Near the end of the year, a friend sent me some quotes by Nobel laureate Alexander Solzhenitsy, who, prior to and actually for the first year or two of his imprisonment, was a committed communist. Arrested for questioning Stalin, he saw humanity at its worst and at its best during his time in Russian prisons. After reading the first couple of quotes, I looked for more. I'm posting a handful of them here. Read them slowly...re-read them...memorize them...chew on them...my question: Would Solzhenitsyn have penned these nuggets without the quiet, the perspective, the force, the halt - of prison???
1. Do not pursue what is illusory - property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade and can be confiscated in one fell night. Live with a steady superiority over life - don't be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness; it is after all, all the same: the bitter doesn't last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing.
2. Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.
3. Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice
4. It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones.
5. Talent is always conscious of its own abundance, and does not object to sharing.
6. The Universe has as many different centers as there are living beings in it.
7. Not everything has a name. Some things lead us into a realm beyond words.
8. Even the most rational approach to ethics is defenseless if there isn't the will to do what is right.
9. When truth is discovered by someone else, it loses something of its attractiveness.
10. Our envy of others devours us most of all.
11. How can you expect a man who's warm to understand one who's cold?
12. If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
2. Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.
3. Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice
4. It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones.
5. Talent is always conscious of its own abundance, and does not object to sharing.
6. The Universe has as many different centers as there are living beings in it.
7. Not everything has a name. Some things lead us into a realm beyond words.
8. Even the most rational approach to ethics is defenseless if there isn't the will to do what is right.
9. When truth is discovered by someone else, it loses something of its attractiveness.
10. Our envy of others devours us most of all.
11. How can you expect a man who's warm to understand one who's cold?
12. If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
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