Liu Xiaobo's Quotes

Free expression is the base of human rights, the root of human nature and the mother of truth. To kill free speech is to insult human rights, to stifle human nature and to suppress truth.

Hatred is corrosive of a person's wisdom and conscience; the mentality of enmity can poison a nation's spirit, instigate brutal life and death struggles, destroy a society's tolerance and humanity, and block a nation's progress to freedom and democracy.

I hope that I will be the last victim in China's long record of treating words as crimes.

I have viewed the West as if it were not only the salvation of China but also the natural and ultimate destination of all humanity.

The free world led by the U.S. fought almost all regimes that trampled on human rights.

The Internet is truly God's gift to the Chinese people.

The major wars that the U.S. became involved in are all ethically defensible.

In China the underworld and officialdom have interpenetrated and become one. Criminal elements have become officialized as officials have become criminalized.

My tendency to idealize Western civilization arises from my nationalistic desire to use the West in order to reform China. But this has led me to overlook the flaws of Western culture.