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.
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More from Lech Walesa
"My strength comes from the people."
"I am not an angel, but I have never sold out Poland."
"I am a realist. I know that you cannot change everything overnight."
"The world is changing, and we must change with it. But we must not lose our values."
"I prefer to be a prophet without honor in my own country than a politician with no principles."
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.