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Self-confidence is not pride. Just the contrary: only a person or a nation that is self-confident, in the best sense of the word, is capable of listening to others, accepting them as equals, forgiving its enemies and regretting its own guilt.

— Václav Havel New Year's Address to the Nation (1990)

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Pride

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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Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.

Charles Caleb Colton Lacon (1820)

'Tis pride, rank pride, and haughtiness of soul:
I think the Romans call it Stoicism.

Joseph Addison Cato, A Tragedy (1713)

No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library.

Samuel Johnson The Rambler (1750)

There are people who are known to be very liberal, yet they never give without scolding or pride or even insolence.

John Calvin

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.