Aleksandr Soljenítsin

You only have power over people as 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.

The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart.

Art extends each man’s short time on earth by carrying from man to man the whole complexity of other men’s lifelong experience, with all its burdens, colors and flavor.

Our envy of others devours us most of all.

Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.

A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him.

We do not err because truth is difficult to see. It is visible at a glance. We err because this is more comfortable.

A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has lost its civic courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, in each government, in each political party, and, of course, in the United Nations. Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling and intellectual elites...

We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life.

It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves.

Pride grows in the human heart like lard on a pig.

If one is forever cautious, can one remain a human being?

The Gulag archipelago.

How can you expect a man who’s warm to understand one who’s cold?

If decade after decade the truth cannot be told, each person’s mind begins to roam irretrievably. One’s fellow countrymen become harder to understand than Martians.

It’s an universal law—intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly profound education breeds humility.

The thoughts of a prisoner — they’re not free either. They keep returning to the same things.