Quotes from Lech Walesa

I had my own battle tactics.

I'm lazy. But it's the lazy people who invented the wheel and the bicycle because they didn't like walking or carrying things.

He who puts out his hand to stop the wheel of history will have his fingers crushed.

It is hardly possible to build anything if frustration, bitterness and a mood of helplessness prevail.

Life creates new heroes, and new heroes always find it easiest to beat up on the previous heroes.

We hold our heads high, despite the price we have paid, because freedom is priceless.

Communism is a monopolistic system, economically and politically. The system suppresses individual initiative, and the 21st century is all about individualism and freedom. The development of technology supported these directions.

One could always do more, faster and cleverer, but democracy has its own rhythm.

I will talk and act, not on my knees, but with prudence.

I can't imagine the right wing trying to unite without my participation.

Authority must be respected and chosen wisely.

The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the way I see it, is service to a fellow human being.

Democracy is made up of three elements. One is whether the laws support pluralistic principles. The second is whether the people take advantage of these laws. The third element is whether the peoples' wallets are thick enough to benefit from this democracy.

Communists are great capitalists, so there is no threat anymore.

I most sincerely wish that the world in which we live be free from the threat of a nuclear holocaust and from the ruinous arms race. It is my cherished desire that peace be not separated from freedom which is the right of every nation. This I desire and for this I pray.

The hope of the nation which throughout the nineteenth century had not for a moment reconciled itself with the loss of independence, and fighting for its own freedom, fought at the same time for the freedom of other nations.

My country is in the grips of a major economic crisis. This is causing dramatic consequences for the very existence of Polish families. A permanent economic crisis in Poland may also have serious repercussions for Europe. Thus, Poland ought to be helped and deserves help.

We were hoping Obama would reclaim moral leadership for America. That failed.

The sole and basic source of our strength is the solidarity of workers, peasants and the intelligentsia, the solidarity of the nation, the solidarity of people who seek to live in dignity, truth, and in harmony with their conscience.

I belong to the generation of workers who, born in the villages and hamlets of rural Poland, had the opportunity to acquire education and find employment in industry, becoming in the course conscious of their rights and importance in society.

Lying at the root of the social agreements of 1980 are the courage, sense of responsibility, and the solidarity of the working people. Both sides have then recognized that an accord must be reached if bloodshed is to be prevented.

What until then seemed impossible to achieve has become a fact of life. We have won the right to association in trade unions independent from the authorities, founded and shaped by the working people themselves.

When I was fighting communism, there was rapid development of satellite television and cell phones, and communism, to survive, would have to block all these information devices.

Dictators and oppressors should continue to fear me because I will be here for a long time.