Without a global revolution in the sphere of human consciousness a more humane society will not emerge.
Vaclav HavelRead
Ownership is not a vice, not something to be ashamed of, but rather a commitment, and an instrument by which the general good can be served.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Ownership is a responsible commitment that can benefit society.
In this quote, Vaclav Havel emphasizes that ownership should not be viewed negatively; instead, it represents a responsibility and a means through which individuals can contribute to the common good. He encourages a perspective that sees ownership as a positive force for societal well-being rather than a source of shame or guilt.
Themes
OwnershipCommitmentResponsibilitySocietyGeneral Good
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about corporate responsibility, this quote can highlight the role of businesses in serving the community.
More from Vaclav Havel
All quotes βIn my opinion, theater shouldn't give advice to citizens.
Vaclav HavelRead
Sometimes I wonder if suicides aren't in fact sad guardians of the meaning of life.
Vaclav HavelRead
The exercise of power is determined by thousands of interactions between the world of the powerful and that of the powerless, all the more so because these worlds are never divided by a sharp line: everyone has a small part of himself in both.
Vaclav HavelRead
Human rights, human freedoms... and human dignity have their deepest roots somewhere outside the perceptible world... while the state is a human creation, human beings are the creation of God.
Vaclav HavelRead
Man is not an omipotent master of the universe, allowed to do with impunity whatever he thinks, or whatever suits him at the moment. The world we live in is made of an immensely complex and mysterious tissue about which we know very little and which we must treat with utmost humility.
Vaclav HavelRead
Similar quotes
The principle that the majority have a right to rule the minority, practically resolves all government into a mere contest between two bodies of men, as to which of them shall be masters, and which of them slaves; a contest, that-however bloody-can, in the nature of things, never be finally closed, so long as man refuses to be a slave.
Lysander SpoonerRead
God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.
Dag HammarskjoldRead
If desire did not dim the brain, nobody would ever get married, drunk, or fat. ~Val
Orson Scott CardRead
The idea that human kind can shape the world according to wish is what I call the fatal conceit
Friedrich August Von HayekRead
The whole curse of the last century has been what is called the Swing of the Pendulum; that is, the idea that Man must go alternately from one extreme to the other. It is a shameful and even shocking fancy; it is the denial of the whole dignity of the mankind. When Man is alive he stands still. It is only when he is dead that he swings.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
I had hardly expected so dolichocephalic a skull or such well-marked supra-orbital development. Would you have any objection to my running my finger along your parietal fissure? A cast of your skull, sir, until the original is available, would be an ornament to any anthropological museum. It is not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that I covet your skull.
Arthur Conan DoyleRead