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Mikhail Gorbachev Quotes

Former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, born on March 2, 1931, was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He is a significant figure in Soviet history, known for his reform policies of 'New Thinking' and for ending the Cold War.

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Famous Mikhail Gorbachev Quotes

“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.”

Ifs World Needs Whole Interest Development Fundamentals Unions International Dues Whole World Progressive Soviet Soviet Union Lexicon Restructuring

Author:Mikhail Gorbachev

“What we need is Star Peace and not Star Wars.”

Needs War Stars

Book:Toward a better world

Source: Toward a better world

“The emerging 'environmentalization' of our civilization and the need for vigorous action in the interest of the entire global community will inevitably have multiple political consequences. Perhaps the most important of them will be a gradual change in the status of the United Nations. Inevitably, it must assume some aspects of a world government.”

“Not only America but all countries should think together about how the enormous might of the sole remaining superpower should be used. We need a leadership that is based on partnership, a leadership that unites nations and makes it possible to solve the problems of the globe together. Otherwise, we will have another Gold Rush for a superpower that wants to gain even greater advantages, that wants to gain an absolutely new position for itself. That would lead to a perverse utopia.”

“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.”

“Water, like religion and ideology, has the power to move millions of people. Since the very birth of human civilization, people have moved to settle close to it. People move when there is too little of it. People move when there is too much of it. People journey down it. People write, sing and dance about it. People fight over it. And all people, everywhere and every day, need it.”

“We need a new environmental consciousness on a global basis. To do this, we need to educate people.”

People Needs Consciousness Vision Future Bases Environmental Educate Ecology Sustainable Development

Author:Mikhail Gorbachev

“In principle as a philosophy, a model of organising society, Communism has to be respected. As regards the use of certain methods to advance social justice and greater regulation by the state, there are certain methods that are useful. What we need is a new society, a new civilization and convergence of all that is best in both [Communism and Capitalism]”

Needs States Philosophy Use Certain Social Justice Principles Greater Communication Civilization Models Capitalism Regard Method Social Justice Communism Regulation Convergence

Author:Mikhail Gorbachev

“We need a new system of values, a system of the organic unity between humankind and nature and the ethic of global responsibility.”

Needs Values Inspiring Responsibility Ethics Unity Humankind

Author:Mikhail Gorbachev

“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.”

People Needs Technology Masters Development Cost Limits Benefits Bounds Climate Change Guests Consumerism Paradigm

Author:Mikhail Gorbachev

“I think the United States is sick. It suffers from the sickness, the disease of being the victor and it needs to cure itself from this disease.”

Thinking Needs States America Suffering United United States Disease Sick Cures Sickness

Author:Mikhail Gorbachev

“An awareness of the need for some kind of global government is gaining ground, one in which all members of the world community would take part.”

Needs Government Form Law Awareness

Author:Mikhail Gorbachev

“Our rockets can find Halley's comet, and fly to Venus with amazing accuracy, but side by side with these scientific and technical triumphs is an obvious lack of efficiency in using scientific achievements for economic needs. Many Soviet household appliances are of poor quality.”

Source: Perestroika: how new is Gorbachev's new thinking? : Mikhail Gorbachev's views and responses from Zbigniew Brezinski ... [and others]