Quotes from book
The Gulag Archipelago

Name: The Gulag Archipelago
Author: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Aleksandr SolzhenitsynOriginal title Архипелаг ГУЛАГ (Russian, 1973)

The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation is a three-volume, non-fiction text written between 1958 and 1968 by Russian writer and historian Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. It was first published in 1973, followed by an English translation the following year. It covers life in what is often known as the Gulag, the Communist Soviet forced labour camp system, through a narrative constructed from various sources including reports, interviews, statements, diaries, legal documents, and Solzhenitsyn's own experience as a Gulag prisoner. In Russian, the term GULAG is an acronym for Main Directorate of Camps .

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn book The Gulag Archipelago

The Gulag Archipelago (1973).

“Macbeth’s self-justifications were feeble – and his conscience devoured him. Yes, even Iago was a little lamb too. The imagination and the spiritual strength of Shakespeare’s evildoers stopped short at a dozen corpses. Because they had no ideology.”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn book The Gulag Archipelago

The Gulag Archipelago (1973).

“A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn book The Gulag Archipelago

The Gulag Archipelago (1973).