In this paper reflection on the research legacy, especially in the subject of the Polish and Russian intelligentsia, by Andrzej Walicki is undertaken. The following issues were accepted as the source of inspiration for discussion about specificity of the intelligentsia and its present calling: interdependence between intellectual and moral researcher’s growth and the topics he investigates, individual freedom in the light of liberal values, ideological quests of the Polish and Russian intelligentsia, the motives for initiation Poland‑Russia dialogue inspired and conducted by their intellectual elites, on the basis of their typological similarity. The problem of creative power of words and using them as a tool for protecting the space of individual freedom is discussed from the angle of the triad: „words – deeds – values”, suggested by Walicki in his research paper.