Latest Vaclav Havel Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• There's a dilemma over how to balance concrete economic interests with critical opinions on the state of human rights. It's the human rights that suffer, and that's a great price to pay.

  Vaclav Havel

  Rights, Suffering, Balance

  Source: www.rferl.org

• If [Western] relations with Russia are to be friendly, they must be open and sincere, otherwise there can be no friendship at all. That means one should be able to speak openly about everything at meetings and conferences. It shouldn't be that we can't discuss the killing of journalists in Russia, or the suppression of human rights, or all the warning signs surfacing in Russia because of oil and gas or other economic reasons. It's a big problem, but it's the same in Western relations with Arab states.

  Vaclav Havel

  Mean, Russia, Rights

  Source: www.rferl.org

• I do think Russian foreign policy is very savvy. There's a need for great caution because the Russians are able to discreetly blackmail countries.

  Vaclav Havel

  Country, Thinking, Able

  Source: www.rferl.org

• Barack Obama is president of a superpower and I'm a citizen of a small state.

  Vaclav Havel

  President, Citizens, States

  Source: www.rferl.org

• I personally think President [Hosni] Mubarak, who's done a lot for Egypt, should acknowledge that his time has come and step down right away.

  Vaclav Havel

  Thinking, Egypt, President

  Source: www.rferl.org

• President Murabak has been a U.S. ally for decades. He was a guarantor of some degree of peace in the Middle East and has kept a good relationship with the Western world.

  Vaclav Havel

  Good Relationship, President, Degrees

  Source: www.rferl.org

• Speaking about myself, I've been pleasantly surprised that my older plays are still being performed. Most important is that they still have something to say to today's audience, in particular the young people who enjoy my plays. That's the best I could hope for, that the plays aren't single-use products of one era.

  Vaclav Havel

  Play, People, Important

  Source: www.rferl.org