“I would prefer to abandon the terminology of the past.”

Democracy is not possible without effectively working legal system.

The more intermediaries there are, the more problems there are.

The growing economic potential of India and Russia is mutually complementary in many respects.

Our society, including the liberals, must understand that there must be order.

The state security bodies should not be seen as an institution that works against society and the state; one needs to understand what makes them work against their own people.

We shall fight against them, throw them in prisons and destroy them.

I think the international community should unite to fight such inhuman phenomena as terror attacks and the murder of totally innocent people.

If the nation is not capable of preserving itself and reproducing, if it loses it vital bearings and ideals, then it doesn’t need foreign enemies – it will fall apart on its own.

You can do a lot more with weapons and politeness than just politeness.

You must obey the law, always, not only when they grab you by your special place.

Russia needs a strong state power and must have it. But I am not calling for totalitarianism.

The Comrade Wolf knows whom to eat, as the saying goes. It knows whom to eat and is not about to listen to anyone, it seems.

I’m convinced that democracy cannot be exported from one country to another, like you cannot expert revolutions, ideology.

Russia has returned to the world arena as a strong state – a country that others heed and that can stand up for itself.

Absolute trust is something hard to achieve even in a family, and it is much harder to achieve on an international level.

Absolute trust is something hard to achieve even in a family, and it is much harder to achieve on an international level.

How does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?

I’ve never abandoned the novel.

Once you start a working on something, don’t be afraid of failure and don’t abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.

The wind sounded of Mother Earth’s forsaken and abandoned cries.

Long before morning I knew that what I was seeking to discover was a thing I’d always known. That all courage was a form of constancy. That it is always himself that the coward abandoned first. After this all other betrayals come easily.

With the ambitious, the failure of one expedient is the suggestion of another; but with the irresolute, defeat usually occasions abandonment of purpose.

On the earth, even in the darkest night, the light never wholly abandons his rule. It is diffused and subtle, but little as may remain, the retina of the eye is sensible of it.

Someone asked me, if I were stranded on a desert island what book would I bring… ‘How to Build a Boat.’