Nadezhda Tolokonnikova Quotes & Sayings

I believe in fate. And in the depths of my soul, I am an Orthodox Christian. I think the New Testament is especially important. What Jesus and his disciples preached and did was a great thing. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

Modern capitalism seeks to assure us that it operates according to the principles of free creativity, endless development and diversity. It glosses over its other side in order to hide the reality that millions of people are enslaved by an all-powerful and fantastically stable norm of production. We want to reveal this lie. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

I support equality. Everyone should feel free to live out the parts of their personality that correspond to the classic male or female image. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

We are reviled but we do not intend to speak evil in return. We are in desperate straits but do not despair. We are persecuted but not forsaken. It's easy to humiliate and crush people who are open, but when I am weak, then I am strong. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

The incomprehensible pleases us, the inexplicable is our friend. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

In May 2013, my lawyer Dmitry Dinze filed a complaint about the conditions at PC-14 with the prosecutor's office. The deputy head of the colony, Lieutenant Colonel Kupriyanov, instantly made conditions at the camp unbearable. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

Thus, the word is more essential than cement. Thus, the word is not a small nothing. In this manner, noble people begin to grow, and their word will break cement. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

Men should also pay attention to their appearance and occasionally use cosmetics. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

It is possible to tolerate anything as long as it only affects you. But the method of collective punishment is bigger than that. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

Mordovian prisoners are afraid of their own shadows. They are completely terrified. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

Pussy Riot is a mask: a symplifying, modernizing mask. Prison, confinement, these are also masks, different masks, ones that help people of our generation to shake off cynicism and irony. When you put on a mask, you leave your own time, you abandon the world in which any sincerity will be mocked, you move into the world of cartoon heroes, where Sailor Moon and Spiderman, those consummate modern role models, can be found. (...) The masks that members of Pussy Riot wear hold, if any, a therapeutic function: yes, we belong to a generation raised on irony, but we also put on masks to reduce that impotent irony. We go out in the streets and speak plainly, without varnish, about the things that matter most. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

We are the rebels asking for the storm, and believing that truth is only to be found in an endless search. If the 'World Spirit' touches you, do not expect that it will be painless. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

There are areas of official life in the United States that are similar to Russia. For example: disbursement of protest, and the way American prisons are run, which is pretty tough. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

Every woman with a career has to make sacrifices when it comes to her children. It's no different with me, as a political activist, than with businesswomen, of which there are thankfully more and more in Russia. Or a female cabinet minister. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

I gained an inner peace, the serenity of a prisoner, so to speak. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

We see pluralism: We can see that there are different ideological and political positions in Russia. If the authoritarianism finally ends, we will have real competition. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

I was treated better than others, simply because there was so much public attention. In my case, they did adhere to the eight-hour workday required by law. The other women were often forced to slave away for up to 16 hours a day. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

When I am weak, then I am strong. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

As a child, I wanted to go into advertising. I had a love affair with the advertising industry. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

I will not remain silent, resigned to watch as my fellow prisoners collapse under the strain of slavery-like conditions. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

The Olympics create a space for the complete destruction of human rights in Russia. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

The words we spoke and our entire punk performance aimed to express our disapproval of a specific political event: the patriarchs' support of Vladimir Putin, who has taken an authoritarian and anti-feminist course. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

If I am a sex symbol, it's certainly not in the classic sense. I'm opposed to the traditional image of a woman's role. — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

Listen to us rather than to Arkady Mamontov talking about us. Don't twist and distort everything we say. Let us enter into dialogue and contact with the country, which is ours too, not just Putin's and the Patriarch's. Like Solzhenitsyn, I believe that in the end, words will crush concrete. Solzhenitsyn wrote, 'the word is more sincere than concrete, so words are not trifles. Once noble people mobilize, their words will crush concrete.' — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova