Alexander Solzhenitsyn: “the State – it minute. Today, you see, gave, and tomorrow fuck”

Today marks ten years since the death of writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn. “Pravmir” has collected its statements and quotations from his works, which could apply to modern problems of Russia.

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About retirement and old age

– Phew! Now the girl and do not need to die! – was beginning to envy some of the neighbors. – More money to her, the old, and nowhere to go.

– What is a pension? – objected to others. – State – it minute. Today, you see, gave, and fuck tomorrow.

“Matryona”, 1968

The gift of extended human life, one of the consequences, made painful the older generation to the middle and doomed to the elderly on long loneliness, abandonment loved ones in old age, and irreparably tore him from the happiness of the transmission of spiritual experience the youngest.

But torn between people – the horizontal and soul ties. Like with all the boiling political and social life – growing antisocial razvorotnoj, the disunity and nacocast between people occupied with material interests, then wheezing and loneliness.

Speech at the International Academy of philosophy, 1993

On violence in society

Tell us: what can literature against the ruthless onslaught of open violence? A: let us not forget that violence does not live one and not able to live for one thing: it certainly woven with lies. Between the kindred, the natural deep linking: violence is nothing to hide behind, but a lie, and lies have nothing to resist, except by violence. Anyone who has once proclaimed violence as his method must inexorably choose the lie as his principle. Taking birth, violence acts openly and even proud of themselves. But as it strengthened, established, it senses the rarefaction of the air around him and could not continue to exist only as satuminus in a lie, hiding behind her sladkovatam. It is not always, not necessarily directly strangling the throat, more often it demands from the citizens only the oath of the lie, only complicity in the lie.

And simple step of a simple courageous man: not to participate in lies, not to support false actions! Let it come to the world even is in the world – but not through me.

Nobel lecture, 1972

About jail and torture

Such a simple relationship here: just need to blame whatever was the means, the inevitable threats, violence and torture, and the fantastic charges, the cruel to be a consequence to force a confession. And once blown things were always kind of violence and torture is also was always.

“The GULAG archipelago”, 1973

About school and teachers

…Our school teaches bad and bad brings, and only exchanged and melchet young soul. All staged so that students are not something to respect your teachers ‘ meeting. The school will be true when teachers go the people choice and designed. But for this – how much money and effort should be spent! – not to pay for their work and not so humiliating to keep them. And now the College in a number of institutions last to his authority, and the adult male is ashamed to be a school teacher.

A letter to the leaders of the Soviet Union, 1973

School teacher so zaderzhanie, zasilanie, humiliated people, and even in domestic need, that is not left to them the time, space and freedom to formulate your own opinion about anything, even find and absorb spiritual food intact. And not from nature and not from the weakness of education, this whole poverty-stricken provincial weight well as losing the “animate” compared with the privileged capital-science, namely, from want and injustice.

“Smatterers”, 1974

With the current decline of our – not to give a confident prediction that we have enough insistence to create much-needed school. However, if not create, if you do not withdraw our children from the dangers of rambling, dark consciousness, permeated with the burning sparks of pagan cruelty and passion can be acquired at any price, this will be the end of the Russian people and Russian history.

“Russia in collapse”, 1998

About professional sports

Everything is known, was written more than once: that dying is a book of riches of our libraries, reading rooms propustyat, cast museums. They all need government assistance, they are unable to live at the expense of box office as theaters, cinemas and art exhibitions. (But the sport, but in the expectation of glory, should not be funded by the state, but – as they gather; and private, gimnastika-athletic development is given in school.)

“As us to equip Russia”, 1990

About Ukraine and Russia

From rough instant cut between the intermingled Slavic peoples – exploded boundaries, millions of family and friendship ties. How can this be? The recent elections in Ukraine clearly show, for example, the direction of sympathy for Russia of the Crimean and Donetsk population and democracy have to respect them!

I myself am nearly half Ukrainian, grew up in the sounds of the Ukrainian language, love its culture, I wish all success to Ukraine – but in her real ethnic boundaries, without grabbing Russian provinces. And not in the form of “great powers”, that the Ukrainian nationalists have placed a bet: they declare and manifest the cult of power, persistently blow from Russia an “enemy”, and then there have been warlike vyklicky, and the Ukrainian army conducted propaganda about the inevitability of war with Russia. Great-power status of any country distorts people’s appearance, hurting him. I never wished great power for Russia (and do not wish the United States) does not wish and Ukraine.

Forbes magazine, 1994

About the Church and Orthodoxy

But the more difficult the situation thinking, looking for bishops, priests, ecclesiastical forms cannot stiffen the second thousand years, they beg for development and refinement in a moving, turbulent era. And circles, staying in some frozen immobility, the fact of the matter is “humble” them, face down. And – what to do? Open dispute, rectification, meet the assessment of “spiritual rebellion”, and most importantly – make the Church the spirit of schism, decatied unwelcome in this foreign heavy attack. But as anxious as inhibits dangerous possibility that the answer will be – samozaschita, numbness of the Church.

“Russia in collapse”, 1998

It is the Orthodox, not the Imperial power established a Russian cultural type. Orthodoxy is stored in our hearts, habits and actions that will strengthen the spiritual sense, which unites Russian above tribal considerations. If in the coming decades we are still yet to lose and the amount of population and territory, and even the state one is immortal and will remain on our Orthodox faith and exuded from her high miracosta.

“Russia in collapse”, 1998

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