Best Soviet Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings Page 6

“It is painful to talk about it, but even with its 110,000 elite soldiers, the Soviet Union never managed to gain control over the entire Afghan territory.”

Gains Unions Soldier Painful Territory Soviet Elites Soviet Union Afghan

Author:Sergei Ivanov

“I believe that renunciation of the Soviet Union was an expression of the free will of the Russian people.”

People Believe I Believe Expression Unions Free Will Soviet Soviet Union Renunciation

Author:Vladislav Surkov

“When the Soviet Union was dissolved, most of us didn't even have the feeling that the country was falling apart. We thought we would continue with our lives as in the past, but as good neighbors.”

Country Feelings Past Fall Our Lives Unions Neighbor Soviet Soviet Union Falling Apart Good Neighbor

Author:Vladislav Surkov

“Soviet-era nostalgia has strong support among the people. But not among the elite and, in my opinion, not with the president. We are not interested in keeping remnants of the communist era alive.”

People Strong President Opinion Support Alive Nostalgia Eras Communist Soviet Elites Not Interested Remnants

Author:Vladislav Surkov

“During the Cold War era, the issue was the containment of Soviet influence, and we tolerated many an authoritarian regime as long as they were useful to us in this respect.”

Long War Issues Influence Cold Eras Soviet Regimes Cold War Containment

Author:Zalmay Khalilzad

“You want to favor systems that benefit from error, disorder, variability and things like that. You want to favor these systems and unfortunately, when - there's something I call the Soviet Illusion. The more the government becomes intrusive, the more things have to follow a script, and it can't handle this kind of system.”

Want Kind Government Benefits Illusion Errors Scripts Favors Handle Disorder Soviet Variability

Author:Nassim Nicholas Taleb

“When [Vladimir] Putin, a former lieutenant-colonel in the KGB, became Russia's president on December 31, 1999 - eight years after the failed coup attempt against (then Soviet leader Mikhail) Gorbachev, and eight years after the people had torn down the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the hated founder of the KGB, in Moscow - it was admittedly a shock. Nevertheless, I decided to give Putin a chance. He seemed dynamic and capable of learning. But I had to bury my hopes after just a few months. He proved to be an autocrat - and, because the West let him do as he pleased, he became a dictator.”

“The Soviet Union and something called communism per se had not been the object of Washington's global attacks. There had never been an International Communist Conspiracy. The enemy was, and remains, any government or movement, or even individual, that stands in the way of the expansion of the American Empire; by whatever name the US gives to the enemy - communist, rogue state, drug trafficker, terrorist.”

Source: Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II

“If you go through all the structures and features of this emerging European monster you will notice that it more and more resembles the Soviet Union.”

Ifs Structure Unions Monsters Features Soviet Soviet Union Emerging European Union

Author:Vladimir Bukovsky

“The Soviet Union is going to have a human-rights explosion. You'll have hundreds of thousands of dissidents.”

Humans Rights Unions Human Rights Soviet Soviet Union Explosions Dissidents

Author:Andrew Young

“One ironic thing is that although (the Soviet Union) was one of the most oppressive systems, with no respect for the individual, it somehow produced the freest hockey on the planet. These guys, when they got on the ice, it was like watching jazz. They could do anything. I find that a paradox. It's interesting because I think the North American style was a lot less free. It was not encouraged to be creative.”

Thinking Guy Individual Interesting Creative Style Planets Unions Jazz Ice Paradox Hockey Ironic Soviet Be Creative Soviet Union No Respect Ironic Things

Author:Gabe Polsky

“My parents are from the former Soviet Union, from Ukraine, and I grew up wanting to be a professional hockey player.”

Parent Player Grew Grew Up Unions Former Hockey Soviet Soviet Union Ukraine Hockey Player

Author:Gabe Polsky

“Growing up, I didn't know very much about my heritage and the Soviet Union and things of that nature. But when I saw the Soviet Union play hockey for the first time, to me, it was profound.”

Knows Firsts Play Growing Up Saws Growing First Time Unions Profound Hockey Heritage Soviet Soviet Union

Author:Gabe Polsky

“When I looked into the story of Soviet hockey and its players, I realized that it has nothing to do with hockey. It was a larger story using hockey as a window into the story of the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian people, with friendships and betrayals, paranoia and oppression, and the meaning of sports to people and nations around the world, and how sports was used as a political tool.”

People World Stories Political Used Fall Nations Sports Player Tools Window Unions Betrayal I Realized Oppression Around The World Hockey Soviet Soviet Union Paranoia Rise And Fall

Author:Gabe Polsky

“What I found interesting about Slava Fetisov was that he went through three different generations of Soviet hockey. In the late 70's, he experienced the Miracle on Ice, and then in the 80's became with his teammates the Russian Five, the most dominant team in the history of hockey, and then helped bring down the hockey system when the Soviet Union collapsed and became one of the first players to play in the NHL, and then ultimately came back to Russia.”

Firsts Different Play Three Found Interesting Five Player Generations Team Late Miracle Unions Russia Ice Hockey Soviet Dominant Soviet Union Teammate Nhl Different Generations

Author:Gabe Polsky

“Anatoli Tarasov, the guy that created the Soviet style of play, was a visionary. He was a creative thinker. He studied ballet and chess and art and read a lot.”

Art Play Guy Creative Style Chess Thinker Soviet Ballet Visionaries

Author:Gabe Polsky

“There (in the Soviet Union) it was a science. In order to be a coach, you had to study in school.”

School Order Study Unions Coaches Soviet Soviet Union

Author:Gabe Polsky

“I guess the prime example is in North America there's a thing where if there's no opportunity to move forward with the puck, then a [hockey] player is told to dump the puck into the other zone. Just give up the puck and dump it in. Give it to the other team. And to the Soviet mentality in coaching, it just doesn't make any sense. If you're a skilled player, why are you going to give the puck away to the other team? Just give it away, right?”

Ifs Giving America Moving Opportunity Player Team Example Giving Up Moving Forward Coaching Zone Prime Hockey Soviet Mentality Dump North America Puck Just Give Up Hockey Player

Author:Gabe Polsky

“Soviet Union foreign policy is a puzzle inside a riddle wrapped in an enigma, and the key is Russian nationalism.”

Policy Keys Unions Nationalism Soviet Foreign Policy Puzzles Soviet Union Riddle Enigma

Author:Winston Churchill

“Why were the Europeans bothered about the Soviet Union at all? It was nothing to do with us. China had nothing to do with us. Why were we not building, without reference to the Soviet Union, a good society in our own countries? But no, we were all - in one way or another - obsessed with the bloody Soviet Union, which was a disaster. What people were supporting was failure. And continually justifying it.”

People Way Country Building Unions China Disaster One Way Obsessed Soviet Bloody Soviet Union Bothered

Author:Doris Lessing

“More often than not, Americans and Westerners overestimated the power and capability of the Soviet Union.”

Unions Soviet Capability Soviet Union Westerners

Author:Alexander Haig

“Propaganda was an important arm of the Soviet diplomacy, very important.”

Important Arms Propaganda Soviet Diplomacy

Author:Alexander Haig

“The Soviet Union came apart along ethnic lines. The most important factor in this breakup was the disinclination of Slavic Ukraine to continue under a regime dominated by Slavic Russia. Yugoslavia came apart also, beginning with a brutal clash between Serbia and Croatia, here again 'nations' with only the smallest differences in genealogy; with, indeed, practically a common language. Ethnic conflict does not require great differences; small will do.”

“Singing 'Blowin' in the Wind' all the places we've been, it takes on a different meaning everywhere. When you sing the line, 'How many years can a people exist, before they're allowed to be free?' in a prison yard for political prisoners in El Salvador; if you have sung it to a group of union organizers, who have all been in jail, in South Korea; if you've sung to Jews in the Soviet Union who have been refused exit visas; if you've sung it with Bishop Tutu protesting apartheid, the song breathes, it lives, it has a contemporary currency.”

“In America, you assassinate president. In Soviet Russia, president assassinate you!”

America President Russia Soviet Soviet Russia

Author:Yakov Smirnoff

“In America, you drive car. In Soviet Russia, car drive you!”

America Car Russia Soviet Soviet Russia

Author:Yakov Smirnoff

“In America, your job determines your marks. In Soviet Russia, Marx determine your job!”

Jobs America Mark Determine Russia Soviet Soviet Russia

Author:Yakov Smirnoff

“A Russian Reversal quote on Uncyclopedia's Soviet Union article? How original.”

Originals Unions Articles Soviet Soviet Union Reversal

Author:Yakov Smirnoff

“In Soviet Russia, party always finds you!”

Party Russia Soviet Soviet Russia

Author:Yakov Smirnoff

“Dictatorship nations are outlaws. Any free nation had the right to invade Nazi Germany and, today, has the right to invade Soviet Russia, Cuba, or any other slave pen. Whether a free nation chooses to do so or not is a matter of its own self-interest, not of respect for the nonexistent 'rights' of gang rulers. It is not a free nation's duty to liberate other nations at the price of self-sacrifice, but a free nation has the right to do it, when and if it so chooses.”

Ifs Self Matter Today Nations Interest Rights Sacrifice Duty Slave Russia Germany Pens Soviet Rulers Dictatorship Nazi Gang Self Interest Cuba Self Sacrifice Outlaw Nazi Germany Soviet Russia

Author:Ayn Rand

“I'm worried that too many people, both in politics and out, don't appreciate the seriousness of the threat to American security and the evil of the enemy that faces us -more evil or as evil as Nazism and probably more dangerous than the Soviet communists we fought during the long Cold War.”

People Long War Faces Evil Enemy Security Dangerous Cold Appreciate Threat Worried Communist Soviet Cold War Seriousness Nazism

Author:Joe Lieberman

“All through the years of the Soviet empire, its Politburo held 'elections.' Of course, calling something an election and actually having it be an election are different things.”

Years Different Courses Calling Election Empires Different Things Soviet Through The Years

Author:Benazir Bhutto

“Los Angeles County government is a "Soviet-style system," with too many people only sort of in charge and no person sufficiently at the helm to take responsibility.”

People Persons Government Responsibility Style Los Angeles Soviet Taking Responsibility County Helm

Author:Zev Yaroslavsky

“The Soviet Union tried for 70 years to plant Marxism with bayonets in Eastern Europe. Today there are more Marxists on the Harvard faculty than there are in Eastern Europe.”

Years Today Europe Unions Plant Faculty Soviet Soviet Union Eastern Marxism Harvard Marxist Eastern Europe Bayonets

Author:George Will

“In the years since The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin, Voinovich has sharpened his satire, and Monumental Propaganda is a novel that slashes and rips -- but not on every page. He expands his narrative to accommodate shrewd philosophy and inventive portraiture, a very amusing disquisition on Soviet latrines and a number of outlandish plot developments. In his translation, Andrew Bromfield deftly shifts his tone and tools as required, remaining true to Voinovich's Vonnegut-like playfulness and appreciation of the absurd.”

“The mythology of the Reagan presidency is that he induced the collapse of the Soviet Union by luring it into unsustainable military spending and wars: should there come a point when we think about applying that lesson to ourselves?”

Thinking Should War Military Lessons Unions Spending Mythology Soviet Collapse Presidency Soviet Union Military Spending

Author:Glenn Greenwald

“Time and again-from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the events of 9/11 to the onset of the Arab Spring-events have caught the experts, whether in government or on the outside, completely by surprise. Business owners with comparable performance records go bust. Brokers lose their clients. Physicians get sued for malpractice. Yet think-tankers and policy wonks continue to opine, never pausing to reflect on-or apologize for-their spotty records.”

“The Prime Minister, shortly after she came into office, received a sobriquet as the 'Iron Lady'. It arose in the context of remarks which she made about defence against the Soviet Union and its allies; but there was no reason to suppose that the Right Honourable Lady did not welcome and, indeed, take pride in that description. In the next week or two this House, the nation and the Right Honourable Lady herself, will learn of what metal she is made.”

“The demise of the American empire will be no more regretted than the demise of the Soviet empire.”

Empires Soviet Demise American Empire

Author:Chalmers Johnson

“I recall asking the late eminent liberal historian Arthur Schlesinger, in a public forum in Los Angeles in the late 1970s, if he would say that America was, all things considered, a better, i.e., more moral, society than Soviet society. He said he would not.”

Ifs Said America Moral Late All Things Asking Los Angeles Historian Soviet Recalls Arthur Forums Moral Society

Author:Dennis Prager

“Socialism's failure in the former Soviet Union and in the other socialist countries stands as a clean and unquestionable warning as to which path any rational and sane people should never follow again. Government planning brought poverty and ruin...Unfortunately, America is not absorbing the lessons that should be learned from the socialist experience and, instead, is following the same path of destruction.”

“If government ownership of land and natural resources was the best way to protect the environment, then we should have found a Garden of Eden in the Soviet Union after the Iron Curtain came down. Instead, there was one environmental horror story after another.”

“My mom grew up in the Soviet Bloc, and she was a Tiger Mom. We didn't get away with much.”

Grew Mom Grew Up My Mom Get Away Soviet Tigers

Author:Ivanka Trump

“Carter is the best President the Soviet Union ever had.”

President Unions Soviet Soviet Union Carter

Author:William Safire

“Do not touch anything unnecessarily. Beware of pretty girls in dance halls and parks who may be spies, as well as bicycles, revolvers, uniforms, arms, dead horses, and men lying on roads - they are not there accidentally. Soviet infantry manual, issued in the 1930's Only the winners decide what were war crimes.”

Men Wells May War Lying Girl Crime Arms Horse Winner Parks Halls Soviet Uniforms Spy Bicycle Manuals 1930s Pretty Girl War Crimes Infantry Revolver

Author:Garry Wills

“While the Soviet Union has imposed its rule on its neighbours and drawn an iron curtain between east and west, we in Great Britain have given freedom and independence to more than forty-eight countries whose populations now number more than a thousand million - a quarter of the world's total.”

“We must not fall into the trap of projecting our own morality onto the Soviet leaders. They do not share our aspirations, they are not constrained by our ethics, they always consider themselves exempt from the rules that bind other states.”

States Fall Leader Share Morality Ethics Aspiration Soviet Traps

Book:In defence of freedom: speeches on Britain's relations with the world 1976-1986

Source: In defence of freedom: speeches on Britain's relations with the world 1976-1986

“There are forces more powerful and pervasive than the apparatus of war. You may chain a man, but you cannot chain his mind. You may enslave him, but you will not conquer his spirit. In every decade since the war Soviet leaders have been reminded that their pitiless ideology only survives because it is maintained by force. But the day will come when the anger and frustration of the people is so great that force cannot contain it. Then the edifice cracks; the mortar crumbles; one day, liberty will dawn on the other side of the wall.”

“The neutron warhead is a defensive weapon designed to offset the great superiority that the Soviet Union has on the western front against the NATO nations.”

Nations Fronts Weapons Unions Western Soviet Superiority Soviet Union Nato Neutrons

Author:Ronald Reagan

“The fall of the Berlin Wall really demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt that there was a bad system, and what subsequently happened in the Soviet Union, that that system was a failure.”

Fall Doubt Happened Wall Shadow Unions Soviet Soviet Union Berlin Berlin Wall

Author:Milton Friedman

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