Mikhail Gorbachev Quotes (45 Quotes)

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

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

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.

Without glasnost there is not, and there cannot be, democratism, the political creativity of the masses and their participation in management.

I think the United States is sick. It suffers from the sickness, the disease of being the victor and it needs to cure itself from this disease.

The soviet people want full-blooded and unconditional democracy.

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

Democracy must learn to defend itself.

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.'

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.

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

As a human being, I want to support Boris Nikolayevich (Yeltsin) and wish him recovery, ... the president's health is also a political matter.

Gorbachev, who once said the collapse of the Iron Curtain would have been impossible without the pope, said the pontiff condemned communism during the two's first meeting in 1989, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. We had a really interesting, albeit perhaps too emotional conversation, ... He told me he ... was very, very critical of communism.

At the Air Force One ceremony, Bush recalled Reagan's 1982 prediction in London that freedom and democracy would leave communism on the ash heap of history ... tear down this wall.

It will not be enough to rely on experts. Ordinary citizens must become experts too. It will take public opinion on a wide scale to ensure that world leaders act.

America has a right to be a leader, ... this leadership should be realized through partnership, not domination.

Reagan was a statesman who, despite all disagreements that existed between our countries at the time, displayed foresight and determination to meet our proposals halfway and change our relations for the better, stop the nuclear race, start scrapping nucle

While adhering to his convictions, with which one could agree or disagree, he was not dogmatic he was looking for negotiations and cooperation. And this was the most important thing to me he had the trust of the American people.

Taking into consideration Lenin's will and wishes of his family, we must bury his body according to all principles of human morality, although we should find an appropriate time for it.

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

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.

French President Jacques Chirac sent his very sincere condolences ... during this cruel ordeal.

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

The world will not accept dictatorship or domination.

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

A true leader, a man of his word and an optimist, he traveled the journey of his life with dignity and faced courageously the cruel disease that darkened his final years. He has earned a place in history and in people's hearts.

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.

was committed to the principles of democracy to his dying days.

Those who want Russia to continue to grow in IT should work with Russian companies, with our science centers and with our software companies, ... Now is the time to go to Russia with investment.

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.

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

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

A birthday party will be a modest one, and I shall celebrate it with relatives and friends.

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

What we need is Star Peace and not Star Wars.

In Russia, he Roosevelt is held in high regard, perhaps no less than in this country, ... In Russia, we appreciate his New Deal.

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

Our enemy sees us clearly. They will not start a war. They're worried about one thing If democracy develops here, if we succeed, we will win.

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

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

The pope did everything possible to help humanity out of its era of hate.

The Berlin Wall was a mark of contradictions in the world, and it became a mark of radical changes in the world which touched the majority of humankind, ... But the way towards abolishing it was long and painful.

Those who knew him remember how much his position and voice meant in difficult times when all the changes started and when people needed faithful, honest, truthful and courageous words.

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

Of course I invited Bush and Margaret Thatcher and (Spanish former prime minister) Felipe Gonzalez, but we are already at an age where it's not that easy to just travel somewhere.