“Look at the results of regime change in Iraq. You can’t possibly claim that it was successful.”

They need money from abroad, they need moral support and political support from abroad. They don’t have any grassroots, any incubator. So, when you stop the smuggling, we don’t have problems.

I think sadness prevails in Syria now. We don’t feel anything else but sadness because we have this killing every day, whether with chemical or any other kind.

Sometimes you may kill tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands with very primitive armaments.

We’re talking about one region, bigger regions, not only about Syria. This interlinked region, this intermingled, interlocked, whatever you want to call it ; if you strike somewhere, you have to expect the repercussions somewhere else in different forms in ways you don’t expect.

America is interested in re-arranging the region as it sees fit.

Of course, when Secretary-General is objective, he can play an important role in dealing with different officials in the United Nations in order to bring the policies of the different states – mainly Russia and the United States – toward more cooperation and more stability regarding Syria.

The army is making good advancement on daily basis against the terrorists. Of course, they still have the support of Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and some Western countries including the United States, but the only option that we have in that regard is to win.

We cannot use jihadists because it’s like shooting yourself in the foot.

I don’t believe in war, I believe in the principle of deterrence.

We asked for a delegation [of the Red Cross] in March 2013 when the first attack happened in Aleppo in the north of Syria,

Terrorism is a state of mind that on the one hand has to do with ignorance and, on the other hand, can be attributed to a feeling of desperation over the political situation, which at some point takes the form of revenge.

[Hezbollah forces] cannot exist all over Syria anyway, for many reasons, but they exist on the borders.

Al-Qaeda has one ideology and they go back to the same leadership in Afghanistan or in Syria or in Iraq. That’s the question. You have tens of thousands of foreigners, that’s definitely correct. We are fighting them on the ground and we know this.

The captain doesn’t think about death, or life, he thinks about saving his ship.

Something that many officials in the West don’t see or don’t realize or don’t acknowledge – and in the interest of the Russian people, because they have been facing terrorists for decades now.

They want to criticize you, let them criticize and do not worry. Just be transparent with your people and tell them this is the reality.

On wedding day you should look like yourself at your most beautiful

The more you look down on others, the less ANYBODY will look up to you.

If you look beyond the short term violence and instability, you do see significant activities on the part of the Iraqi people that indicate they understand the commitment necessary to govern themselves. Its not clear how they will do it, but it never is.

C++ is the only current language making COBOL look good

Tread gently on anyone who looks at you sideways.

I’m delighted with it, because it used to be that films were the lowest form of art. Now we’ve got something to look down on.

I think the Republican Party is… accurately defined as a party that looks out for the interests of the very wealthy.

When you look at women who have had plastic surgery, they have lost something – usually an expression, something unique to their face.