Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Quotes

No man is free who is not master of himself... Is freedom anything else than the power of living as we choose?

True freedom is impossible without a mind made free by discipline.

Liberty is the prevention of control by others. This requires self-control and, therefore, religious and spiritual influences; education, knowledge, well-being.

No one is free who has not obtained the empire of himself.

No one is free who does not lord over himself.

Why do they always teach us that it's easy and evil to do what we want and that we need discipline to restrain ourselves? It's the hardest thing in the world--to do what we want. And it takes the greatest kind of courage. I mean, what we really want.

Liberty is the right to discipline ourselves in order not to be disciplined by others

We have power over nothing except our will.

Freedom is the will to be responsible for ourselves.

As far as your self-control goes, as far goes your freedom.

Socrates demonstrated long ago, that the truly free individual is free only to the extent of his own self-mastery.

The disciplined are free.

Do whatever you will, but first be such as are able to will.

I believe in one thing only, the power of human will.

Whoever will be free must make himself free. Freedom is no fairy gift to fall into a man's lap. What is freedom? To have the will to be responsible for one's self.

Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make, both consciously and unconsciously. If you can control the process of choosing, you can take control of all aspects of your life. You can find the freedom that comes from being in charge of yourself.

Terrible is the fight put up by the senses. Fight bravely! Conquer them you must.

True freedom is the capacity for acting according to one's true character, to be altogether one's self, to be self-determined and not subject to outside coercion.

Who then is free? The wise man who can command himself.

A man without decision can never be said to belong to himself.

Will power is only the tensile strength of one's own disposition. One cannot increase it by a single ounce.

Implicit in true freedom of spirit lies a proud and virile will. Such glorious power of free will to choose, envisages beneficent social responsibility as manifest and welcome.

Of my own spirit let me be in sole though feeble mastery.

I guard my treasures: my thoughts, my will, my freedom. And the greatest of these is freedom.