Vladimir Putin

In the modern world, those who are weak will get unambiguous advice from foreign visitors which way to go and what policy course to pursue.

I believe the U.S. already understands and will understand more and more that only a strong Russia will respond to the genuine interests of the United States.

Russia is opposed to the proliferation of mass destruction weapons, including nuclear weapons, and in this context we call upon our Iranian friends to abandon the uranium enrichment programme.

It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.

No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization.

I have some rules of my own. One of them is never to regret anything. Over time, I came to the conclusion that this was the right thing to do. As soon as you start regretting and looking back, you start to sour. You always have to think about the future. You always have to look ahead. Of course you have to analyze your past mistakes, but only so that you can learn and correct the course of your life.

No serious analyst believes that the ruling clerics [in Iran] are eager to see their country and possessions vaporized, the immediate consequence of their coming even close to initiating a nuclear war.

The people of Aleppo have suffered like no one else for so long. There has to be a political solution.

Worry does not mean fear, but readiness for the confrontation.

In the history of modern socialism this is a phenomenon, that the strife of the various trends within the socialist movement has from national become international.

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.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that in Russia, unlike in one third of the world’s countries, being gay is not a crime.

…I try to keep in mind the principle that one should not try to persuade; rather, to lay out the territory as best one can so that others can use their own intellectual powers to determine for themselves what they think is taking place and what is right or wrong.

A lot of times, I can turn and pass without even looking.- Joseph Stalin

He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.

Power that isn’t really justified by the will of the governed should be dismantled.

…social spending may well arouse public interest and participation, thus enhancing the threat of democracy; the public cares about hospitals, roads, neighborhoods, and so on, but has no opinion about the choice of missiles and high-tech fighter planes.

Ex-Presidents of the United States get state subsidies. Not so in Russia. You get no government support.

The Institute of Defense Analysis…has been working on crowd control, which means control of blacks, students, peace demonstrators. And the technology for doing this is extremely efficacious and will only improve. So that’s one reason for nonviolence.

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Iraq’s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power.