Mikhail Gorbachev Quotes

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Mikhail Gorbachev

Profession : Statesman

Birth : March 2, 1931

I believe, as Lenin said, that this revolutionary chaos may yet crystallize into new forms of life.

Mikhail Gorbachev

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.'

Mikhail Gorbachev

I say again that I am an atheist. I do not believe in God.

Mikhail Gorbachev

I think we need more young people; we need to elect young people to government. We need to give them a chance, in the media, in politics, in democracy.

Mikhail Gorbachev

It would be naive to think that the problems plaguing mankind today can be solved with means and methods which were applied or seemed to work in the past.

Mikhail Gorbachev

What about Jesus Christ? I say that he was a precursor of idealists; a precursor of socialists.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Starting reforms in the Soviet Union was only possible from above, only from above. Any attempt to go from below was suppressed, suppressed in a most resolute way.

Mikhail Gorbachev

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

Mikhail Gorbachev

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

Mikhail Gorbachev

I am a Communist, a convinced Communist! For some that may be a fantasy. But to me it is my main goal.

Mikhail Gorbachev

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

Mikhail Gorbachev

Ex-Presidents of the United States get state subsidies. Not so in Russia. You get no government support.

Mikhail Gorbachev

There should be competition and exchanges between different countries, but there are certainly certain universal values, and that is freedom and democracy.

Mikhail Gorbachev

The market is not an invention of capitalism. It has existed for centuries. It is an invention of civilization.

Mikhail Gorbachev

I don't think Russia is setting this as a goal; I don't think this should be Russia's goal. I think even the United States doesn't need to be a superpower. China doesn't need to be a superpower. It's a different world.

Mikhail Gorbachev

More socialism means more democracy, openness and collectivism in everyday life.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Democracy is the wholesome and pure air without which a socialist public organization cannot live a full-blooded life.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Certain people in the United States are driving nails into this structure of our relationship, then cutting off the heads. So the Soviets must use their teeth to pull them out.

Mikhail Gorbachev

We are not abandoning our convictions, our philosophy or traditions, nor do we urge anyone to abandon theirs.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Sometimes people ask me why I began perestroika. Were the causes basically domestic or foreign? The domestic reasons were undoubtedly the main ones, but the danger of nuclear war was so serious that it was a no less significant factor.

Mikhail Gorbachev