Joseph Stalin

The Pope! How many divisions has he got?

Writers are the engineers of human souls.

There are on occasions, as we know, when resources are abundant, but they are expended so incompetently that the advantage is nullified.

Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.

Nowadays wars are not declared. They simply start.

Is it possible, then, to doubt that we can and must gain victory over the German invaders? The enemy is not as strong as some terror-stricken pseudo-intellectuals picture him. The devil is not as terrible as he is painted.

Earlier in the twentieth century some critics called fascism capitalism with the gloves off, meaning that fascism was pure capitalism without democratic rights and organizations.

The first less is this: take it from me, every vote counts.

[living at the White House] This isn’t about us. There’s so much history here that no one family can claim this space as their own.

When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use.

Plainly, such an approach does not exclude other ways of trying to comprehend the world. Someone committed to it (as I am) can consistently believe (as I do) that we learn much more of human interest about how people think and feel and act by reading novels or studying history than from all of naturalistic psychology, and perhaps always will; similarly, the arts may offer appreciation of the heavens to which astrophysics cannot aspire.

… This phenomenon has its place in the world, and it’s developing. We need to monitor and analyze what’s going on thoroughly. And at some stage we will need to look at how we can take part in this process, how we can use it to avoid all sorts of restrictions in the sphere of international financial activity, among other things.

A man’s eyes should be torn out if he can only see the past

We should not just consume hydrocarbon fuel but use it to develop nuclear energy, hydro power and renewable energy sources.

The state security bodies should not be seen as an institution that works against society and the state; one needs to understand what makes them work against their own people.

Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election.

Every day, you have the power to choose our better history – by opening your hearts and minds, by speaking up for what you know is right.

Don’t be a bottleneck. If a matter is not a decision for the President or you, delegate it. Force responsibility down and out. Find problem areas, add structure and delegate. The pressure is to do the reverse. Resist it.

I think it’s fine when the mayor of the biggest city in Russia consults the president.

One goal of a well-crafted propaganda system is to dull the mental faculties, reducing its targets to a level at which they will respond with appropriate enthusiasm to slogans carrying a patriotic message.

The ‘corporatization of America’ during the past century [has been] an attack on democracy.