Mikhail Gorbachev

“The soviet people want full-blooded and unconditional democracy.”

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

“Without perestroika, the cold war simply would not have ended. But the world could not continue developing as it had, with the stark menace of nuclear war ever present.”

“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.'”

“We could only solve our problems by cooperating with other countries. It would have been paradoxical not to cooperate. And therefore we needed to put an end to the Iron Curtain, to change the nature of international relations, to rid them of ideological confrontation, and particularly to end the arms race.”

“The world will not accept dictatorship or domination.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

“Democracy must learn to defend itself.”

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

“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.”

“On the day I became Soviet leader, in March 1985, I had a special meeting with the leaders of the Warsaw Pact countries and told them: 'You are independent, and we are independent. You are responsible for your policies, we are responsible for ours. We will not intervene in your affairs, I promise you.'”

“What we need is Star Peace and not Star Wars.”

“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.”

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