Karel Domorázek

“ The Habsburg-Roman combination which intended to exterminate the whole Czecho-Slovakian Nation had to recognise that there can be no victory in a fight against Justice and that the dream of Tyrš – Freedom of Czecho-Slovakia – had been realised.
Reality proved many of his sentences by which he encouraged his nation to intense work and true life; „The destiny of nations never has been decided on battle-fields; it was already determinated before the fight. No nation in the world, even if small, can perish so long as it is strong and valorous. Only decayed nations perish. ”

“ The same qualities which once assured the victory of our forefathers – industry, moral virtue, valour – also became the aim of Tyrš’s endeavours in the Sokol-union. Only an ethical and sublime nation can be persuaded of the necessity of progress and eternal evolution. . . Rarely is a situation so perfect that amelioration is impossible.“ Only an ethical nation feels an aversion against lazy contentment; only in such a country „every man is ready to confess his errors and to find pleasure in the inventions and the progress of other men, just as though they were his own! ”

“ The persecution of the Czech people became more and more brutal, yet hatred against Austria entertained common discipline. All were united in hate and in love. Abroad in Russia, France and Italy a new generation of God’s warriors arose, ready to struggle and die for the freedom of those who are „at home“. They never doubted but that victory would come to those whose cause was right.
Tyrš said: „Personality is nothing – totality is all.“ „The fewer we are, the more reliance will be placed on every man.“ Let us prepare ourselves for a better future by exercising our body and our mind. ”

“ He had studied history and knew how important a part health plays in the evolution of a people. Darwin, „the immortal Briton“, had persuaded him of the necessity of the „struggle for life“, a fight in which health is the best arm. Bodily health and strength are the first conditions of courage, perseverance and readiness for action: they are therefore indispensable for the preservation of the species. In order to suppress brutality and violence, strength must be mastered by discipline. ”

“ Tyrš says: „He, whose efforts aim at mastering nature by industrious life and at freeing nations in order to further their evolution and at enabling them to join freely other civilised nations – that is our brother. Every one who knows the high value of national freedom must strive for it. Patriotism must direct all our activity. ”

“ Tyrš experienced on himself the beneficent influence of gymnastics. Being the son of a delicate mother, he began to practice gymnastics on his doctor’s advice and trained himself until he actually became stout. In founding the first Sokol-union, he thought of a brotherhood of generous men devoted to the common cause and convinced of the equality of all. In his words, „the Sokol-union has been founded for all classes.“
If the physical education of the working-classes is well organised, so that the leisure hours are employed in rational gymnastic exercises, even national economy profits by it. ”

“ Tyrš said: „To be free in society means to acknowledge its laws and to subordinate one self to them willingly.“ „Personal interests have to be subordinated to the common ones and vanity must be suppressed.“ Common interest and the public weal have to be the aim of all our efforts. ”

“ Knowing the difference between immoral egotism and the morally admissible feelings of pride, of self-consciousness and of the desire of individual freedom, he became the propagator of brotherhood in the most human sense of the word . ”

“ In these essays he treated the genesis of the works of art which appeared to him the original expression of national creative forces. According to Tyrš it is every nation’s duty to care for the education of its artists and its public. (This educational aim also led to his activity in „Umělecká Beseda“, an artististic association.) Art must be national and characteristical. He studied the laws of genius, and showed how to understand works of art. ”

“ As each control of the body is connected with the activity of the muscles, and as each harmonious movement requires constant control, therefore constant exertion of the muscles, it results that strength, perseverance and an elastic dexterity are built up without which strength resembles to brute force. ”

“ He invariably paid great attention to aesthetics. Thanks to his profound studies and long travel in foreign countries he was thoroughly versed in aesthetical matters. Having been a second time refused admission to the University of Prague by a clique of German professors, he became a lecturer on the history of art at the Czech polytechnic school. Although in the years 1860 to 1870 he wrote but articles on Sokol-matters, he published in 1870 many critical and aesthetic essays on the conditions of evolution and success in artistic creation (1873) , a translation from Taine (1873) ”

“ It amounts to thousands or millions of men and constitues a great and irreparable loss in national economy. This economical side of the question is so serious and commonly acknowledged that it is able to resist all prejudices. ”