One of my favourite authors, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, died two days ago. What an amazing man! I thought I would post some of my favourite quotes from his books and speeches.I keep a journal in which I write down quotes from my favourite authors. I don't know exactly why I do this - maybe because I don't want to forget great things I read - but when I go back and read these quotes they always inspire me once again to make the most of my one life, something Solzhenitsyn did without question. So, without further ado:
"There is but one choice: to rise to the tasks of the age."
"Nationalities are the wealth of humanity; they are its crystallised personalities; even the smallest among them has its own special colouration, hides within itself a particular facet of God's design." - the Nobel Lecture on Literature, 1970
"I understand that you love freedom, but in our crowded world you have to pay a tax for freedom. You cannot love freedom for yourselves alone and quietly agree to a situation where the majority of humanity, spread over the greater part of the globe, is subjected to violence and oppression." - from an address given before the AFL-CIO in New York, 1975
"The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. One word of truth outweighs the world." - the Nobel Lecture on Literature, 1970
2 comments:
What a wonderful way to remember the impact of a great man. His words serve as an inspiration and will do so for many years to come.
Yeah for you to honor Solzhenitsyn.
Many years ago I read GULAG ARCHAPELIGO over a period of two years, a paragraph at a time. I'd think about it for a day or two, then read more. What profound life lessons there are in that book. The quotes you mentioned remind me to be the finest world citizen I can be. I keep quotes too--not in a journal but on scraps of paper stuffed into a notebook. Your journal idea is way better.
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