Lech Wał?sa
(born
29 September
1943
) is a Polish politician, trade union organizer, philanthropist and human rights activist, who became the first democratically elected President of
Poland
(1990?1995) after the fall of the
People's Republic of Poland
. He is well known for his unintentionally humorous remarks.
Quotes
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- You can’t change the facts with your lies, allegations and counterfeits
- Freedom must be gained step by step, slowly. Freedom is a food which must be carefully administered when people are too hungry for it.
- Na zm?czeniu, goryczy, uczuciu bezsilno?ci nie mo?na budowa?.
- It is hardly possible to build anything if frustration, bitterness and a mood of helplessness prevail.
- Walesa, Lech. Speech. "Nobel Lecture".
1983 Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance
(11 December 1983)
- Aresztowano mnie wiele razy. Za pierwszym razem, w grudniu 1970 roku, podpisałem 3 albo 4 dokumenty. Podpisałbym prawdopodobnie wtedy wszystko, oprocz zgody na zdrad? Boga i Ojczyzny, by wyj?? i moc walczy?. Nigdy mnie nie złamano i nigdy nie zdradziłem ideałow ani kolegow.
- I was arrested many times. The first time, in December 1970, I signed 3 or 4 documents. Most probably I'd sign anything then, except consent for the betrayal of God and Fatherland, to get out and be able to fight. I have never been broken and I have never betrayed the ideals or my comrades.
- A note to the Polish Press Agency issued on 4th June 1992 after the publication of a list of Communist collaborators compiled by
Antoni Macierewicz
.
- Przerwana premiera
, an interview by Jerzy Kłosi?ski and Jan Str?kowski with
Jan Olszewski
, Warsaw 1992
- Mo?na powiedzie?, ?e byłem gdzie? niezr?czny, mo?e nawet kogo? wsypałem, ale nie to, ?e byłem agentem. Nie to, ?e chciałem kogo? zdradzi? (...) Przysi?gam i niech mnie szlag trafi, je?li kłami?.
- One could say I was goofy somewhere, and maybe even outed someone, but not that I was an agent. Not that I wanted to betray anybody. (...) I swear, and damn me if I lie.
- From the IV Copernican Debate at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toru?, after
Gazeta.pl
and
TVN24
- I am convinced that Germany has drawn conclusions [from World War II] and Europe has drawn conclusions as well. And I can say an unpopular thing. If once again Germany should risk destabilizing Europe, then there would be no division of Germany ? it would simply be blown off the map of Europe. With the kind of technology that exists, with the kind of experiences we have had, there can be no other way ? and the Germans know it.
- If once again
Germany
destabilizes
Europe
, then Germany will be not be divided again, but wiped off the map. East and West have the necessary technology in order to enforce this verdict. If Germany begins again, there is no other solution.
- Wenn Deutschland noch einmal Europa destabilisiert dann wird Deutschland nicht mehr geteilt, sondern von der Landkarte gefegt werden. Ost und West haben die notwendige Technik, um dieses Verdikt auch vollstrecken zu konnen. Wenn Deutschland wieder anfangt, bleibt keine andere Losung.
- From the report of the German magazine
DER SPIEGEL 15/1990
about an interview of Wał?sa by Dutch weekly
Elsevier
of 7 April 1990, which was partially reprinted, with an additional
Pancho
caricature
, by French
Le Monde
- Dobrze si? stało, ?e ?le si? stało.
- It is good that it came out that bad.
- Source: Mariusz Urbanek, "Jestem za, a nawet przeciw", in: Helge Hesse, W 80 powiedze? dookoła ?wiata, Wydawnictwo Dolno?l?skie, Wrocław 2009,
ISBN 978-83-245-8733-9
- Dodatnie i ujemne plusy.
- Positive pluses and negative pluses.
- Source: Mariusz Urbanek, "Jestem za, a nawet przeciw", in: Helge Hesse, W 80 powiedze? dookoła ?wiata, Wydawnictwo Dolno?l?skie, Wrocław 2009,
ISBN 978-83-245-8733-9
- Dokonałem zwrotu o 360 stopni.
- I turned around by 360 degrees.
- Source: Mariusz Urbanek, "Jestem za, a nawet przeciw", in: Helge Hesse, W 80 powiedze? dookoła ?wiata, Wydawnictwo Dolno?l?skie, Wrocław 2009,
ISBN 978-83-245-8733-9
- I am for, and even against.
- Source: Mariusz Urbanek, "Jestem za, a nawet przeciw", in: Helge Hesse, W 80 powiedze? dookoła ?wiata, Wydawnictwo Dolno?l?skie, Wrocław 2009,
ISBN 978-83-245-8733-9
Quotes about
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- The weakness of the
Eastern European
regimes was demonstrated anew in Poland, both by the activities of underground Solidarity and by the serious strikes that began in April 1988. The government had grudgingly sought to widen its support by negotiating with other elements, but it wished to exclude Solidarity. The
Catholic Church
, however, refused to create a co-operative
Christian
labour movement
as the
government
wanted, preferring to leave the more intransigent Solidarity as the key body for negotiations. The
Communists
were opposed to
trade union
pluralism, but, as a sign of movement on the government’s part, the amnesty of 1986 had freed
political prisoners
. The 1988 strikes discouraged the Party leadership and demonstrated its failure to find a solution to Poland’s problems. Combined with Gorbachev’s renunciation of intervention on behalf of
Communism
, this failure encouraged the leadership to move toward yielding its monopoly of power. On 30 November 1988, there was a televised debate between Lech Walesa and
Alfred Miodowicz
, the head of the official
trade union
federation and a member of the Politburo. This was a highly significant step as the
television
served as a means of controlling the dissemination of opinion. On 6 February 1989, Round Table talks between
government
and the technically illegal opposition began, with the Church, an institution of great prestige in Poland, playing an important mediatory role. Under an agreement, signed on 5 April 1989, reached against a background of widespread
strikes
, elections were held in Poland on 4 June. Only 35 per cent of the seats in the lower house, the Sejm, were awarded on the basis of the free vote, the remainder going to the Communists and their allies, but all of these seats were won by Solidarity. This expression of the public will was a dramatic blow to the old order. Communist cohesion collapsed, not least with the Communist Party being abandoned by its hitherto pliant allies. Strikes and other protests meanwhile continued. The new government was headed by
Tadeusz Mazowiecki
, a member of Solidarity and a Catholic intellectual. He became the first non-Communist Prime Minister behind the Iron Curtain. There was, however, to be a major division between those who endorsed the ‘Round Table’ political settlement of 1989 as a way to avoid bloodshed, and those who criticised it as, allegedly, a compromise providing subsequent cover for ex-Communists to pillage the state.
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