255 Quotes by Svetlana Alexievich

Nobody thought the Soviet Union would collapse; it was a shock for everyone.

What is life about? Two things: love and death.

We thought we'd leave communism behind, and everything would turn out fine. But it turns out you can't leave this and become free, because these people don't understand what freedom is.

When I was a child, women spoke to me of how all they had was their memories, how their husbands went to war and never came back, so many tragedies. That chorus of voices filled my consciousness. It was part of life itself.

From the point of view of art, the butcher and the victim are equal as people. You need to see the people.

I will never write fiction.

There are many oral historians in America, but my books are made using the rules of novel writing. I have a beginning, a plot, characters.

Journalists do not write about human feelings.

I couldn't get published for three years. Then the times changed: glasnost, perestroika. So, for three years, I wasn't allowed to publish 'The Unwomanly Face of War,' but then it changed.