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"Then in 1969, I spent the spring term at Cornell University in New York. The invasion of August 1968 had already happened, but the hardline regime took several months to crack down on dissidents."
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"Like it takes so little not only to change something, but to make you forget the way it once was, as well."

"The only way to change the world is to quit thinking it's a job for Superman. Real power lies in your own hands."

"A conception not reducible to the small change of daily experience is like a currency not exchangeable for articles of consumption; it is not a symbol, but a fraud."

"No matter which path you are on, always do this: Question your path! If you are on the wrong path, change it; no matter on which mile of the road, change it! Till you find the right path, change all the paths!"

"If the tranquillity is killing you, seek for the storm to save your life!"

"With the same habit of mind, even if you live thousands of lives, all will be the same! Get a different habit of mind to get a different life!"

"I will prepare and some day my chance will come."

"In your winter you deny your spring."
Explore more quotes by Vaclav Klaus


"I also helped write the five-page statement of principles that Civic Forum issued in late November. That was the first public expression of what the new government wanted to do."


"I was paid to read Western economic texts. In a way, the regime paid for their own undermining."


"We will also allow state companies to sell shares to their workers and will pass a law allowing citizens to start companies of their own with no limits on the number of employees or on the firm's output."


"That means following a very restrictive fiscal and monetary policy which will squeeze the monopolies and cut their subsidies. On the micro level we will allow other economic agents, both domestic and foreign, to compete with them."


"Privatization of the state-owned economy is not yet on the agenda. We cannot do it immediately; my colleagues would not agree to it. But we must put all forms of ownership on an equal footing immediately and let different types of ownership compete with the state firms."


"We must have the time to create strict rules so that property is not sold by Communist managers for a low price. They often get payments under the table to sell to the first bidder. This does not build public support for a market economy."


"The events in the square, of course, made a deep impression on me and many other parents."


"To pursue a so-called Third Way is foolish. We had our experience with this in the 1960s when we looked for a socialism with a human face. It did not work, and we must be explicit that we are not aiming for a more efficient version of a system that has failed."


"We served on the editorial board of a literary monthly called Face in 1968 and 1969. He was a young writer, and I was also interested in broad cultural issues. We agreed on all major issues and became friends."
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