(CNN) -- The news of Vaclav Havel's death Sunday morning caught me by surprise, but it was hardly surprising.





When I last talked to the Czech playwright, politician and statesman was in March, at a party to celebrate the Prague premiere of a movie he'd directed of his final play, "Leaving."





He was already very frail.





Ever since 1996, when he lost half a lung to cancer after a lifetime of heavy smoking, he had seemed to be living on borrowed time. He'd been in the hospital several times since then, and had one or two near-death experiences, but he always managed to bounce back, and I wasn't alone in thinking he might be practically invincible.





In March, I was on my way to Egypt to take a closer look at the Arab Awakening, and I wanted Havel's permission to try to find someone in Cairo to translate his most influential essay -- 1978's "The Power of the Powerless," about non-violent opposition to tyranny -- into Arabic.





That essay had inspired the creation of the anti-Communist Solidarity trade union in Poland, and continues to give strength to dissidents in Cuba, China, and Burma who are longing for peaceful change. I thought some Arab readers might find it useful as well.





Before the premiere, Havel had been in the hospital yet again, but here he was now, sitting on a couch, a plaid scarf around his neck, sipping a glass of wine and working his way through what seemed like an endless line of people wanting to wish him well.





He seemed small, a shadow of the man who, in his prime, could talk to kings and presidents and rock stars and command a world stage.





When my turn came, I sat down beside him, congratulated him on the movie -- his first (and now only) foray into that medium -- and then put the question to him.





His voice was so low I had to lean in close to hear him. He gave me his blessing, and then said, "But do you think the Arabs are ready for democracy?"





His question caught me off guard, but I finally managed a reply: "I have no idea, but Vasek, were you guys ready for democracy back in 1989?" He smiled, and said, "I see your point."





The most amazing thing about those 1989 revolutions was not just how quickly they unfolded, but how much sheer improvisation went on.





Havel led an ad-hoc group called the Civic Forum that, within ten short days, managed to negotiate the Communist party out of power. They had no real idea what they were doing, and there were no guarantees about the outcome.





On the other hand, you could argue that Havel's entire life -- and the life of his peers -- had been one long preparation for that moment.





Havel, who died peacefully Sunday morning in his country home in north-east Bohemia, leaves behind so many legacies it's hard to know where to begin.





In the 1950s, he was an experimental poet; in the 1960s, a master essayist, radical playwright and feisty magazine editor; in the 1970s, an underground publisher, human rights activist, and ultimately a prisoner.





And -- perhaps holding it all together -- he was a bon-viveur who loved wine and company and could bring people together in an atmosphere of camaraderie and good cheer.





He brought all these qualities into the Prague Castle as president, first of Czechoslovakia and then, after the country broke up in 1993, of the Czech Republic.





He also remained, paradoxically, a very shy and gentle man with a will of steel, who was fearless when confronting a regime that tried, relentlessly, to crush his spirit, and who, to the very end of his tenure in office, suffered from stage-fright each time he had to entertain a head of state, or speak in public.





Above all, he was an intellectual who believed that words were not enough. A
What did Havel love? what activists are inspired what loved havel what did he believe in
wine and company anti-Communist Solidarity trade union wine and company that words were not enough.
question: What did Havel love?, answer: wine and company | question: what activists are inspired, answer: anti-Communist Solidarity trade union | question: what loved havel, answer: wine and company | question: what did he believe in, answer: that words were not enough.