Vladimir Putin

I am the wealthiest man, not just in Europe, but in the whole world. I collect emotions. I am wealthy in that the people of Russia have twice entrusted me with the leadership of a great nation such as Russia – I believe that is my greatest wealth.

Even if we do not always agree on every aspect, nobody should take this as an excuse to declare us as enemies.

The path towards a free society has not been simple. There are tragic and glorious pages in our history.

To pay more is the easy way. In fact, the solution possibilities to the problem are many.

How can a bureaucrat or a politician be trusted if he says loud words for the sake of Russia’s good while trying to take his funds, his money abroad?

Russia does not and cannot have any political choice but democracy. I want to say, and even stress, that we share those universal democratic principles taken around the whole world.

Journalism, as concerns collecting information, differs little if at all from intelligence work. In my judgment, a journalist’s job is very interesting.

We are not abandoning our convictions, our philosophy or traditions, nor do we urge anyone to abandon theirs.

I discovered, for the first time but not the last, that politicians don’t care too much what things cost. It’s not their money.

Because when you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you can’t make snap decisions. You can’t have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. You need to be steady and measured and well-informed.

When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level. No, our motto is, when they go low, we go high.

You can’t make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen.

I believe that government is the servant of the people and not their master.

Gulf Lesson One is the value of airpower.

Give me just one generation of youth, and I’ll transform the whole world.

The production of souls is more important than the production of tanks…. And therefore I raise my glass to you, writers, the engineers of the human soul.

America will start winning again, winning like never before.

The prevailing pattern is one of indignant outrage over enemy crimes with much self-congratulatory appeal to high principle, combined with a remarkable ability “not to see” in the case of crimes for which we bear responsibility.

I have to keep law and order and it means that I have to kill my enemies before they kill me.

I certainly wouldn’t sign the more moderate [bill]. I need a bill that gives this country tremendous border security. I have to have that. We have to have the wall.

If you want to preserve – I’m very serious now – if you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press. And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That’s how dictators get started.