Lennart Meri

“History is more interesting than politics.”

“With that radio I was always swimming with the current political streams in the West. I was never stranded.”

“Security is like virginity: you're either a virgin or you're not. You either have security or you don't.”

“Traveling is the only passion that doesn't need to feel shy in front of intellect.”

“I've never met a general yet who could milk a cow.”

“Looking in the mirror to check if my tie is straight is a waste of my time. I only look in the mirror once a day, and that's in the morning when I shave.”

“I am not always happy with the compliments Estonia has received.”

“Throughout Soviet times, I understood what was really happening in the world around me.”

“Our civilisation has lost this bond between times, and tends to measure time with a yardstick, bit by bit, from one point to another.”

“I was too busy looking into Yeltsin's eyes to notice what was under the table.”

“In the past, when I shot films about fishermen and hunters, I always had to admire their ability to perceive time in its entirety. The present was always temporary.”

“Science will liberate us from the chains of big cities and lead us back to nature.”

“That radio was very important for me. It meant I always knew what was going on in the world.”

“If geography is prose, maps are iconography.”