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Consciousness precedes being, and not the other way around, as the Marxists claim. For this reason 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

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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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Attribution

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.