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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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" 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

Need

China

Goal

" I think the environmental problem will be the number one item on the agenda of the 21st century... This is a problem that cannot be postponed. "

" A society should never become like a pond with stagnant water, without movement. That's the most important thing. "

" 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. "

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

" 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.' "

" What we need is Star Peace and not Star Wars. "

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

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

" On the day I became Soviet leader, in March 1985, I had a special meeting with the leaders of the Warsaw Pact countries and told them: 'You are independent, and we are independent. You are responsible for your policies, we are responsible for ours. We will not intervene in your affairs, I promise you.' "

" I couldn't wait to get to the most powerful position, because I thought then I would be able to fix problems that only the leader can fix. But when I got there, I realized we needed revolutionary change. "

" Sometimes when you stand face to face with someone, you cannot see his face. "

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

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

" We could only solve our problems by cooperating with other countries. It would have been paradoxical not to cooperate. And therefore we needed to put an end to the Iron Curtain, to change the nature of international relations, to rid them of ideological confrontation, and particularly to end the arms race. "

" The world will not accept dictatorship or domination. "

" Political leaders still think things can be done through force, but that cannot solve terrorism. Backwardness is the breeding ground of terror, and that is what we have to fight. "

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

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

Mikhail Gorbachev

Say

Jesus Christ

" I grew up in a family of peasants, and it was there that I saw the way that, for example, our wheat fields suffered as a result of dust storms, water erosion and wind erosion; I saw the effect of that on life - on human life. "

" The market came with the dawn of civilization and it is not an invention of capitalism. If it leads to improving the well-being of the people there is no contradiction with socialism. "

" Democracy must learn to defend itself. "

" Every country should conduct its own reforms, should develop its own model, taking into account the experience of other countries, whether close neighbours or far away countries. "

" You cannot put Russia down on its knees and hold it there because Russia will ultimately pull out. "

" Sometimes it's difficult to accept, to recognise one's own mistakes, but one must do it. I was guilty of overconfidence and arrogance, and I was punished for that. "

Mikhail Gorbachev

Arrogance

Mistakes

" Without perestroika, the cold war simply would not have ended. But the world could not continue developing as it had, with the stark menace of nuclear war ever present. "

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

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

" I think God has some mechanism that he uses to punish those that make mistakes. "

" 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. "