“Every concession gives rise to further concessions, we cannot back down, because behind us there is only an abyss, we must keep our promises and demand that they be kept.”

Source: Disturbing the Peace (1986), Ch. 5 : The Politics of Hope, p. 110

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Every concession gives rise to further concessions, we cannot back down, because behind us there is only an abyss, we m…" by Václav Havel?
Václav Havel photo
Václav Havel 126
playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and 1st President of … 1936–2011

Related quotes

Barack Obama photo

“Our government shouldn’t make promises we cannot keep — but we must keep the promises we’ve already made.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2013, Fifth State of the Union Address (February 2013)

Tom Watson (Labour politician) photo

“Our position is we want a confirmatory ballot. It's very difficult for us to move off that because I don't think our party would forgive us if we signed off on Tory Brexit without that kind of concession.”

Tom Watson (Labour politician) (1967) British politician

Brexit talks: Will Labour push a public vote option? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47817325 BBC News (4 April 2019)
2019

Ariel Sharon photo

“If we [are to] reach a situation of true peace, real peace, peace for generations, we will have to make painful concessions. Not in exchange for promises, but rather in exchange for peace.”

Ariel Sharon (1928–2014) prime minister of Israel and Israeli general

2000s
Source: "Report: Sharon willing to make 'painful concessions," at cnn.com, April 2003 ( online) http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/13/sharon.settlements/

Scott Morrison photo

“None of us want conflict. We want peace and stability. But nor do we want the very world order that underpins our freedoms to be eroded for fear of giving offence, in the vain hope that concessions will ameliorate the determination of those who seek to intimidate and coerce.”

Scott Morrison (1968) 30th Prime Minister of Australia

"An Address by Prime Minister Scott Morrison" https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/address-prime-minister-scott-morrison (7 March 2022)

Barack Obama photo

“The March on Washington teaches us that we are not trapped by the mistakes of history; that we are masters of our fate. But it also teaches us that the promise of this nation will only be kept when we work together.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2013, "Let Freedom Ring" Ceremony (August 2013)
Context: The March on Washington teaches us that we are not trapped by the mistakes of history; that we are masters of our fate. But it also teaches us that the promise of this nation will only be kept when we work together. We’ll have to reignite the embers of empathy and fellow feeling, the coalition of conscience that found expression in this place 50 years ago. And I believe that spirit is there, that truth force inside each of us. I see it when a white mother recognizes her own daughter in the face of a poor black child. I see it when the black youth thinks of his own grandfather in the dignified steps of an elderly white man. It’s there when the native-born recognizing that striving spirit of the new immigrant; when the interracial couple connects the pain of a gay couple who are discriminated against and understands it as their own. That’s where courage comes from -- when we turn not from each other, or on each other, but towards one another, and we find that we do not walk alone. That’s where courage comes from.

Pierre Joseph Proudhon photo

“The great are only great because we are on our knees. Let us rise”

Pierre Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865) French politician, mutualist philosopher, economist, and socialist
Nikos Kazantzakis photo
John Lewis (civil rights leader) photo

“We were beaten, we were tear-gassed. I thought I was going to die on this bridge. But somehow and some way, God almighty helped me here. We cannot give up now. We cannot give in. We must keep the faith, keep our eyes on the prize.”

John Lewis (civil rights leader) (1940) American politician and civil rights leader

Source: Twitter https://twitter.com/repjohnlewis/status/1234277472776183810, (1 March 2020)

Pope Benedict XVI photo
Aamir Khan photo

“Certainly we were disappointed. But the thing that really kept us in our spirits was that the entire country was behind us.”

Aamir Khan (1965) Indian film actor, director, and producer of Hindi Cinema

On the loss of his movie 'Lagaan', in Oscar. http://www.zimbio.com/Bollywood+Movies/articles/-B674iGx40A/Aamir+Khan+Wallpapers

Related topics