“His peaceful resistance shook the foundations of an empire, exposed the emptiness of a repressive ideology and proved that moral leadership is more powerful than any weapon.”
President Barack Obama
“The rise of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe would have been unthinkable without him and his courageous words. I bow before this great champion for democracy and freedom.”
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle
“He was among the handful of true democratic champions, an artist more than a politician but an ambassador of the human conscience above all.”
Czech-born Madeleine Albright, former U.S. secretary of state
Havel was a “Cold War hero (who) . . . opened the door to democracy in Eastern Europe.”
British Foreign Secretary William Hague
“Mr. President, thank you for democracy.”
A note left in downtown Prague
