It is time in the West to defend not so much human rights as human obligations.
ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN
In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State.
More Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Quotes
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It is time in the West to defend not so much human rights as human obligations.
ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN -
Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic diseases of the 20th century, and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press.
ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN -
Our government declared that it is conducting some kind of great reforms. In reality, no real reforms were begun and no one at any point has declared a coherent programme.
ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN -
Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press but the sealing up of a nation’s heart, the excision of its memory.
ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN -
Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.
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Of course God is endlessly multi-dimensional so every religion that exists on earth represents some face, some side of God.
ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN -
Blow the dust off the clock. Your watches are behind the times. Throw open the heavy curtains which are so dear to you – you do not even suspect that the day has already dawned outside.
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Anyone who has proclaimed violence his method inexorably must choose lying as his principle.
ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN -
It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes… we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions – especially selfish ones.
ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN -
A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him.
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For us in Russia, communism is a dead dog, while, for many people in the West, it is still a living lion.
ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN -
You only have power over people so long as you don’t take everything away from them. But when you’ve robbed a man of everything, he’s no longer in your power – he’s free again.
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Today when we say the West we are already referring to the West and to Russia. We could use the word ‘modernity’ if we exclude Africa, and the Islamic world, and partially China.
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Human beings yield in many situations, even important and spiritual and central ones, as long as it prolongs one’s well-being.
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We have arrived at an intellectual chaos.
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For a country to have a great writer is like having a second government. That is why no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.
ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN