In apartments and cottages, on the street and in the train... I listen... More and more, I turn into one large ear, always turning to another person.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
There is no need to give in to the compromise that totalitarian regimes always count on.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote encourages people to resist yielding to the pressures exerted by oppressive governments.
Svetlana Alexievich highlights the importance of standing firm against the compromises and sacrifices demanded by totalitarian regimes. She suggests that individuals should maintain their integrity and not succumb to the expectations of oppressive powers, emphasizing the value of personal freedom and the courage it takes to uphold one's beliefs in the face of authoritarianism.
Themes
TotalitarianismCompromiseFreedomCourageIntegrity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about human rights, you could use this quote to emphasize the importance of standing against oppression.
More from Svetlana Alexievich
All quotes βThe subjects I wanted to write about - the mystery of the human soul, evil - didn't interest newspapers, and news reporting bored me.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
'Women's' war has its own colors, its own smells, its own lighting, and its own range of feelings. There are no heroes and incredible feats; there are simply people who are busy doing inhumanly human things.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
I've been searching for a genre that would be most adequate to my vision of the world to convey how my ear hears and my eyes see life. I tried this and that, and finally, I chose a genre where human voices speak for themselves. But I don't just record a dry history of events and facts; I'm writing a history of human feelings.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
From the point of view of art, the butcher and the victim are equal as people. You need to see the people.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
Nothing, not even human life, is more precious to us than our myths about ourselves.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
Similar quotes
The doctor who diagnosed me with ALS, or motor neuron disease, told me that it would kill me in two or three years.
Stephen HawkingRead
I expected to die. At no time before the trial did I expect to escape with my life. Yet being executed in the gas chamber did not necessarily mean defeat. It could be one more step to bring the community to a higher level of consciousness.
Huey NewtonRead
The scariest moment is always just before you start.
Stephen KingRead
Let's cool it brothers . . . Spoken to his assassins, three men who stabbed him 16 times.
Malcolm XRead
Little boldness is needed to assail the opinions and practices of notoriously wicked men; but to rebuke great and good men for their conduct, and to impeach their discernment, is the highest effort of moral courage.
William Lloyd GarrisonRead
Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down.
Ray BradburyRead