Mikhail Gorbachev Quotes
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The time has come to choose a new direction of global development, to opt for a new civilization.
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We could still have continued the arms race, but the arms race was pointless, and it was another reason we decided to start perestroika. It was senseless to continue to accumulate weapons. We had enough weapons to destroy life on Earth 1,000 times, and therefore it was very clear to us that the arms race could spiral out of control. A conflict could have started, as both the Americans and the Soviets realized, not out of a wrong political decision but because of a failure in the command-and-control systems.
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We are beginning to see practical support. And this is a very significant sign of the movement towards a new era, a new age.... We see both in our country and elsewhere... ghosts of the old thinking.... When we rid ourselves of their presence, we will be better able to move toward a new world order...relying on the relevent mechanisms of the United Nations.
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New approaches are needed, new orientations in both thought and action. We must make the transition to a new civilization...We are talking of a transition toward a new civilization. No one knows what it will be like. What is important is to orient in that direction... I am convinced that a new civilization will inevitably take on certain features that are characteristic of, or inherent in, the socialist ideal.
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We must treat water as if it were the most precious thing in the world, the most valuable natural resource. Be economical with water! Don't waste it! We still have time to do something about this problem before it is too late.
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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.
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I am a Communist, a convinced Communist! For some that may be a fantasy. But to me it is my main goal.
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The time has come to develop integrated global policies.
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Peace is not unity in similarity but unity in diversity, in the comparison and conciliation of differences.
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The human race has entered a stage where we are all dependent on each other. No other country or nation should be regarded in total separation from another, let alone pitted against another.
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The phenomenon of UFOs does exist, and it must be treated seriously.
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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.
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America must be the teacher of democracy, not the advertiser of the consumer society. It is unrealistic for the rest of the world to reach the American living standard.
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It's America calling the shots in everything
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It is better to see once than to hear a hundred times.
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For the first time ever, we have confronted in reality the sinister power of uncontrolled nuclear energy.
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Even today, a majority of people surveyed say that they regret the fact that the USSR collapsed. But only 9 percent say that they would want it back.
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For a new type of progress throughout the world to become a reality, everyone must change. Tolerance is the alpha and omega of a new world order.
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In effect, according to Lenin, socialism and democracy are indivisible. By gaining democratic freedoms the working masses come to power.
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The guilt of Stalin and his immediate entourage before the Party and the people for the mass repressions and lawlessness they committed is enormous and unforgivable.
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I paid too heavy a price for perestroika.
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Today, peace means the ascent from simple coexistence to cooperation and common creativity among countries and nations.
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Women prevent the threads of life from being broken. The finest minds have always understood the peacemaking role of women.
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We desperately need to recognise that we are the guests, not the masters, of nature and adopt a new paradigm for development, based on the costs and benefits to all people, and bound by the limits of nature herself rather than the limits of technology and consumerism.
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Montreal, this wonderful town… Pearl of Canada, Pearl of the world.
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If what you have done yesterday still looks big to you. You haven't done much today.
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If you want Russia to be a real fully developed partner, then America should invest in Russia and activate Russia as a strong nation.
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The problem the world faces today is that only one-third of the world's population lives in decent circumstances, while half the population of the world lives on one or two dollars a day. And even as we have this poverty and backwardness, we are facing a global environmental crisis. We need developmental models that will take into account the specific and unique position of each country and at the same time will address the environmental crisis.
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We are not abandoning our convictions, our philosophy or traditions, nor do we urge anyone to abandon theirs.
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We were nearly one of the last to realize that in the age of information science the most expensive asset is knowledge.
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Mikhail Gorbachev
- Born: March 2, 1931
- Occupation: Former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union