My goal was to avoid bloodshed. But unfortunately there was some bloodshed, after all.

It is really important to solve the problem of rational utilization and distribution of wate supplies. I dare say, the shortage of fresh water is the major ecological problem of this moment.

You are fortunate to live here. If I were your President, I would levy a tax on you for living in San Francisco!

Even today, a majority of people surveyed say that they regret the fact that the USSR collapsed. But only 9 percent say that they would want it back.

Man is beginning to explore the galaxy. But how much remains undone on earth?

Further global progress is now possible only through a quest for universal consensus in the movement towards a new world order.

We could still have continued the arms race, but the arms race was pointless, and it was another reason we decided to start perestroika. It was senseless to continue to accumulate weapons. We had enough weapons to destroy life on Earth 1,000 times, and therefore it was very clear to us that the arms race could spiral out of control. A conflict could have started, as both the Americans and the Soviets realized, not out of a wrong political decision but because of a failure in the command-and-control systems.