Mikhail Gorbachev

It is better to discuss things to argue and engage in polemics than make perfidious plans of mutual destruction.

Imagine a country that flies into space, launches Sputniks, creates such a defense system, and it can't resolve the problem of women's pantyhose. There's no toothpaste, no soap powder, not the basic necessities of life. It was incredible and humiliating to work in such a government.

Certain people in the United States are driving nails into this structure of our relationship, then cutting off the heads. So the Soviets must use their teeth to pull them out.

If people don't like Marxism, they should blame the British Museum.

The model of the consumer society is something that will one day end. My personal view is that too much consumption is wrong.

The worlds deteriorating ecology poses as great a danger to mankind today as did the nuclear standoff between the superpowers at the height of the Cold War.

Starting reforms in the Soviet Union was only possible from above, only from above. Any attempt to go from below was suppressed, suppressed in a most resolute way.

Sometimes when you stand face to face with someone, you cannot see his face.

I think we need more young people; we need to elect young people to government. We need to give them a chance, in the media, in politics, in democracy.

The market is not an invention of capitalism. It has existed for centuries. It is an invention of civilization.

My life's work has been accomplished. I did all that I could.

We must treat water as if it were the most precious thing in the world, the most valuable natural resource. Be economical with water! Don't waste it! We still have time to do something about this problem before it is too late.

Peace is not unity in similarity but unity in diversity in the comparison and conciliation of differences

We are not abandoning our convictions, our philosophy or traditions, nor do we urge anyone to abandon theirs.

If what you have done yesterday still looks big to you, you haven't done much today.

The soviet people want full-blooded and unconditional democracy.

I am a Communist, a convinced Communist! For some that may be a fantasy. But to me it is my main goal.

It would be naive to think that the problems plaguing mankind today can be solved with means and methods which were applied or seemed to work in the past.

I say again that I am an atheist. I do not believe in God.

Political leaders still think things can be done through force, but that cannot solve terrorism. Backwardness is the breeding ground of terror, and that is what we have to fight.

I believe, as Lenin said, that this revolutionary chaos may yet crystallize into new forms of life.

Democracy must learn to defend itself.

I couldn't wait to get to the most powerful position, because I thought then I would be able to fix problems that only the leader can fix. But when I got there, I realized we needed revolutionary change.

I paid too heavy a price for perestroika.

Sometimes it's difficult to accept, to recognise one's own mistakes, but one must do it. I was guilty of overconfidence and arrogance, and I was punished for that.

America must be the teacher of democracy, not the advertiser of the consumer society. It is unrealistic for the rest of the world to reach the American living standard.

Without perestroika, the cold war simply would not have ended. But the world could not continue developing as it had, with the stark menace of nuclear war ever present.

It is a worthy reward for his efforts over many years. He is a man who does his job solidly and responsibly.

Every country should conduct its own reforms, should develop its own model, taking into account the experience of other countries, whether close neighbours or far away countries.

I grew up in a family of peasants, and it was there that I saw the way that, for example, our wheat fields suffered as a result of dust storms, water erosion and wind erosion; I saw the effect of that on life - on human life.

The world will not accept dictatorship or domination.

Sometimes people ask me why I began perestroika. Were the causes basically domestic or foreign? The domestic reasons were undoubtedly the main ones, but the danger of nuclear war was so serious that it was a no less significant factor.

We need a new environmental consciousness on a global basis. To do this we need to educate people.

The market came with the dawn of civilization and it is not an invention of capitalism. If it leads to improving the well-being of the people there is no contradiction with socialism.

Ideological and political intolerance, even with the best and most sincere intentions, produces results that are the direct opposite of those intended.

More socialism means more democracy, openness and collectivism in everyday life.

Surely, God on high has not refused to give us enough wisdom to find ways to bring us an improvement in relations between the two great nations on earth.

What we need is Star Peace and not Star Wars.

The forests of Russia and Brazil are the lungs of the Earth.

If not me, who? And if not now, when?

Democracy is the wholesome and pure air without which a socialist public organization cannot live a full-blooded life.

Those who are late will be punished by life itself.

Jesus was the first socialist, the first to seek a better life for mankind.

It is better to discuss things, to argue and engage in polemics than make perfidious plans of mutual destruction.

We could only solve our problems by cooperating with other countries. It would have been paradoxical not to cooperate. And therefore we needed to put an end to the Iron Curtain, to change the nature of international relations, to rid them of ideological confrontation, and particularly to end the arms race.

It seems that the most important thing about Reagan was his anti-Communism and his reputation as a hawk who saw the Soviet Union as an 'evil empire.'

A society should never become like a pond with stagnant water, without movement. That's the most important thing.