The AK-47 is not a device of aggression ... I devised this machine-gun for the security of my country.

I was trying to perform as best as possible. I was a boy at the time, but worked well with the sickle.

I've always wanted to improve and expand on the good name of my weapon by doing good things.

It is the Germans who are responsible for the fact that I became a fabricator of arms. If not for them, I would have constructed agricultural machines. (...) If someone asks me how I can sleep at night knowing that my arms have killed millions of people, I respond that I have no problem sleeping, my conscience is clean. I constructed arms to defend my country.

My work is my life, and my life is my work. I invented this assault rifle to defend my country. Today, I am proud that it has become for many synonymous with liberty.

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

Terrorists also want to use simple and reliable arms.