The secret is that when you've been pitched head first into hell you just write about it
Aleksandr SolzhenitsynA decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has lost its civic courage . . . . Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling and intellectual elite, causing an impression of a loss of courage by the entire society.
Aleksandr SolzhenitsynWhy can't you understand? The stars fall down now and then. The gaps have to be filled.
Aleksandr SolzhenitsynI would rather have the United States as the world's policeman than the Soviet Union as the world's jailer.
Aleksandr SolzhenitsynWhat would things been like [in Russia] if during periods of mass arrests people had not simply sat there, paling with terror at every bang on the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but understood they had nothing to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people?
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn