Quote of the Day/Week- Lech Walesa

Today, we begin our month-long series of quotes from famous people associated with eight of the 16 countries participating in the Euro 2012 soccer championships, which most people here in the United States will probably follow as closely as water polo, with the exception of rabid D.C. United fans of course!

We start with a quip from Lech Walesa, 69, the Nobel Prize winner and former prime minister of Poland, one of two countries along with Ukraine that is hosting the cup.

Walesa was born in 1943 in the north central Polish village of Popowo. He came to prominence by leading the anti-communist solidarity movement in the 1980s, which lead to him winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983.

Walesa then became the first prime minister in post-Iron Curtain in Poland in December of 1990; he held the post for five years.

On a personal note, we had also hoped that Turkey (my late father's country) had qualified as well as Slovenia, since we really wanted to quote philosopher Slavoj Zizek again (he is always amusing).

But, Walesa is a vintage persona in himself and here is his quote:

"He who puts out his hand to stop history will have his fingers crushed."


http://www.dcunited.com

http://poland.travel/en-us

http://www.zizekstudies.org