Havel Quotes
Collection of top 72 famous quotes about Havel
Havel Quotes & Sayings
Happy to read and share the best inspirational Havel quotes, sayings and quotations on Wise Famous Quotes.
Our concern is whether we can live with dignity in such a system, whether it serves people rather than people serving it.
— Vaclav Havel
Hope is a feeling that life and work have meaning. You either have it or you don't, regardless of the state of the world that surrounds you.
— Vaclav Havel
People thought they could explain and conquer nature-yet the outcome is that they destroyed it and disinherited themselves from it.
— Vaclav Havel
Ownership is not a vice, not something to be ashamed of, but rather a commitment, and an instrument by which the general good can be served.
— Vaclav Havel
Work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.
— Vaclav Havel
The truth is not simply what you think it is; it is also the circumstances in which it is said, and to whom, why, and how it is said.
— Vaclav Havel
The salvation of the world lies in the human heart.
— Vaclav Havel
What's certain is that a totalitarian enclave like Cuba's can't continue to exist, so change will definitely come there, eventually.
— Vaclav 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.
— Vaclav Havel
I think theatre should always be somewhat suspect.
— Vaclav Havel
Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not.
— Vaclav Havel
He [Vaclav Havel] did love music. And so much about the Czech revolution was about music.
— Judy Woodruff
Vaclav Havel had this great sense of humor. And you kind of felt that he was making a little bit fun of everything at the same time.
— Judy Woodruff
Modern science kills God and takes his place on the vacant throne. Science is the sole legitimate arbiter of all relavent truth.
— Vaclav Havel
I have read somewhere that in a totalitarian system martyrdom does better than thought.
— Vaclav Havel
All human suffering concerns each human being
— Vaclav Havel
A genuinely fundamental and hopeful improvement in "systems" cannot happen without a significant shift in human consciousness.
— Vaclav Havel
The attempt to devote oneself to literature alone is a most deceptive thing, and often, paradoxically, it is literature that suffers for it.
— Vaclav 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.
— Vaclav Havel
The deeper the experience of an absence of meaning - in other words, of absurdity - the more energetically meaning is sought.
— Vaclav Havel
Truth lies not only in what is said, but also in who says it, to whom, why, how and under what circumstances.
— Vaclav 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.
— Vaclav Havel
People, your Government has returned to you!
— Vaclav Havel
We live in the postmodern world, where everything is possible and almost nothing is certain.
— Vaclav Havel
Hope is not a feeling of certainty that everything ends well. Hope is just a feeling that life and work have a meaning.
— Vaclav Havel
Hope is the deep orientation of the human soul that can be held at the darkest times.
— Vaclav Havel
It's not hard to stand behind one's successes. But to accept responsibility for one's failures ... that is devishly hard!
— Vaclav Havel
There can be no doubt that distrust of words is less harmful than unwarranted trust in them.
— Vaclav 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.
— Vaclav Havel
Evil must be confronted in its womb and, if it can't be done otherwise, then it has to be dealt with by the use of force.
— Vaclav Havel
We must not be afraid of dreaming the seemingly impossible if we want the seemingly impossible to become a reality.
— Vaclav Havel
Communism was overthrown by life, by thought, by dignity.
— Vaclav Havel
If a single writer in a country is in chains, then there are some links of that chain that binds us all.
— Vaclav Havel
English is the 'language of liberty' for nations emerging from years of cultural oppression.
— Vaclav Havel
I think he [Vaclav Havel] felt that he could speak more truth, in a way, through writing plays.
— Judy Woodruff
If the world is to change for the better it must start with a change in human consciousness, in the very humanness of modern man.
— Vaclav Havel
I would count myself as a friend of Vaclav Havel.
— Tom Stoppard
Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.
— Vaclav Havel
It lies in human nature that where you experience your first laughs, you also remember the age kindly.
— Vaclav Havel
Those that say that individuals are not capable of changing anything are only looking for excuses.
— Vaclav Havel
We fell morally ill because we became used to saying something different from what we thought.
— Vaclav Havel
Truth and love will overcome lies and hatred.
— Vaclav Havel
Truth is not merely what we are thinking, but also why, to whom and under what circumstances we say it.
— Vaclav Havel
By perceiving ourselves as part of the river, we take responsibility for the river as a whole.
— Vaclav Havel
The tragic element in modern man, not ignore the meaning of his life, but it bothers him less and less.
— Vaclav Havel
Lying can never save us from another lie.
— Vaclav Havel
There is only one thing I will not concede: that it might be meaningless to strive in a good cause.
— Vaclav Havel
I have said it so often: if the West does not stabilize the East, the East will destabilize the West.
— Vaclav Havel
Drama assumes an order. If only so that it might have - by disrupting that order - a way of surprising.
— Vaclav Havel
The system was afraid of Vaclav Havel. And so they either harassed him for put him in jail.
— Judy Woodruff
You can't spend your whole life criticizing something and then, when you have the chance to do it better, refuse to go near it.
— Vaclav Havel
Vaclav Havel is the figure that represents the Velvet Revolution and the reunification of Europe. He will be sorely missed.
— Jerzy Buzek
In my opinion, theater shouldn't give advice to citizens.
— Vaclav Havel