“The Russian people and Russian culture are the linchpin, the glue that binds together this unique civilization.”

I was brought up in a very ordinary family, in fact, a worker’s family. Both my father and mother were ordinary citizens.

Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Whoever wants it back has no brain.

Bike is the most democratic transport vehicle. Bike is the most daring, challenging as it gives its owner the tempting feeling of freedom, that is why one can say without any exaggeration, bike is a symbol of freedom.

I have a private life in which I do not permit interference. It must be respected.

Politics should not interfere with sports. And sports should impact politics.

My personal position is that society must keep children safe.

I think every person should have some faith inside him, in his heart.

Russia is the biggest country in the world. It would be very difficult to surround it, and the world is changing so fast that it would basically be impossible, even in theory.

Protest actions and propaganda are two slightly different things.

U.S. society doesn’t want to play the role of international policeman.

I am the wealthiest man, not just in Europe, but in the whole world.

I have always reacted negatively to those who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others’ lives.

The democratic choice Russian people made in the early 90’s is final.

A considerable share of the world’s population still cannot afford comfortable housing, education and quality health care.

No one should be allowed to violently trample on the law.

Nobody should pin their hopes on a miracle.

There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.

There is no civilization that did not begin with art, Whether it was drawing a line in the sand, painting a cave or dancing.

All civilizations become either spacefaring or extinct.

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

When space travel becomes as common as air travel, the future of civilization will be assured.

In the twenty-first century, the robot will take the place which slave labor occupied in ancient civilization.

Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilisation.

The galling harness of civilization drops off, and wounds heal ere we are aware.