Great Throughts Treasury

"I envisage the principles of the Earth Charter to be a new form of the Ten Commandments. They lay the foundation for a sustainable global earth community."

"I express the very deepest condolences to the family of the deceased on whose shoulders rest major events for the good of the country and serious mistakes."

"I have long ago made a final and irrevocable decision. Nothing and no one, no pressure, cither from the right or from the left, will make me abandon the positions of perestroika and new thinking. I do not intend to change my views or convictions. My choice is a final one. It is my profound conviction that the problems arising in the course of our transformations can be solved solely by constitutional means. That is why I make every effort to keep this process within the confines of democracy and reforms."

"I see the decision to award me the Nobel Peace Prize also as an act of solidarity with the monumental undertaking which has already placed enormous demands on the Soviet people in terms of efforts, costs, hardships, willpower, and character. And solidarity is a universal value which is becoming indispensable for progress and for the survival of humankind. But a modern state has to be worthy of solidarity, in other words, it should pursue, in both domestic and international affairs, policies that bring together the interests of its people and those of the world community. This task, however obvious, is not a simple one. Life is much richer and more complex than even the most perfect plans to make it better. It ultimately takes vengeance for attempts to impose abstract schemes, even with the best of intentions. Perestroika has made us understand this about our past, and the actual experience of recent years has taught us to reckon with the most general laws of civilization."

"If what you have done yesterday still looks big to you, you haven't done much today."

"I think the United States is sick. It suffers from the sickness, the disease of being the victor and it needs to cure itself from this disease."

"I think Russia is ready to cooperate. Now the question is, is the United States -- which is the only remaining superpower -- is the United States ready to do this? I think not myself."

"If people don't like Marxism, they should blame the British Museum."

"If the Russian word "perestroika" has easily entered the international lexicon, this is due to more than just interest in what is going on in the Soviet Union. Now the whole world needs restructuring, i.e. progressive development, a fundamental change."

"In moving toward such bold revolutionary transformations, we understood that there would be errors, that there would be resistance, that the novelty would bring new problems. We foresaw the possibility of breaking in individual sections. However, the profound democratic reform of the entire system of power and government is the guarantee that the overall process of restructuring will move steadily forward and gather strength."

"It is a worthy reward for his efforts over many years. He is a man who does his job solidly and responsibly."

"In Russia, he [Roosevelt] is held in high regard, perhaps no less than in this country... In Russia, we appreciate his New Deal."

"In Russia, we still have a great deal of work to do."

"It will be a good thing if pragmatism replaces idealism in both countries. Even a tougher stance from America would mean more clarity, a more pragmatic America."

"It seems that the most important thing about Reagan was his anti-Communism and his reputation as a hawk who saw the Soviet Union as an 'evil empire.?"

"It offers a chance. It must be supported by common efforts."

"It is better to discuss things, to argue and engage in polemics than make perfidious plans of mutual destruction."

"It's very important what they both said, that there are no programs for the development of biological weapons in Russia."

"It will not be enough to rely on experts. Ordinary citizens must become experts too. It will take public opinion on a wide scale to ensure that world leaders act."

"Let each live by his own convictions and worship his own God."

"Jesus was the first socialist, the first to seek a better life for mankind."

"My life?s work has been accomplished. I did all that I could."

"Life is much richer and more complex than even the most perfect plans to make it better. It ultimately takes vengeance for attempts to impose abstract schemes, even with the best of intentions. Perestroika has made us understand this about our past, and the actual experience of recent years has taught us to reckon with the most general laws of civilization."

"Of course I invited Bush and Margaret Thatcher and (Spanish former prime minister) Felipe Gonzalez, but we are already at an age where it's not that easy to just travel somewhere."

"Never before has the idea that peace is indivisible been so true as it is now."

"Man is beginning to explore the galaxy. But how much remains undone on earth?"

"Our enemy sees us clearly. They will not start a war. They're worried about one thing: If democracy develops here, if we succeed, we will win."

"Our rockets can find Halley's comet, and fly to Venus with amazing accuracy, but side by side with these scientific and technical triumphs is an obvious lack of efficiency in using scientific achievements for economic needs, and many Soviet household appliances are of poor quality."

"Our enemy sees us clearly... They will not start a war. They're worried about one thing If democracy develops here, if we succeed, we will win."

"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."

"Our democracy is being born in pain. A political culture is emerging ? one that presupposes debate and pluralism, but also legal order and, if democracy is to work, strong government authority based on one law for all. This process is gaining strength."

"Preparing for my address I found in an old Russian encyclopedia a definition of "peace" as a "commune" ? the traditional cell of Russian peasant life. I saw in that definition the people's profound understanding of peace as harmony, concord, mutual help, and cooperation."

"Peace is not unity in similarity but unity in diversity, in the comparison and conciliation of differences. And, ideally, peace means the absence of violence. It is an ethical value."

"Progress towards the civilization of the 21st century will certainly not be simple or easy. One cannot get rid overnight of the heavy legacy of the past or the dangers created in the post-war years. We are experiencing a turning point in international affairs and are only at the beginning of a new, and I hope mostly peaceful, lengthy period in the history of civilization."

"Reagan was a statesman who, despite all disagreements that existed between our countries at the time, displayed foresight and determination to meet our proposals halfway and change our relations for the better, stop the nuclear race, start scrapping nuclear weapons, and arrange normal relations between our countries."

"Soviet rockets can find Halley's comet and fly to Venus with amazing accuracy, but . . . many household appliances are of poor quality."

"The 20th Congress was about not only the personality cult, but also the issues of democracy and governing the country."

"Sometimes... when you stand face to face with someone, you cannot see his face. (Following summit meeting with Ronald Reagan)"

"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."

"Taking into consideration Lenin's will and wishes of his family, we must bury his body according to all principles of human morality, although we should find an appropriate time for it."

"The Berlin Wall was a mark of contradictions in the world, and it became a mark of radical changes in the world which touched the majority of humankind... But the way towards abolishing it was long and painful."

"The emerging 'environmentalization' of our civilization and the need for vigorous action in the interest of the entire global community will inevitably have multiple political consequences. Perhaps the most important of them will be a gradual change in the status of the United Nations. Inevitably, it must assume some aspects of a world government."

"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."

"The pope did everything possible to help humanity out of its era of hate."

"The history of the past centuries and millennia has been a history of almost ubiquitous wars, and sometimes desperate battles, leading to mutual destruction."

"The more I reflect on the current world developments, the more I become convinced that the world needs perestroika no less than the Soviet Union needs it."

"The soviet people want full-blooded and unconditional democracy."

"The world will not accept dictatorship or domination."

"There is only one superpower now and it doesn't know what to do with its status. As a result, we got Yugoslavia and Iraq, and the situation has only got worse."

"There is only research for medical purposes, similar to ones that are under way in some other countries."