“Only 3 to 5 percent of people are aware of being a part of history; the overwhelming majority think things will always be the way they are.” PeopleThinkingWayPercentMajorityOverwhelming Author:Vladimir Voinovich
“A meeting is an occasion when people gather together, some to say what they do not think, and others not to say what they really do.” PeopleThinkingTogetherMeetingsOccasions Author:Vladimir Voinovich
“Generally, if you look at present-day trends, you can predict the future. Very few people do that, because I've been told that only 3 to 5 percent of people are aware of being a part of history; the overwhelming majority think things will always be the way they are now. When Stalin was alive, most people could not imagine that he would ever die. Same under Brezhnev.” PeopleThinkingImagineOverwhelmingImagine That Author:Vladimir Voinovich
“From Gorbachev to Yeltsin, the pendulum swung one way; now, Putin has pushed it very far in the opposite direction, and the backlash is inevitable. So I think the year 2042 could be quite interesting. Specifically, I think today's reactionary policy will end in total failure and the need for a new perestroika; there will be a "time of troubles," which may well end in the disintegration of Russia.” ThinkingInterestingTroublePolicyInevitableTimes Of Trouble Author:Vladimir Voinovich
“If Putin and those around him had been smart enough to go in a different direction... The country was ready. The conditions were extremely favorable - with oil prices as high as they were, it was possible to do anything. It was possible to solidify democracy. After the Yeltsin years people began to think that democracy is a disaster, that democracy equals misery. Putin got a lucky break - and he used it the KGB way. He turned out to be a wily KGB man, not a wise statesman.” PeopleThinkingMenDifferentCountryEnoughBreakDemocracyWiseLuckySmartMiseryDisaster Author:Vladimir Voinovich
“I think that right now the West understands Russia better than before and feels a much greater wariness toward it. I think that, if anything, Russia's sinister nature is exaggerated, in that most contemporary analysts in the West can't even imagine that Russia could be different. I think it can, with a different turn of events.” ThinkingDifferentImagineImagine ThatSinister Author:Vladimir Voinovich
