Václav Havel's best-known quotes (and where he said them)
The top 3 according to 5 votes from people: Truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred! · People, your government has returned to you! · I earnestly ask you not to support those who promise to solve everything for you.. (Updated Nov 30, 2021.)
"Truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred", the 1990 New Year's address and "Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well": the most quoted words of Václav Havel, with the speech, book or interview they come from.
Automatically translated (original in Čeština). See the original
Top 16
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1
Truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred!
Motto of the Velvet Revolution, November 1989.
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2
People, your government has returned to you!
New Year's address, 1 January 1990, quoting John Amos Comenius.
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3
I earnestly ask you not to support those who promise to solve everything for you.
Pre-election speech, 2 June 1992.
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4
We live in a contaminated moral environment. We fell morally ill because we became used to saying something different from what we thought.
New Year's address as President of Czechoslovakia, 1 January 1990.
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5
You may ask what kind of republic I dream of. I will reply: a republic that is independent, free and democratic…
New Year's address as President of Czechoslovakia, 1 January 1990.
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6
No one who paid in one way or another for our freedom today should be forgotten.
New Year's address as President of Czechoslovakia, 1 January 1990.
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7
Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.
Book of interviews with Karel Hvížďala, "Disturbing the Peace", 1986.
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8
A person should behave the way they think everyone should behave.
Essay collection "Do různých stran" (1983–1989).
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9
Peace is not threatened by weapons as such, but by the people who build them, install them and are willing to use them.
Essay collection "Do různých stran" (1983–1989).
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10
The surest road to your own misfortune is to close your eyes to the misfortune of others.
Essay collection "Do různých stran" (1983–1989).
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11
Private life without a historical horizon is pure fiction, a sham and, in the end, a lie.
Essay collection "Do různých stran" (1983–1989).
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12
Politics should not play the role of a variety show.
Interview with Reader's Digest (Czech edition), September 2008.
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13
When I hear the name "Czechia", I feel slugs crawling over me.
Greeting to the Magnesia Litera book awards.
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14
And when things are at their stupidest, they will suddenly start turning for the better.
Remark quoted by iDnes.cz, 10 May 2011.
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15
Man is simply not God, and playing God takes a cruel revenge on him.
Essay collection "Do různých stran" (1983–1989).
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16
The natural disadvantage of democracy is that it ties the hands of those who take it seriously, while allowing almost everything to those who do not.
Quoted in the press.
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