Without free, self-respecting, and autonomous citizens there can be no free and independent nations. Without internal peace, that is, peace among citizens and between the citizens and the state, there can be no guarantee of external peace. – Vaclav Havel
The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life but that it bothers him less and less. – Vaclav Havel
Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. – Vaclav Havel
Even a purely moral act that has no hope of any immediate and visible political effect can gradually and indirectly, over time, gain in political significance. – Vaclav Havel
When I was in the Peace Corps I never made a phone call. I was in Central Africa I didnt make a phone call for two years. I was in Uganda for another four years and I didnt make a phone call. So for six years I didnt make a phone call, but I wrote letters, I wrote short stories, I wrote books. – Paul Theroux