
The essence of everything., Dortmund Germany October 1, 1978, published by the DLM in The Golden Age No 51, February 1979
1970s
The essence of everything., Dortmund Germany October 1, 1978, published by the DLM in The Golden Age No 51, February 1979
1970s
“I understand HOW: I do not understand WHY”
1984
Variant: I understand HOW: I do not understand WHY.
Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought Acceptance Speech (2013)
Context: Why is one of the most important words in any language. You have to know why the world is the way it is or you have to want to know. If you do not have this curiosity and if you do not have the intelligence in order to be able to express this curiosity in terms that others can understand than we will not be able to contribute to progress in our world. How many of our people over these past few decades ever ask themselves why that had to submit to the authority of people who did not have the mandate of the general public. I do not think very many did. It was taken for granted that those who had power and authority could do exactly as they please. This was something that we could not accept.
Did these people not know that if they continued to feed and spread and grow, with the tendrils of their greed wrapping themselves around their host, the day would come when it could no longer sustain them and when it died they would too?
Inspector Singh Investigates: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder, Cap 19
As quoted in an interview with newspaper Youth of Estonia (1988), " 'Almost everyone can forgive us for honesty': the rules of life of Viktor Tsoi, who passed away 29 years ago" in Forum Daily https://www.forumdaily.com/en/nam-za-chestnost-mogut-prostit-prakticheski-vse-pravila-zhizni-viktora-coya-ushedshego-29-let-nazad/ (15 August 2019)
"The Idea of God" from Essays from Epilogue (Manchester: Carcanet, 2001)