Lech Walesa — "Democracy is when people can spit in my face, and I have to wipe it off."
Democracy is when people can spit in my face, and I have to wipe it off.
Get This Quote & Author's Image Illustrated On:
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
Kitchen
Apparel
Other
More from Lech Walesa
"I am a man of compromise, but I will not compromise on principles."
"Freedom is not a gift; it must be fought for every day."
"I can only say that I am not a homosexual. I am a normal man."
"I am not a man who has read many books. I have read life."
"At a certain moment I had to descend from the trees and stop making faces ... I have simply begun to calculate, to be flexible and smart."
About Lech Walesa (born 1943)
Polish electrician who founded Solidarity in 1980, won the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize, and became the first post-communist president of Poland (1990-1995). Closely associated with Václav Havel (fellow Eastern-bloc dissident-turned-president) and Pope John Paul II (the Polish pope whose 1979 visit catalyzed Solidarity). For an intellectual contrast, see Wojciech Jaruzelski, Polish general and Communist leader — Jaruzelski imposed martial law in 1981, banned Solidarity, and interned Wałęsa. He represented the Soviet-backed institutional power Solidarity's nonviolent labor movement was organized to displace — they ultimately signed the 1989 Round Table Talks together that ended Polish communism.