"The strength or weakness of a society depends more on the level of its spiritual life than on its level of industrialization. Neither a market economy nor even general abundance constitutes the crowning achievement of human life.
If a nation’s spiritual energies have been exhausted, it will not be saved from collapse by the most perfect government structure or by any industrial development.
A tree with a rotten core
cannot stand."
-- Alexander Solzhenitsyn
(1918-2008) Russian novelist, Soviet dissident, imprisoned for 8 years for critizing Stalin in a personal letter, Nobel Prize for Literature, 1970
Source: National Review article (Sept. 23, 1991, p.24)
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Alexander.Solzhenitsyn.Quote.CF81
I need to take time to read again, especially books like this man’s biography. I have heard quotes from him and each time I am impressed with his depth of insight into the nature of man and government.
BE
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