Live Not by Lies

On this New Year’s Day, we are pleased to present to our readers the complete text of Solzhenitsyn’s seminal 1974 essay, Live Not by Lies, in the definitive translation by Yermolai Solzhenitsyn, also found in the Solzhenitsyn Reader. Live Not by Lies—a worthy resolution for this, or any other, New Year.

“Yes, at first it will not be fair. Someone will have to temporarily lose his job. For the young who seek to live by truth, this will at first severely complicate life, for their tests and quizzes, too, are stuffed with lies, and so choices will have to be made. But there is no loophole left for anyone who seeks to be honest: Not even for a day, not even in the safest technical occupations can he avoid even a single one of the listed choices—to be made in favor of either truth or lies, in favor of spiritual independence or spiritual servility. And as for him who lacks the courage to defend even his own soul: Let him not brag of his progressive views, boast of his status as an academician or a recognized artist, a distinguished citizen or general. Let him say to himself plainly: I am cattle, I am a coward, I seek only warmth and to eat my fill.”