If you’re powerful, you are much more likely to be blind and deaf to signals from outside.
ADAM MICHNIKThis is why we will never again say that Chamberlain is no better than Hitler, Roosevelt no better than Stalin, and Nixon no better than Mao Zedong, even if we do condemn Roosevelt for Yalta, Chamberlain for Munich, and Nixon for Watergate.
More Adam Michnik Quotes
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The real struggle for us is for the citizen to cease to be the property of the state.
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There were free elections in Bulgaria, where the opposition has just won.
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After the fall of communism in Poland, we had a post-communist as president for two terms: Aleksander Kwasniewski. He was very good. He brought Poland into NATO and the European Union.
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This is why we will never again say that Chamberlain is no better than Hitler, Roosevelt no better than Stalin, and Nixon no better than Mao Zedong, even if we do condemn Roosevelt for Yalta, Chamberlain for Munich, and Nixon for Watergate.
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After the French Revolution, it was not the treason of the king that was in question; it was the existence of the king. You have to be very careful when you judge and execute somebody for being a symbol.
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In a democracy, the government is a reflection of society because people are elected.
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Today we reject the notion of equality between a regime that belongs to the democratic world – even if it is conservative and disagreeable – and a totalitarian dictatorship, whether its colors are black, red, or green.
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Both men have an authoritarian idea of government; democracy is merely a façade.
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Do you believe in an open society? Then act in the open. Do you believe in a decent and humane society? Then behave decently and humanely.
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Demagoguery and populism are rampant. We are the illegitimate children, the bastards of communism. It shaped our mentality.
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As a rule, dictatorships guarantee safe streets and terror of the doorbell. In democracy the streets may be unsafe after dark, but the most likely visitor in the early hours will be the milkman.
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Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Arabs can be elected to the parliament in a democratic election.
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I believe that a man can only be useful to his country when he can look at it clearly.
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Poland is an ally of the United States of America. It was our duty to show that we are a reliable, loyal, and predictable ally.
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We still have politicians who strive for a different type of country: Kaczynski as well as Orbán in Hungary.
ADAM MICHNIK