Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Quotes

It is normal to give away a little of one's life in order not to lose it all.

If you want to get along, go along.

Any man who does not accept the conditions of life sells his soul.

A sacrifice is best refuted by accepting it.

A lot of people, some of them close to me as well, have said that I sacrificed myself by doing what I did in bringing Terry on board. I didn't see it that way.

That human beings seek their own well-being and that of those close to them is not an especially provocative discovery. What is important is that this universal aspect of human nature persists no matter what economic system is in place; it merely expresses itself in different forms.

The right must ... yield to the expedient.

Better bow than break.

Sometimes you're going to be shoved into a corner, and even though it's against your principles, against the way that you like to play the game, you're going to have to protect your own players.

To succeed you must add water to your wine, until there is no more wine.

Altruism accrues little benefit to those lying cold in the gutter.

To bear lightly the neck's yoke brings strength; but kicking against the goads is the way of failure.

When the wind blows,the grass bends.

No relationship is perfect, ever. There are always some ways you have to bend, to compromise, to give something up in order to gain something greater.

There is nothing to which men, while they have food and drink, cannot reconcile themselves.

Lord, I am willing To receive what You give. To lack what You withhold. To relinquish what You take, To suffer what You inflict, To be what you require.

I prefer granting with a good grace what I know I shan't be able to prevent.

Let's just say that where a change was required, I adjusted. In every relationship that exists, people have to seek a way to survive. If you really care about the person, you do what's necessary, or that's the end. For the first time, I found that I really could change, and the qualities I most admired in myself I gave up. I stopped being loud and bossy... Oh, all right. I was still loud and bossy, but only behind his back.

I generally had to give in.

Everyday is a compromise.

And no relationship is perfect, ever. There are always some ways you have to bend, to compromise, to give something up in order to gain something greater.

There is nothing wrong with compromising. Even if you compromise almost everything.

Surrender, but don’t give yourself away.

In a troubled state we must do as in foul weather upon a river, not think to cut directly through, for the boat may be filled with water; but rise and fall as the waves do, and give way as much as we conveniently can.

All of us are subjected to somebody else's power at some point. So once in a while you kiss ass. So what? Either you make your peace with that early, or you end up living your life as a crank and a misfit.