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Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

75 quotesHistorian · Born Dec 11, 1918 · Died Aug 3, 2008 · Russia · Male

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (; 11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist, historian, and short story writer. He was an outspoken critic of the Soviet Union and communism and helped to raise global awareness of its Gulag forced labor camp system. He was allowed to publish only one work in the Soviet Union, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962), in the periodical Novy Mir. After this he had to publish in the West, most notably Cancer Ward (1968), August 1914 (1971), and The Gulag Archipelago (1973). Solzhenitsyn was awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature". Solzhenitsyn was afraid to go to Stockholm to receive his award for fear that he would not be allowed to reenter. He was eventually expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974, but returned to Russia in 1994 after the state's dissolution. 2Biography 3Early years Solzhenitsyn was born in Kislovodsk, RSFSR (now in Stavropol Krai, Russia). His mother, Taisiya Zakharovna (née Shcherbak) was of Ukrainian descent. Her father had risen from humble beginnings to become a wealthy landowner, acquiring a large estate in the Kuban region in the northern foothills of the Caucasu

All Communism (9)Prison (8)Evil (6)Truth (4)Lies (4)Soul (4)Power (4)Totalitarian (3)Russia (3)Statism (3)Literature (3)Socialism (3)Work (3)Totalitarianism (2)Freedom (2)

From “The Gulag Archipelago”

Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.' Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history…

atheism Communism Russia

We didn't love freedom enough.

Freedom Communism

Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.

Power Cruelty Totalitarian Statism Communism

Not everything has a name. Some things lead us into a realm beyond words…By means of art were are sometimes sent—dimly, briefly—revelations unattainable by reason.

Art

We always pay dearly for chasing after what is cheap.

Value

Our envy of others devours us most of all.

Envy

A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.

War tyranny

Education doesn't make you smarter.

Education Intelligence

A submissive sheep is a find for a wolf.

Submission

To stand up for truth is nothing. For truth, you must sit in jail.

Truth Bravery Prison

It is in the nature of the human being to seek a justification for his actions.

justification

Bless you prison, bless you for being in my life. For there, lying upon the rotting prison straw, I came to realize that the object of life is not prosperity as we are made to believe, but the maturity of the human soul.

Prison Soul Suffering

The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie.

Lies Individual Courage

Since then I have come to understand the truth of all the religions of the world: They struggle with the evil inside a human being (inside every human being). It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person.

Evil Religion

Only those who decline to scramble up the career ladder are interesting as human beings. Nothing is more boring than a man with a career.

Career Boring Conformity

If only it were all so simple! 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…

Evil heart

From “Cancer Ward”

One should never direct people towards happiness, because happiness too is an idol of the market-place. One should direct them towards mutual affection. A beast gnawing at its prey can be happy too, but only human beings can feel affection for each other, and this is the highest achievement they can…

Happiness affection

Listen to me, he said, do you really think women are the flower of life? You know, you can get fed up with them after a while … All they do is stop you achieving anything serious.

Misogyny

It's true that private enterprise is extremely flexible, But its only good within very narrow limits. If private enterprise isn't held in an iron grip it gives birth to people who are no better than beasts, those stock-exchange people with greedy appetites beyond restraint.

Capitalism

Surely people should eventually cease to be surprised at anything? And yet they continue to be.

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