Bless you prison, bless you for being in my life. For there, lying upon the rotting prison straw, I came to realize that the object of life is not prosperity as we are made to believe, but the maturity of the human soul.

I dare hope that all the peoples who have lived through communism will understand that communism is to blame for the bitter pages of their history.

Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.

Human nature is full of riddles and contradictions; its very complexity engenders art-and by art I mean the search for something more than simple linear formulations, flat solutions, oversimplified explanations.

If it goes well with you, then all is well.

European democracy was originally imbued with a sense of Christian responsibility and self-discipline, but these spiritual principles have been gradually losing their force. Spiritual independence is being pressured on all sides by the dictatorship of self-satisfied vulgarity, of the latest fads, and of group interests.

I cannot suggest political ways out, that is the task of politicians, so it is simply that those who accuse me of this do not know how to read.