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I really do inhabit a system in which words are capable of shaking the entire structure of government, where words can prove mightier than ten military divisions.

— Václav Havel

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More quotes by Václav Havel

The idea of human rights and freedoms must be an integral part of any meaningful world order.

The Need for Transcendence in the Postmodern World (1994)

The deeper the experience of an absence of meaning — in other words, of absurdity — the more energetically meaning is sought.

Disturbing the Peace (1986)

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.

Disturbing the Peace (1986)

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.

Disturbing the Peace (1986)

Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not.

Disturbing the Peace (1986)

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All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Albert Einstein Moral Decay (1937)

The last half of the 20th century will seem like a wild party for rich kids, compared to what's coming now.

Hunter S. Thompson

Only the dead have seen the end of war.

George Santayana Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies (1922)

Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told until they are believed to be true.

Ulysses S. Grant Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant (1885)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Václav Havel (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.