QuoteProject
The worst thing is that we live in a contaminated moral environment. We fell morally ill because we became used to saying something different from what we thought. Concepts such as love, friendship, compassion, humility or forgiveness lost their depth and dimension.
Vaclav Havel
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects on the erosion of moral values in society and the disconnect between thoughts and words.

Vaclav Havel laments the decline of moral integrity in society, suggesting that people often express feelings and concepts such as love and friendship in ways that do not align with their true beliefs. This separation leads to a degradation of the depth these values should hold, ultimately resulting in a morally contaminated environment where essential virtues are diminished.

Themes

MoralityIntegrityValuesTruthCompassionSociety

In practice

Example use cases

During a motivational speech on integrity and ethics in the workplace.

More from Vaclav Havel

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.
Vaclav HavelRead
In 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

Similar quotes

The hunter for aphorisms on human nature has to fish in muddy water, and he is even condemned to find much of his own mind.
F. H. BradleyRead
Far from diminishing the appetite for power, suffering exasperates it.
Emile M. CioranRead
A true worshipper is one whose mind has not been defiled with any false belief.
Pope Leo IRead
Explanations are such cheap poetry.
Stephen KingRead
When we blame all Muslims, all Syrians, or all members of any other group because of the actions of individuals, we fall into the trap of asserting collective guilt. We empower the narrow-minded ideology that we are trying to defeat.
Samantha PowerRead
It is only in our decisions that we are important.
Jean-Paul SartreRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.