Gorbachev Quotes

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

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 ... ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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

The words spoken by the leader of the free world can expand the frontiers of freedom or shrink them. When Ronald Reagan called on Gorbachev to 'tear down this wall', a surge of confidence rose that would ultimately breach the bounds of the evil empire. ~ Mitt Romney

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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? ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

Gorbachev's stance contrasts admirably with the policy of the sainted Abraham Lincoln, who used massive force and mass murder to force the seceding Southern states to remain in the Union. ~ Murray Rothbard

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

The one person who didn't seem enthusiastic about giving a speech in Berlin was Obama. When Favreau and I talked to him about it, he didn't offer much beyond suggesting we use Berlin's story to talk about what we were proposing in our own foreign policy. Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected a request from the campaign for the speech to take place at the Brandenburg Gate, where Reagan had called on Gorbachev to tear down the wall, saying that the venue should be reserved for an actual president. When he learned about this, Obama was embarrassed and annoyed. "I never said I wanted to give a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate," he snapped. It spoke to a larger dynamic in the campaign: While Obama was often blamed for the cult of personality growing up around him - arty posters, celebrity anthems, and lavish settings for his events - he was rarely responsible for it, and worried that we were raising expectations too high in a world that has a way of resisting change.

"Before he left for Afghanistan, he read a draft of the speech and told us he was satisfied with it - "You could put this speech on the teleprompter and I'd be fine," he said - but I was hoping for more than that. I was hoping for edits that would elevate the speech and make it more than a summation of our worldview. The shift to a foreign audience hadn't been hard, as Obama's message about working across races "and religions, his preference for diplomacy over war, his embrace of the science of climate c ~ Ben Rhodes

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

Ideally, peace means the absence of violence. It is an ethical value. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

We had 10 years after the Cold War to build a new world order and yet we squandered them. The United States cannot tolerate anyone acting independently. Every US president has to have a war. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

A man writing a letter is a man in the act of thinking, and it was an exercise Reagan obviously enjoyed. After his first meeting with Gorbachev, for example, he sent a 'Dear Murph' letter about it to his old friend George Murphy, a former senator and actor who had once played Reagan's father in a film. ~ Russell Baker

The world will not accept dictatorship or domination. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

Kissinger warned about the dangers of dealing with the Soviet Union precisely at the moment that Reagan was able to achieve real accomplishments with Gorbachev. In later years he would move closer to the neocons, ultimately becoming a prominent supporter of the Iraq war - another sign of Kissinger`s almost infallible ability to get it wrong. ~ Jacob Heilbrunn

The Union was destroyed against the will of the people, and it was done deliberately - with the participation of the Russian leadership, on the one hand, and that of the putschists, on the other. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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

Strong countries and strong presidents talk to their adversaries. That's what Kennedy did with Khrushchev. That's what Reagan did with Gorbachev. That's what Nixon did with Mao. I mean think about it. Iran, Cuba, Venezuela - these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying we're going to wipe you off the planet. ~ Barack Obama

It is a great honor for me to be presented the award by Mikhail Gorbachev and also to be acknowledged with the World Actress Award at the Women World Awards Gala 2005. ~ Teri Hatcher

But how reassuring it was for us, you remember, every now and then ("Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall"), to vibrate to the music of the very heartstrings of the Leader of the Free World who, to qualify convincingly as such, had after all to feel a total commitment to the Free World. ~ William F. Buckley, Jr.

It's Bush's baby, even if he shares its popularization with Gorbachev. Forget the Hitler 'new order' root; F.D.R. used the phrase earlier. ~ William Safire

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

He [Mikhail Gorbachev] has, as many great leaders have, impressive eyes ... There's a kind of laser-beam stare, a forced quality, you get from Gorbachev that does not come across as something peaceful within himself. It's the look of a kind of human volcano, or he'd probably like to describe it as a human nuclear energy plant. ~ Dan Rather

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

The EU is the old Soviet Union dressed in Western clothes ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

Kami, do you have a weapon?"
"No, I do not have a fucking weapon!" Kami screamed over her shoulder. "Do you really think I'd risk going to jail for that Mexican whore?"
"Puerto Rican," Hawk muttered,rolling his eyes.
"Shut up, Gorbachev! ~ Madeline Sheehan

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

Mr. Gorbachev has apparently stumbled onto one of the best-kept secrets in recent Soviet history: Communism doesn't work. ~ Frank Zappa

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

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

There's a joke people tell in the Soviet Union: Mitterrand, Bush and Gorbachev have a meeting with God. Mitterrand says, 'My country faces many difficult problems-- lagging exports, Muslim minorities, European unification. How long will it be before France's problems are solved?' God says, 'Fifteen years.' Mitterrand begins to cry. 'I'm an old man,' says Mitterrand. 'I'll be dead by then. I'll never see France's problems solved.' Then Bush says, 'My country faces many difficult problems-- recession, crime, racial prejudice. How long will it be before America's problems are solved?' God says, 'Ten years.' Bush begins to cry. 'I'm an old man,' says Bush. 'I'll be out of office by then. I won't get any credit for solving America's problems.' Then Gorbachev says, 'My country faces many, many difficult problems. How long will it be before the Soviet Union's problems are solved?' God begins to cry. ~ P. J. O'Rourke

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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

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

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

Scholars have been arguing for a long time whether the Soviet Union could have been turned into some kind of social democracy. I doubt it myself. I think what Gorbachev didn't quite understand, until it was too late, is that his efforts at change unleashed new, certrifical forces he hadn't counted on. He opened the door a crack and a huge wind blew it open. ~ David Hoffman

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

Montreal, this wonderful town ... Pearl of Canada, Pearl of the world. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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

The role of Ronald Reagan had been deliberately diminished; the role of the Europeans, who, with the exception of Helmet Kohl, were often keen to undermine America when it mattered, had been sanitized; and the role of Mr. Gorbachev, who had failed spectacularly in his declared objective of saving communism and the Soviet Union, had been absurdly misunderstood. ~ Margaret Thatcher

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

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

In that case, do not expect to be rescued by the Red Army, Gorbachev said. ~ Ken Follett

Despite his deeply-held ideology, Reagan was willing to talk to Gorbachev. He willing to do business with him. We should realize that engaging with adversaries is often one of our great strengths. As long as we use the engagement to stand up for the things we care about, there is no harm in talking. ~ David Hoffman

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] ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

The forests of Russia and Brazil are the lungs of the Earth. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

The most important thing is who counts the votes. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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

There is message to the community that a non-governmental process is underway to bring about social change, it's a public one, and people like Margaret Thatcher, George Bush, and Mikhail Gorbachev are throwing their weight behind it. In a world where there's a lot of cynicism and despair, this has a candle-lighting effect. ~ Ram Dass

Mr. Gorbachev initiated Glasnost, Perestroika, so he was already, you know, way disenchanted with the rigid Communist ideology, and he was looking to become an international leader. He was more accepted actually outside of the Communist Soviet Union than inside. ~ Deepak Chopra

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

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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

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

Contemporary social democracy is what I believe is the right concept. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

Whatever efforts for peace President Gorbachev had in mind, they were pretty substantially undercut very swiftly by Saddam Hussein. ~ John Major

Both the President and Mr Gorbachev have said that they want to see a world without nuclear weapons. I cannot see a world without nuclear weapons. Let me be practical about it. The knowledge is there to make them. So do not go too hard for that pie in the sky because, while everyone would like to see it, I do not believe it is going to come about. ~ Margaret Thatcher

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

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

History punishes those that come late to it. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

Us reaching the moon convinced Gorbachev and other leaders that the Soviet Union couldn't compete with the U.S., so they revised their agenda. But people have short memories. ~ Buzz Aldrin

The soviet people want full-blooded and unconditional democracy. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

I think God has some mechanism that he uses to punish those that make mistakes. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

I disapproved of the fact that the government here refused to adopt the few reforms that Gorbachev put over in the field of media and the field of culture. ~ Stefan Heym

If you are not moving forward, you are moving backward. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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

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

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

Everything did change, faster than his fingers could type. What he had been too cautious to hope for was pulled from his dreams and made real on the television screen. At that momentous hour on December 26, 1991, as he watched the red flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - the empire "empire extending eleven times zones, from the Sea of Japan to the Baltic coast, encompassing more than a hundred ethnicities and two hundred languages; the collective whose security demanded the sacrifice of millions, whose Slavic stupidity had demanded the deportation of Khassan's entire homeland; that utopian mirage cooked up by cruel young men who gave their mustaches more care than their morality; that whole horrid system that told him what he could be and do and think and say and believe and love and desire and hate, the system captained by Lenin and Zinoviev and Stalin and Malenkov and Beria and Molotov and Khrushchev and Kosygin and Mikoyan and Podgorny and Brezhnev and Andropov and Chernenko and Gorbachev, all of whom but Gorbachev he hated with a scorn no author should have for his subject, a scorn genetically encoded in his blood, inherited from his ancestors with their black hair and dark skin - as he watched that flag slink down the Kremlin flagpole for the final time, left limp by the windless sky, as if even the weather wanted to impart on communism this final disgrace, he looped his arms around his wife and son and he held them as the state that had denied him his life ~ Anthony Marra

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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

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

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

The new European Soviet. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

I began to feel the desire for something more; I wanted to do something to make things better. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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

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

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

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

The opponents of perestroika had suffered a defeat, and then they organized the coup. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

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. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev