Let’s not talk about Communism. Communism was just an idea, just pie in the sky. Boris Yeltsin
One could see that what you are writing was that today’s meeting with President Bill Clinton was going to be a disaster. Now for the first time, I can tell you that you’re a disaster. Boris Yeltsin (Said to the press after a meeting with Clinton.)
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
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
Today is the last day of an era past. Boris Yeltsin
I want to apologize for our unfulfilled dreams. What we thought would be easy has proved painfully difficult. I would like to apologize for having failed to justify the hopes of the people who believed that we would be able to make a leap from the gloomy and stagnant totalitarian past to a bright, prosperous and civilized future at just one go. I myself believed in this. We haven’t managed to make this leap, and I was naive in thinking we could. Boris Yeltsin
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
A government is not an old pair of socks that you throw away. Boris Yeltsin