Boris Yeltsin Quotes

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• You can build a throne with bayonets, but it's difficult to sit on it.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Inspirational, Funny, Motivational

  "A Democracy of Despots" by Donald Murray, (p. 8), 1995.

  57 Copy quote

• We don't appreciate what we have until it's gone. Freedom is like that. It's like air. When you have it, you don't notice it.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Freedom, Yoga, Air

  "The 100 Greatest Heroes" by Harry Paul Jeffers, (p. 60), 2003.

  30 Copy quote

• Gorbachev gave us freedom of worship and freedom of speech and freedom to see what was going on and freedom to vote, but that freedom won't last unless it is underpinned by economic freedom.

  Boris Yeltsin

  War, Freedom Of Speech, Lasts

  32 Copy quote

• I especially love driving down a hill directly at a tree and swerving to one side at the last moment. That's my way to relax.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Crazy, Mad, Tree

  8 Copy quote

• A man must live like a great brilliant flame and burn as brightly as he can. In the end he burns out. But this is far better than a mean little flame.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Mean, Men, Flames

  "The wit and wisdom of Boris". www.theguardian.com. April 23, 2007.

  27 Copy quote

• Let's not talk about Communism. Communism was just and idea, just pie in the sky.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Talking, Sky, Ideas

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• The Soviet Union could not exist without the image of the empire. The image of the empire could not exist without the image of force. The USSR ended the moment the first hammer pounded the Berlin Wall.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Wall, Firsts, Hammers

  Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1994). “The View from the Kremlin”, HarperCollins

  17 Copy quote

• Storm clouds of terror and dictatorship are gathering over the whole country... They must not be allowed to bring eternal night.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Country, Night, Clouds

  Appeal to citizens of Russia to oppose the 1991 coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev, August 19, 1991.

  5 Copy quote

• Liberty sets the mind free, fosters independence and unorthodox thinking and ideas. But it does not offer instant prosperity or happiness and wealth to everyone.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Happiness, Thinking, Ideas

  "Russia and the Independent States" by Daniel C. Diller, (p. 446), 1993.

  23 Copy quote

• Money, big money (which is actually a relative concept) is always, under any circumstances, a seduction, a test of morals, a temptation to sin.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Money, Temptation, Tests

  21 Copy quote

• A politician must have some scruples, a certain decency; he cannot smear himself in the mud for the sake of a high ideal.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Sake, Mud, Politician

  Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1994). “The View from the Kremlin”, HarperCollins

  19 Copy quote

• It is especially important to encourage unorthodox thinking when the situation is critical: At such moments every new word and fresh thought is more precious than gold. Indeed, people must not be deprived of the right to think their own thoughts.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Inspirational, Courage, Thinking

  "Against the Grain : An Autobiography" by Boris Yeltsin, (p. 172), 1990.

  36 Copy quote

• The main problem with being president is the constant sense that you are inside a glass bowl for everyone to see, or in a kind of barometric chamber with an artificial atmosphere where you must stay all the time.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Glasses, Atmosphere, President

  Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1994). “The View from the Kremlin”, HarperCollins

  24 Copy quote

• We Russians are already living, not getting ready to live.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Ready

  Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1994). “The View from the Kremlin”, HarperCollins

  13 Copy quote

• I ask you to forgive me for not fulfilling some hopes of those people who believed that we would be able to jump from the totalitarian past into a bright, rich and civilized future in one go.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Past, People, Forgive Me

  2000 On his retirement. In the Observer, 2 Jan.

  13 Copy quote

• There are numerous bugbears in the profession of a politician. First, ordinary life suffers. Second, there are many temptations to ruin you and those around you. And I suppose third, and this is rarely discussed, people at the top generally have no friends.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Friends, People, Political

  "The Struggle for Russia". Book by Boris Yeltsin, 1994.

  11 Copy quote

• I understand that it's hard for everyone, but one cannot give in to emotions... we'll have to draw lessons from the current crisis and now we'll have to work on overcoming it.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Work, Giving, Overcoming

  13 Copy quote

• I am convinced that the moment is coming when, with its message of eternal, universal values, it will come to the aid of our society. For in these words: "Thou shalt not kill; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," lie those very moral principles that will enable us to survive even the most critical situations.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Lying, Principles, Our Society

  "Against the Grain : An Autobiography" by Boris Yeltsin, (p. 251), 1990.

  4 Copy quote

• I believe in this tragic hour you can make the right choice. The honor and glory of Russian men of arms shall not be stained with the blood of the people.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Believe, Men, Blood

  Appeal to the military to not participate in the coup attempt, August 19, 1991.

  5 Copy quote

• A government is not an old pair of socks that you throw away.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Government, Pairs, Sock

  "The wit and wisdom of Boris", www.theguardian.com. April 23, 2007.

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• We, Russia, are prepared to work with others. I am convinced that stability and security in Europe cannot be considered without taking Russia into account.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Work, Russia, Europe

  Boris Yeltsin's speech to the summit of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Istanbul, news.bbc.co.uk. November 18, 1999.

  12 Copy quote

• The most important thing is that Milosevic agreed to sit at the negotiating table with the Kosovo Albanians

  Boris Yeltsin

  Important, Tables, Negotiating

  "Serb's Promises Are Just a First Step, U.S. Says" by Steven Erlanger, www.nytimes.com. June 17, 1998.

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• I cannot shift the blame for Chechnya, for the sorrow of numerous mothers and fathers. I made the decision, therefore I am responsible.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Mother, Father, Decision

  "Russian ex-president Yeltsin dies". news.bbc.co.uk. April 23, 2007.

  19 Copy quote

• Your commanders have ordered you to storm the White House and to arrest me. But I as the elected President of Russia give you the order to turn your tanks and not to fight against your own people.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Fighting, Russia, Order

  Appeal to the military to not participate in the coup attempt, while standing on a tank during troop movements against the Russian White House, August 19, 1991.

  20 Copy quote

• I will not step down, I will not resign, ... I will work to the end of my term in office under the constitution. In the year 2000, there will be presidential elections under the constitution and I will not run in those elections.

  Boris Yeltsin

  Running, Years, Office

  14 Copy quote

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