Alexander solzhenitsyn harvard commencement address

Alexandr Solzhenitsyn

A World Split Apart

delivered 8 June 1978, Harvard University

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[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio English translation]

I am sincerely happy to be here on the occasion of the 327th commencement of this old and most prestigious university.

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My congratulations and very best wishes to all of today's graduates.

Harvard's motto is "VERITAS." Many of you have already found out, and others will find out in the course of their lives, that truth eludes us if we do not concentrate our attention totally on it's pursuit. But even while it eludes us, the illusion of knowing it still lingers and leads to many misunderstandings.

Also, truth seldom is pleasant; it is almost invariably bitter. There is some bitterness in my today's speech too, but I want to stress that it comes not from an adversary, but from a friend.

Three years ago in the United States I said certain things which Harvard Address - YouTube VYGIP