# Lesya Ukrainka's best-known lines

"Contra spem spero!", "Who told you I am weak…" and "Word, my only weapon": lines and sayings by the Ukrainian poet Lesya Ukrainka (1871–1913) that have become proverbial, with the work they come from where known.

- 3 votes · 14 items
- Jun 1, 2026 · lvivglobetrotter
- https://even.best/en/l/5339/lesya-ukrainka-s-best-known-lines

## Top 14

1. **The earth is not hell, people are not damned, and joy is not a sin but a gift from God.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — From Lesya Ukrainka's works (as collected in Wikiquote).
2. **There is no honour in attacking from behind.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — From Lesya Ukrainka's works (as collected in Wikiquote).
3. **From the hands of death people receive immortality.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — From Lesya Ukrainka's works (as collected in Wikiquote).
4. **Contra spem spero! I hope without hope!** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Poem "Contra spem spero!" (1890).
5. **No, I want to laugh through tears, / to sing songs in the midst of misfortune, / to hope without hope, / I want to live! Away, sad thoughts!** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Poem "Contra spem spero!" (1890).
6. **Who told you that I am weak, that I bow to fate? Does my hand tremble, or are my song and thought feeble?** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From Lesya Ukrainka's works (as collected in Wikiquote).
7. **Word, why are you not hardened steel / that sparkles so brightly in battle?** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Poem "Word, why are you not hardened steel…" (1896).
8. **Word, you are my only weapon!** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Poem "Word, why are you not hardened steel…" (1896).
9. **Above all elders, truth is the eldest.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From Lesya Ukrainka's works (as collected in Wikiquote).
10. **Rights without duties are tyranny.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From Lesya Ukrainka's works (as collected in Wikiquote).
11. **Beauty is the striving for perfection.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From Lesya Ukrainka's works (as collected in Wikiquote).
12. **Humour makes the best impression when delivered in a serious tone.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From Lesya Ukrainka's works (as collected in Wikiquote).
13. **All are women when they love.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From Lesya Ukrainka's works (as collected in Wikiquote).
14. **People and generations are only links in the great chain of universal life, and that chain cannot break.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From Lesya Ukrainka's works (as collected in Wikiquote).

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