Quotes By Lech Walesa

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

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.

People always ask me, 'Lech, aren't you afraid of being killed?' And as an answer I shrug my shoulders.

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

My youth passed at the time of the country's reconstruction from the ruins and ashes of the war in which my nation never bowed to the enemy paying the highest price in the struggle.

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

There is something of the warrior in me.

I represent the concept that pluralism is essential, union pluralism. I made an oath about this.

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

You should go to the polls, organize yourself. But once lawmakers are chosen, they must be respected.

Capitalism is in crisis.

The program of our movement stems from the fundamental moral laws and order.

I am happy that Poland is returning to the road of pluralism and democracy.

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.

I decided to get to know my opponents and their arguments.

I have a vision, and I know I'm right.

I got politics and economics moving and then others took over.

Freedom must be gained step by step, slowly. Freedom is a food which must be carefully administered when people are too hungry for it.

People are most important.

I allowed myself to be taken in by the intellectuals. I believed too much in the Polish intellectuals and followed their advice.

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.

The supply of words in the world market is plentiful but the demand is falling. Let deeds follow words now.

As a nation we have the right to decide our own affairs, to mould our own future. This does not pose any danger to anybody. Our nation is fully aware of the responsibility for its own fate in the complicated situation of the contemporary world.

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.

The people in Poland had to deal with painful reforms.

Our firm conviction that ours is a just cause and that we must find a peaceful way to attain our goals gave us the strength and the awareness of the limits beyond which we must not go.

Let the veil of silence fall presently over what happened afterwards. Silence, too, can speak out.

For now, capitalism is working to produce more money but does not see the people. This problem is getting worse across the world.

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

I have always been and will be an enemy of communism, but I love all people.