Skip to content

Spirit, like flame, like freedom, like creativeness, is opposed to any social stagnation or any lifeless tradition.

— Nikolai Berdyaev Spirit and Reality (1946)

Another quote →

Topics

Freedom

More quotes by Nikolai Berdyaev

The new religious consciousness rises up against the nihilistic attitude towards the world and mankind.

For the new religious consciousness the declaration of the will of God is together with this a declaration of the rights of man, a revealing of the Divine within mankind.

We live in a nightmare of falsehoods, and there are few who are sufficiently awake and aware to see things as they are. Our first duty is to clear away illusions and recover a sense of reality.

Political Testament (1949)

There is absolute truth in anarchism and it is to be seen in its attitude to the sovereignty of the state and to every form of state absolutism.

Slavery and Freedom (1939)

No one today likes truth: utility and self interest have long ago been substituted for truth.

Political Testament (1949)

All Nikolai Berdyaev quotes →

You may also like

You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon lies or ignorance can't lead to a good conclusion.

Julian Assange

What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence?

Abraham Lincoln

Science and religion are two human enterprises sharing many features.

Freeman Dyson Infinite in All Directions (1988)

There is no governor anywhere; you are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped.

Robert Anton Wilson

Attribution

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