Lech Walesa quotes

Quotes by and about Lech Walesa

(Continued from his main entry on the site.)

[Referring to John Paul II:]
Walesa: "A Pole [became] the Pope. A year later, he visited Poland and he told us, 'Don't be afraid. Change the face of this world.' And soon afterwards, we stopped fearing. The fear was gone. A year later ... I had 10 million supporting me, and I actually carried out the changing of the face of the world."

Walesa: "Elton John invited me to [his] concert and ... led me down to the front row, right next to the stage, where I sat down among the teenagers in the best seat in the house (I would have much preferred crouching down way in the back). When the music started it was as if 120-milimeter cannons had begun shelling, because I was seated right next to a tower of gigantic loudspeakers. I soon stopped hearing anything at all and wanted nothing more than to escape, but I was surrounded by a delirious crowd of young people swept away in obvious bliss. I gather it was a great concert. From time to time, Elton John would smile at me and wave, and I would signal back that everything was peachy. Internally, I was really swearing that never again would I let myself be dragged to a rock concert."

[Asked how important the church was in his life:]
Walesa: "As you know, my home country is located between two powerful nations, between Russia and Germany, who are very sociable peoples and they enjoy visiting one another, so they need to cross Poland on the way. That's why our geographical position was always tough, and we could only survive under certain circumstances. We could only survive as a nation thanks to our deep belief in God because we lived through some absolutely hopeless situations in history and on several occasions, we were erased as a country from the map of the world. But, thanks to our religious belief, we survived and in fact, we continue persisting. That's why this belief was always really deep, and it was tangible. It was not an old-fashioned religious belief - because we continue to be a religious people - but this is not really an outdated, old-fashioned religion, and beyond progress. Today the Polish people, myself included, find God in the newest-generation computer, because He is there. It's a question of people being able to find him there. He's very modern. He's a very modern God, and He's really very good to live with."