But if I were to say who influenced me most, then I'd say Franz Kafka. And his works were always anchored in the Central European region.

Without commonly shared and widely entrenched moral values and obligations, neither the law, nor democratic government, nor even the market economy will function properly.

Sometimes I wonder if suicides aren't in fact sad guardians of the meaning of life.

My dear fellow citizens: For forty years you have heard from my predecessors on this day different variations of the same theme: how our country flourished, how many millions of tons of steel we produced, how happy we all were, how we trusted our government, and what bright perspectives were unfolding in front of us. I assume you did not propose me for this office so that I, too, would lie to you.

We live in the postmodern world, where everything is possible and almost nothing is certain.

Education is the ability to perceive the hidden connections between phenomena.

Man is a part of the world, and his spirit is part of the spirit of the world. We are merely a peculiar mode of Being, a living atom within it, or, rather, a cell that, if sufficiently open to itself and its own mystery, can also experience the mystery, the will, the pain, and the hope of the world.