Mikhail Gorbachev Quotes

Every US President has to have a war.

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

At times of profound, fundamental change in the foundations of social development it is not only senseless but impossible to expect some sort of previously worked out "model" or a clear-cut outline of the transformations that will take place. This does not mean, however, the absence of a definite goal for the reforms, a distinct conception of their content and the main direction of their development.

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

Life is much richer and more complex than even the most perfect plans to make it better. It ultimately takes vengeance for attempts to impose abstract schemes, even with the best of intentions. Perestroika has made us understand this about our past, and the actual experience of recent years has taught us to reckon with the most general laws of civilization.

The time has come to develop integrated global policies.

If the Russian word " perestroika " has easily entered the international lexicon, this is due to more than just interest in what is going on in the Soviet Union. Now the whole world needs restructuring, i.e. progressive development, a fundamental change.

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

The world will not accept dictatorship or domination.

Further global progress is now possible only through a quest for universal consensus in the movement towards a new world order.

God has given us enough wisdom to make improvements in our relations.

What about Jesus Christ? I say that he was a precursor of idealists; a precursor of socialists.

To me, nature is sacred; trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals.

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 new European Soviet.

The soviet people want full-blooded and unconditional democracy.

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

Every part of our program of perestroika - and the program as a whole, for that matter - is fully based on the principle of more socialism and more democracy.

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.

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant ... has painfully affected the Soviet people, and shocked the international community. For the first time, we confront the real force of nuclear energy, out of control.

Contemporary social democracy is what I believe is the right concept.

For a new type of progress throughout the world to become a reality, everyone must change. Tolerance is the alpha and omega of a new world order.

History teaches us, however, that when the times are ripe for change and the government refuses or is unable to change, either society starts to decay or a revolution begins.

We used to have just one criterion and that was profit, and then another criterion was added - social welfare. Now we have to add the third important criterion, and that is nature and the environment.

Many people who live in big countries like ours thought that we had resources that would work for us for many, many years, but that was a mistake. Our natural wealth corrupted us. In this country, you were among the first to raise environmental issues. In Russia, despite all of its problems today, people are concerned about the environment, and it's become a central issue on the agenda.

The socialist tradition ... goes back to Jesus Christ,
not (Karl) Marx.

When I cleared out Moscow apartment after stepping down as president, they found all kinds of wiring in the walls. It turned out that they had been spying on me all along.

Montreal, this wonderful town ... Pearl of Canada, Pearl of the world.

I don't think Russia is setting this as a goal; I don't think this should be Russia's goal. I think even the United States doesn't need to be a superpower. China doesn't need to be a superpower. It's a different world.

It sometimes seems to me that some of our Western partners do not want Russia to fully recover. They would like Russia to be in a subdued state, and they want Russian resources to be used for the benefit of the U.S. economy.

Politics is my second love, next to my love for Raisa [Gorbacheva].

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.

Democracy must learn to defend itself.

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

The phenomenon of UFOs does exist, and it must be treated seriously.

The threat of environmental crisis is the 'international disaster key' to unlock the New World Order.

In our discussions here at the forum there was no trace of the futile debate about what is better, capitalism or socialism ... We should seek a synthesis of ideas and values that have proven their viability ...

The most important thing is who counts the votes.

I think the environmental problem will be the number one item on the agenda of the 21st century ... This is a problem that cannot be postponed.

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.

Sometimes, the decisions have to be taken in minutes, even seconds, and there would be no time to make the right decision. We understood that this could have ended in catastrophe.

It is better to see once than to hear a hundred times.

In effect, according to Lenin, socialism and democracy are indivisible. By gaining democratic freedoms the working masses come to power.

Lake Baikal in Russia has 25 percent of the freshwater resources of the world. Sixty-five percent of the Russian ecosystems are in danger. So let's preserve what we have, and let's take good care of nature.

We won't survive if someone loses their nerves in the current tension.

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

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

Our rockets can find Halley's comet, and fly to Venus with amazing accuracy, but side by side with these scientific and technical triumphs is an obvious lack of efficiency in using scientific achievements for economic needs ... many Soviet household appliances are of poor quality.

The social model of the Bolsheviks failed, as will any model that denies individual rights, intellectual freedom, and freedom of competing political parties. Without these freedoms and rights, there is no motivation for people to work. Such a system cannot be sustained, especially in light of the technological revolution of the information era.

A New World Order is required to deal with the Climate Change crisis.

A period of transition to a new quality in all spheres of society's life is accompanied by painful phenomena. When we were initiating perestroika we failed to properly assess and foresee everything. Our society turned out to be hard to move off the ground, not ready for major changes which affect people's vital interests and make them leave behind everything to which they had become accustomed over many years. In the beginning we imprudently generated great expectations, without taking into account the fact that it takes time for people to realize that all have to live and work differently, to stop expecting that new life would be given from above.

We are beginning to see practical support. And this is a very significant sign of the movement towards a new era, a new age ... We see both in our country and elsewhere ... ghosts of the old thinking ... When we rid ourselves of their presence, we will be better able to move toward a new world order ... relying on the relevent mechanisms of the United Nations.

New approaches are needed, new orientations in both thought and action. We must make the transition to a new civilization ... We are talking of a transition toward a new civilization. No one knows what it will be like. What is important is to orient in that direction ... I am convinced that a new civilization will inevitably take on certain features that are characteristic of, or inherent in, the socialist ideal.

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

If you want Russia to be a real fully developed partner, then America should invest in Russia and activate Russia as a strong nation.

We were nearly one of the last to realize that in the age of
information science the most expensive asset is knowledge.

I have long ago made a final and irrevocable decision. Nothing and no one, no pressure, cither from the right or from the left, will make me abandon the positions of perestroika and new thinking. I do not intend to change my views or convictions. My choice is a final one.

For the first time ever, we have confronted in reality the sinister power of uncontrolled nuclear energy.

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.

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

The EU is the old Soviet Union dressed in Western clothes

Ex-Presidents of the United States get state subsidies. Not so in Russia. You get no government support.

The problem the world faces today is that only one-third of the world's population lives in decent circumstances, while half the population of the world lives on one or two dollars a day. And even as we have this poverty and backwardness, we are facing a global environmental crisis. We need developmental models that will take into account the specific and unique position of each country and at the same time will address the environmental crisis.

One day we took each other by the hand and went for a walk in the evening. And we walked like that for our whole life.

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

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

One of the reasons why this country undertook military action in Iraq was that there are quite a few problems here, and perhaps attention needed to be deflected from those problems. It sometimes seems that the U.S. economy works successfully only if it gets a stimulus from the defense industry. So perhaps in addition to showing the power and the might of the United States internationally, another reason was to help the defense industry and to help the U.S. economy recover.

I'm still committed to the socialist idea because the socialist idea, correctly understood, includes the principles of freedom and social justice. It also includes the recognition of the value of democracy. When we speak about social justice, it means that freedom should be used not only in the interest of profit but also in the interest of the advancement of the people who create all values.

People, human beings with all their creative diversity, are the makers of history.

There should be competition and exchanges between different countries, but there are certainly certain universal values, and that is freedom and democracy.

We desperately need to recognize that we are the guests not the masters of nature and adopt a new paradigm for development, based on the costs and benefits to all people, and bound by the limits of nature herself rather than the limits of technology and consumerism.

History is a capricious creature. It depends on who writes it.

Communist ideology in its pure form is akin to
Christianity. Its main ideas are the brotherhood of all
peoples irrespective of their nationality, justice and
equality, peace, and an end to all hostility between
peoples.

Americans have a severe disease - worse than AIDS. It's called the winner's complex.

In Russia, there are those who make their money in criminal ways, but I earn everything myself.

You cannot go to sleep with one form of economic system and wake up the next morning with another.

If current technological processes continue without change, the environment will change, and we, the human species, will either have to mutate or even die, to disappear, as many species have disappeared.

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.

Though representatives of many ethnic groups came together in the United States, English became their common language. Apparently, this was a natural choice. One can imagine what would have happened if members of each nation moving to the U.S. had spoken only their own tongues and refused to learn English.

It's America calling the shots in everything

Being resolute today means to act within the framework of political and social pluralism and the rule of law to provide conditions for continued reform and prevent a breakdown of the state and economic collapse, prevent the elements of chaos from becoming catastrophic.
All this requires taking certain tactical steps, to search for various ways of addressing both short- and long-term tasks. Such efforts and political and economic steps, agreements based on reasonable compromise, are there for everyone to see.

Please remember one lesson of the 20th century. One cannot force happiness, impose happiness on nations by imposing any kind of utopia on others. The Communist model of society was a kind of imposed utopia for which the Russian people in particular paid a great price. Still, sometimes we see that attempts are being made to impose some other kind of model on the entire world - maybe a Westernized or Americanized model ... This is not the way to go because this can only create conflict.

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.

The time has come to choose a new direction of global development, to opt for a new civilization.

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

The United States found dozens of billions of dollars for military action in Iraq, so it should certainly be able to find a few billions of dollars to get rid of weapons of mass destruction. I'll assume that since the most powerful nation - the United States - has promised to pay for much of this, then its word will be kept. If it isn't, I don't think we can have a true partnership.

The world's 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.

In principle as a philosophy, a model of organising society, Communism has to be respected. As regards the use of certain methods to advance social justice and greater regulation by the state, there are certain methods that are useful. What we need is a new society, a new civilization and convergence of all that is best in both [Communism and Capitalism]

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

I paid too heavy a price for perestroika.

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

I remember Secretary of State [George] Shultz one day saying that America is an economic model for the world. I replied to him that America represents 5 percent of the world's population and consumes 30 percent of the world's energy. What if everyone in the world lives like Americans? Where do we get the energy for this standard of living?

We are all passengers aboard one ship, the Earth, and we must not allow it to be wrecked. There will be no second Noah's Ark.

I believe in the cosmos. All of us are linked to the cosmos.

If you are not moving forward, you are moving backward.

In October 1917, we parted with the old world, rejecting it once and for all. We are moving toward a new world, a world of Communism. We shall never turn off that road.

Water, like religion and ideology, has the power to move millions of people. Since the very birth of human civilization, people have moved to settle close to it. People move when there is too little of it. People move when there is too much of it. People journey down it. People write, sing and dance about it. People fight over it. And all people, everywhere and every day, need it.

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.

According to Lenin, socialism and democracy are indivisible ... The essence of perestroika lies in the fact that it unites socialism with democracy and revives the Leninist concept of socialist construction both in theory and in practice. We want more socialism and, therefore, more democracy.

Not only America but all countries should think together about how the enormous might of the sole remaining superpower should be used. We need a leadership that is based on partnership, a leadership that unites nations and makes it possible to solve the problems of the globe together. Otherwise, we will have another Gold Rush for a superpower that wants to gain even greater advantages, that wants to gain an absolutely new position for itself. That would lead to a perverse utopia.