Vaclav Havel Quotes about Lying

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Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics. It pretends not to possess an omnipotent

Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics. It pretends not to possess an omnipotent and unprincipled police apparatus. It pretends to respect human rights. It pretends to prosecute no one. It pretends to fear nothing. It pretends to pretend nothing.

Vaclav Havel

War, Lying, Past

Truth and love will overcome lies and hatred.

Vaclav Havel

Lying, Hatred, And Love

"Reverently and Defiantly, Czechs Honor Velvet Revolution's Anniversary" by Rick Lyman, www.nytimes.com. November 17, 2014.

A state that denies its citizens their basic rights becomes a danger to its neighbors as well: internal arbitrary rule will be reflected in arbitrary external relations. The suppression of public opinion, the abolition of public competition for power and its public exercise opens the way for the state power to arm itself in any way it sees fit.... A state that does not hesitate to lie to its own people will not hesitate to lie to other states.

Vaclav Havel

Lying, Exercise, Rights

"Living in Truth". Book by Vaclav Havel, 1986.

The hope of the world lies in the rehabilitation of the living human being, not just the body but also the soul.

Vaclav Havel

Hope, Lying, Soul

The salvation of the world lies in the human heart.

Vaclav Havel

Lying, Heart, World

Human beings are compelled to live within a lie, but they can be compelled to do so only because they are in fact capable of living in this way. Therefore not only does the system alienate humanity, but at the same time alienated humanity supports this system as its own involuntary master plan, as a degenerate image of its own degeneration, as a record of people's own failure as individuals.

Vaclav Havel

Lying, People, Support

Vaclav Havel, John Keane (2016). “The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern Europe: Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern Europe”, p.43, Routledge

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.

Vaclav Havel

Lying, Hero, Heart

International Herald Tribune, February 21, 1990.

The experience I'm talking about has given me one certainty: the salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and in human responsibility. Without a global revolution in human consciousness, nothing will change for the better, and the catastrophe toward which this world is headed will be unavoidable.

Vaclav Havel

Lying, Heart, Responsibility

When a man has his heart in the right place and good taste, he can not only do well in politics but is even predetermined for it. If someone is modest and does not yearn for power, he is certainly not ill-equipped to engage in politics; on the contrary, he belongs there. What is needed in politics is not the ability to lie but rather the sensibility to know when, where, how and to whom to say things.

Vaclav Havel

Lying, Heart, Men

International Herald Tribune, October 29, 1991.

It lies in human nature that where you experience your first laughs, you also remember the age kindly.

Vaclav Havel

Lying, Laughing, Age

My dear fellow citizens: For forty years you have heard from my predecessors on this day different variations of the same theme: how our country flourished, how many millions of tons of steel we produced, how happy we all were, how we trusted our government, and what bright perspectives were unfolding in front of us. I assume you did not propose me for this office so that I, too, would lie to you.

Vaclav Havel

Country, War, Lying