I ask you to forgive me for not fulfilling some hopes of those people who believed that we would be able to jump from the totalitarian past into a bright, rich and civilized future in one go.
BORIS YELTSINLet’s not talk about Communism. Communism was just and idea, just pie in the sky.
More Boris Yeltsin Quotes
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I will not step down, I will not resign, … I will work to the end of my term in office under the constitution. In the year 2000, there will be presidential elections under the constitution and I will not run in those elections.
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We, Russia, are prepared to work with others. I am convinced that stability and security in Europe cannot be considered without taking Russia into account.
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I refer to calls for humanitarian intervention in the affairs of another state – a new idea, this – even when they are made under the pretext of defending human rights and freedoms.
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We don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone. Freedom is like that. It’s like air. When you have it, you don’t notice it.
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Money, big money (which is actually a relative concept) is always, under any circumstances, a seduction, a test of morals, a temptation to sin.
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A sense of proportion and humanitarian action are not issues for terrorists. Their aim is that of killing and destroying.
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Let’s not talk about Communism. Communism was just and idea, just pie in the sky.
BORIS YELTSIN -
It is especially important to encourage unorthodox thinking when the situation is critical: At such moments every new word and fresh thought is more precious than gold. Indeed, people must not be deprived of the right to think their own thoughts.
BORIS YELTSIN -
I am convinced that the moment is coming when, with its message of eternal, universal values, it will come to the aid of our society. For in these words: “Thou shalt not kill; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” lie those very moral principles that will enable us to survive even the most critical situations.
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One could see that what you are writing was that today’s meeting with President Bill Clinton was going to be a disaster. Now, for the first time, I can tell you that you are a disaster.
BORIS YELTSIN -
A man must live like a great brilliant flame and burn as brightly as he can. In the end he burns out. But this is far better than a mean little flame.
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There were no strategic mistakes that could affect Russia’s history and it further development. No, there were no such mistakes. Tactical errors were made in some less significant options, problems and so on. But, on the whole, Russia embarked on a correct path and it changed.
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The Soviet Union could not exist without the image of the empire. The image of the empire could not exist without the image of force. The USSR ended the moment the first hammer pounded the Berlin Wall.
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International terrorism is throwing down a challenge, and not just to Russia.
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A total of 1,580 people, the civilian population, suffered as a result of the bloody wave of terrorist acts that swept over Moscow and other towns and villages of our country.
BORIS YELTSIN