Natan Sharansky

“Fear is the main instrument of a totalitarian state.”

“Democracy's a very fragile thing. You have to take care of democracy.”

“Freedom is not a gift from God. It is a gift that you have to give to yourself.”

“If you are not free to say no, you are not free.”

“The moment a person fears is the moment he loses his freedom.”

“It's the first principle of a free society, the right to say what you think without fear.”

“A society that does not recognize that each individual has values of his own, inalienable rights, becomes a society where everything is subordinated to the ruler's will.”

“Dissidents are not revolutionaries. They are people who say that the emperor is naked.”

“The connection with your people, with your past, with your history, gives you the power to stand on your own two feet and not be carried away by the winds of fashion.”

“The idea of human rights is a universal idea. It is not a Western idea.”

“What is a fear society? It is a society where the official line is one thing and what people really believe is something else.”

“The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting.”