Quotes by Václav Havel
“Human rights are universal and indivisible. Human freedom is also indivisible: if it is denied to anyone in the world, it is therefore denied, indirectly, to all people.”— Václav Havel
“Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”— Václav Havel
“The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility.”— Václav Havel
“Without free, self-respecting, and autonomous citizens there can be no free and independent nations.”— Václav Havel
“The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less.”— Václav Havel
“Even a purely moral act that has no hope of any immediate and visible political effect can gradually and indirectly, over time, gain in political significance.”— 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.”— Václav Havel
“Anyone who takes himself too seriously risks looking ridiculous; anyone who can laugh at himself avoids that risk.”— Václav Havel
“The exercise of power is determined by thousands of interactions between the world of the powerful and that of the powerless.”— Václav Havel
“You do not become a dissident just because you decide one day to take up this most unusual career. You are thrown into it by your personal sense of responsibility.”— Václav Havel
“The desire for a democratic way of life and the need to live in truth are elementary needs of the human spirit.”— Václav Havel
“The real test of a man is not when he plays the role that he wants for himself, but when he plays the role destiny has for him.”— Václav Havel