Gorbachev's administration was amazingly politically naïve, inexperienced and irresponsible towards the country. It was not governance but a thoughtless renunciation of power. The admiration of the West in return only strengthened his conviction that his approach was right. But let us be clear that it was Mikhail Gorbachev, and not Boris Yeltsin, as is now widely being claimed, who first gave freedom of speech and movement to the citizens of Russia.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn... a man can safely sacrifice a great deal as long as he clings to the essential.
Aleksandr SolzhenitsynCommunism will never be halted by negotiations or through the machinations of detente. It can only be halted by force from without or by disintegration from within.
Aleksandr SolzhenitsynHappiness doesn't depend on the actual number of blessings we manage to scratch from life, only our attitude towards them.
Aleksandr SolzhenitsynTo do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he's doing is good, or else that it's a well-considered act in conformity with natural law. Fortunately, it is in the nature of the human being to seek a justification for his actions.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn