I tried a dozen different modifications that were rejected. But they all served as a path to the final design.

Life can make you do many things, even kiss a man with a runny nose.

I am still ready to shake hands with anyone who designs a better assault rifle than mine.

I would prefer to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work - for example a lawnmower.

When a young man, I read somewhere the following: God the Almighty said, 'All that is too complex is unnecessary, and it is simple that is needed.' So this has been my lifetime motto – I have been creating weapons to defend the borders of my fatherland, to be simple and reliable.

Man keeps inventing things all the time.

I wanted to invent an engine that could run for ever. I could have developed a new train, had I stayed in the railway. It would have looked like the AK-47 though.