows internal language learn means people powers reject remarkably speak system within
When the internal crisis of the totalitarian system grows so deep that it becomes clear to everyone, and when more and more people learn to speak their own language and reject the hollow, mendacious language of the powers that be, it means that freedom is remarkably close, if not directly within reach,
Theater is there to search for questions. It doesn't give you instructions.
hope regardless turn turns
Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.
absence absurdity deeper experience meaning
The deeper the experience of an absence of meaning -- in other words, of absurdity --the more energetically meaning is sought.