Quote

Macbeth's self-justifications were feeble - and his conscience devoured him. Yes, even Iago was a little lamb too. The imagination and the spiritual strength of Shakespeare's evildoers stopped short at a dozen corpses. Because they had no ideology.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Age: 89 †
Born: 1918
Born: December 11
Died: 2008
Died: January 1
Historian
Militant
Military Personnel
Novelist
Opinion Journalist
Playwright
Poet
Prosaist
Public Figure
School Teacher
Screenwriter
Writer
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Strength
Corpses
Evildoers
Imagination
Justification
Iago
Spiritual
Shakespeare
Justifications
Dozen
Macbeth
Littles
Ideology
Devoured
Little
Stopped
Lamb
Self
Conscience
Feeble
Even
Short
Lambs

More quotes by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Image
For us in Russia, communism is a dead dog, while, for many people in the West, it is still a living lion.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
When I was young, the early death of my father cast a shadow over me - and I was afraid to die before all my literary plans came true. But between 30 and 40 years of age my attitude to death became quite calm and balanced. I feel it is a natural, but no means the final, milestone of one's existence.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either - but right through every human heart...
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
We are all human, and our senses are quicker to prompt us than our reason. Every man gives off a scent, and that scent tells you how to act before your head does.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
Call no day happy 'til it is done call no man happy til he is dead.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. One word of truth outweighs the world.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
If we could all take a sober look at our history, then we would no longer see this nostalgic attitude to the Soviet past that predominates among the less affected part of our society.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
As the fathers live, so the children play.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
Good or evil-you cannot build your life apart from this distinction.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
For me faith is the foundation and support of one's life.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
The same old caveman feeling-greed, envy, violence, and mutual hate, which along the way assumed respectable pseudonyms like class struggle, racial struggle, mass struggle, labor-union struggle-are tearing our world to pieces.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
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.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
Literature becomes the living memory of a nation.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
Our envy of others devours us most of all.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
To stand up for truth is nothing. For truth, you must sit in jail.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
Let your memory be your travel bag.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
Lord, give me the strength to accomplish what You've given me to do and the faith to trust You that what I haven't been able to accomplish You've already assigned to someone else.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
A horrible human toll the Russian Orthodox Church suffered throughout almost the entire 20th century. The Church is just rising from its knees. Our young post-Soviet state is just learning to respect the Church as an independent institution.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
People who are at ease with their consciences always look happy.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Image
Beat a dog once and you only have to show him the whip.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn