56 Powerful Quotes By Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev was the eighth and the last leader of the former Soviet Union. From 1988 until the dissolution of Soviet Union in 1991, he reigned as the supreme leader of the former world power. He played a pivotal role in the termination of the Cold War through his policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). These policies dissolved the powers of the Communist party for reorientation of Soviet strategic aims. However, the same policies inadvertently led to an upsurge of regional nationalist and anti-communist movements which eventually resulted in the dismemberment of the Soviet Union. Despite his failure to save the USSR, Gorbachev maintains that his policies were necessary to evoke reforms in the state. This Nobel Peace laureate was decorated with several accolades by Soviet Union as well as recognitions from abroad namely Indira Gandhi Prize, Otto Hahn Peace Medal, Ronald Reagan Freedom Award, Order of Honour, Order of the Badge of Honour and many more. Being a global statesman, Gorbachev expressed and shared his views on politics, society, economy, peace etc through his writings, articles, speeches and observations. Read through these quotes by Gorbachev.
If what you have done yesterday still looks big to you, you haven't done much today.
The most puzzling development in politics during the last decade is the apparent determination of Western European leaders to re-create the Soviet Union in Western Europe.
I believe in the cosmos. All of us are linked to the cosmos. So nature is my god. To me, nature is sacred. Trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals. Being at one with nature.
I believe in the cosmos. All of us are linked to the cosmos.
Peace is not unity in similarity but unity in diversity, in the comparison and conciliation of differences.
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.
Americans have a severe disease — worse than AIDS. It's called the winner's complex.
The ecological crisis, in short, is the population crisis. Cut the population by 90% and there aren't enough people left to do a great deal of ecological damage.
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.
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.
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.
The market is not an invention of capitalism. It has existed for centuries. It is an invention of civilization.
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.
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.
There should be competition and exchanges between different countries, but there are certainly certain universal values, and that is freedom and democracy.
You cannot put Russia down on its knees and hold it there because Russia will ultimately pull out.
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.
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.
Jesus was the first socialist, the first to seek a better life for mankind.
Every country should conduct its own reforms, should develop its own model, taking into account the experience of other countries, whether close neighbours or far away countries.
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.
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.
Ex-Presidents of the United States get state subsidies. Not so in Russia. You get no government support.
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.
I think God has some mechanism that he uses to punish those that make mistakes.
I say again that I am an atheist. I do not believe in God.
We are not abandoning our convictions, our philosophy or traditions, nor do we urge anyone to abandon theirs.
I believe, as Lenin said, that this revolutionary chaos may yet crystallize into new forms of life.
The soviet people want full-blooded and unconditional democracy.
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.
