Woe to that nation whose literature is disturbed by the intervention of power. Because that is not just a violation against "freedom of print," it is the closing down of the heart of the nation, a slashing to pieces of its memory.
Interpretation
Censorship in literature undermines a nation's identity and memory.
In this quote, Solzhenitsyn warns that when power intervenes in literature, it not only violates freedom of expression but also distorts the cultural and historical narrative of a nation. Such interference can sever the connection between society and its own past, leading to a loss of identity and a fragmented memory that is essential for a cohesive national consciousness.
In practice
During a discussion on free speech at a university seminar, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of literary freedom.
At what point, then, should one resist? When one's belt is taken away? When one is ordered to face into a corner? When one crosses the threshold of one's home? An arrest consists of a series of incidental irrelevancies, of a multitude of things that do not matter, and there seems no point in arguing about one of them individually...and yet all these incidental irrelevancies taken together implacably constitute the arrest.
To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he's doing is good... Ideology - that is what gives devildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination. That is the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good instead of bad in his own and others' eyes, so that he won't hear reproaches and curses but will receive praise and honors.
Today when we say the West we are already referring to the West and to Russia. We could use the word 'modernity' if we exclude Africa, and the Islamic world, and partially China.
To destroy a people, you must first sever their roots.
Like a bicycle, like a wheel that, once rolling, is stable only so long as it keeps moving but falls when its momentum stops, so the game between a man and woman, once begun, can exist only so long as it progresses. If the forward movement today is no more than it was yesterday, the game is over.
It's an universal law-- intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly profound education breeds humility.
The entering class I joined in 1956 included just nine women, up from five in the then second-year class, and only one African American. All professors, in those now-ancient days, were of the same race and sex.
The purpose of adult education is to help them to learn, not to teach them all you know and thus stop them from learning.
One of the marks of a great teacher lies not only in an ability to impart knowledge but also in knowing when to encourage a student to go off on his own.
I learned about machinery, I learned how men behaved under pressure, and I learned about Americans.
We know that there will never be a great Newark unless there is a great public school system for our city.
The things that have been most valuable to me I did not learn in school.
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