György Konrád

“Censorship is the mother of metaphor.”

“The state is a machine, and it has to be told where it can go and where it can't go.”

“To be a dissident is not a career.”

“Having a sense of humor is a sign of intelligence.”

“An intellectual is someone who is interested in everything.”

“The opposite of the totalitarian state is the pluralistic state.”

“To be a European is a task.”

“For the intellectual, the world is a gigantic classroom.”

“The Central-European writer is pledged to a dirty job, that of washing his nation's laundry.”

“A novel is a democratic genre. It's a place where you can hear different voices.”

“I believe that the writer should be a civilian, not a soldier.”

“In a world of fugitives, the person taking the shortest route to a hideout is the smartest.”

“Democracy needs a certain level of public morality.”

“The past is a work of art, free of arbitrary future changes.”

“I am a citizen of my language.”

“Autonomy is the main thing. You can't be a writer without it.”

“Skepticism is the first duty of an intellectual.”