Mikhail Kalashnikov Quotes

The fact that people die because of an AK-47 is not because of the designer, but because of politics.

I have continued to work at different things, and rebuilt my home all by myself. I did it for the sake of satisfaction at doing something. I did it because I happened to be where I was.

My aim was to create armaments to protect the borders of my motherland. It is not my fault that the Kalashnikov became very well-known in the world; that it was used in many troubled places. I think the policies of these countries are to blame, not the designers. Man is born to protect his family, his children, his wife. But I want you to know that apart from armaments, I have written three books in which I try to educate our youth to show respect for their families, for old people, for history.

Life is composed of different inventions.

Any designer believes his gun is the best, and when its test performance is a bit less impressive compared to others, he feels bitterness and envy.

I am still ready to shake hands with anyone who designs a better assault rifle than mine.

I was trying to perform as best as possible. I was a boy at the time, but worked well with the sickle.

My spiritual pain is unbearable. I keep having the same unsolved question: if my rifle claimed people's lives, then can it be that I a Christian and an Orthodox believer, was to blame for their deaths?

We had grain but no mills, so I designed a special mill of wood so we could make flour.

I wanted to invent an engine that could run for ever. I could have developed a new train, had I stayed in the railway. It would have looked like the AK-47 though.

I made it to protect the motherland.

I've always wanted to improve and expand on the good name of my weapon by doing good things.

People often ask me how I feel about my invention being used to kill people every day and the AK being a common weapon of ethnic conflicts. I want to make it clear that I created my assault rifle to protect my country. You can blame politicians for its spreading out of control on a global scale.

I shot with it a lot. I still do now. That is why I am hard of hearing.

I was probably born with some designing abilities.

I had to gain experience as I did not have a technical education.

It is painful for me to see when criminal elements of all kinds fire from my weapon.

Then it was like a genie out of the bottle and it began to walk all on its own and in directions I did not want.

I sleep well. It's the politicians who are to blame for failing to come to an agreement and resorting to violence.

When I see Bin Laden with his AK-47, I got nervous. But what can I do, terrorists aren't fools: they too chose the most reliable guns.

I tried a dozen different modifications that were rejected. But they all served as a path to the final design.

Life can make you do many things, even kiss a man with a runny nose.