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# Ivan Bunin on freedom of thought and conscience in his 1933 Nobel Prize speech
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/vpervye-so-vremeni-uchrezhdeniia-nobelevskoi-premii-vy-prisudili-ee-izgnanniku/
- Published: 2026-10-03T08:20:23.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-04T11:58:30.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archive, Books, People

> For the first time since the establishment of the Nobel Prize you have awarded it to an exile. For who am I? An exile enjoying the hospitality of France, to which I, too, shall for ever remain grateful. Gentlemen of the Academy, allow me, leaving aside my own person and my works, to tell you how fine your gesture is in itself. There must exist in the world spheres of complete independence. Undoubtedly, around this table are representatives of every shade of opinion, of every philosophical and religious belief. But there is something unshakeable that unites us all: freedom of thought and conscience, that to which we owe civilisation. For a writer this freedom is especially necessary: for him it is a dogma, an axiom

From the speech of Ivan Bunin on the occasion of the presentation of the Nobel Prize to him in 1933

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/10/file_170.jpg)