Artvita › Václav Havel

Václav Havel (1936–2011)

Havel wrote absurdist plays that the communist government banned, then spent years in and out of prison for refusing to stop writing them. His essay "The Power of the Powerless" argued that living truthfully under a regime built on lies is itself a political act. In 1989, the Velvet Revolution made him president of Czechoslovakia. He served as a head of state the way he had served as a dissident: awkwardly, honestly, with the conviction that decency matters more than power.

Concepts

agency, alienation, authenticity, conformity, meaning, praxis, rebellion, solidarity, totalitarianism

Quotes (6)

“The real question is whether the brighter future is really always so distant....” — The Power of the Powerless (1978)
“If the main pillar of the system is living a lie, then it is not surprising t...” — The Power of the Powerless (1978)
“Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certain...” — Disturbing the Peace (1986)
“Ideology is a specious way of relating to the world. It offers human beings t...” — The Power of the Powerless (1978)
“The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meanin...” — Letters to Olga (1983)
“The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, ...” — Address to US Congress (1990)