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In recent times it has been fashionable to talk of the levelling of nations, of the disappearance of different races in the melting-pot of contemporary civilization. I do not agree with this opinion, but its discussion remains another question. Here it is merely fitting to say that the disappearance of nations would have impoverished us no less than if all men had become alike, with one personality and one face. Nations are the wealth of mankind, its collective personalities; the very least of them wears its own special colours and bears within itself a special facet of divine intention.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn#26

HumanityCultureIdentityTraditionDiversityNationNational identity

About this quote

What does it mean?
Nations retain distinct identities that enrich humanity; losing them would impoverish us as much as making all people identical.
In plain terms
Diverse nations make the world richer, not poorer.
What can you take from it?
Preserve cultural uniqueness as a collective asset.

Where it applies

  • cultural preservation
  • international relations
  • globalization debates

Putting it to work

  • learn about foreign cultures
  • support local traditions
  • avoid cultural erasure

Questions to consider

  • What makes your culture unique?
  • Is global uniformity good or bad?

Another view

Some degree of global standardization may be necessary for cooperation.

More from Alexander Solzhenitsyn

  1. Who will co-ordinate these value scales, and how? Who will create for mankind one system of interpretation, valid for good and evil deeds, for the unbearable a…

    Permalink to quote #25
  2. Woe to that nation whose literature is disturbed by the intervention of power. Because that is not just a violation against 'freedom of print', it is the closi…

    Permalink to quote #27
  3. The divergent scales of values scream in discordance, they dazzle and daze us, and in order that it might not be painful we steer clear of all other values, as…

    Permalink to quote #24

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