Joseph Stalin

Writers are the engineers of human souls.

Mankind is divided into rich and poor, into property owners and exploited; and to abstract oneself from this fundamental division; and from the antagonism between poor and rich means abstracting oneself from fundamental facts.

The art of leadership is a serious matter. One must not lag behind a movement, because to do so is to become isolated from the masses. But one must not rush ahead, for to rush ahead is to lose contact with the masses. He who wished to lead a movement must conduct a fight on two fronts–against those who lag behind and those who rush ahead.

We do not want a single foot of foreign territory; but of our territory we shall not surrender a single inch to anyone.

Real liberty exists only there where exploitation has been annihilated, where no oppression of some peoples by others exists, where there is no unemployment and pauperism, where a person does not tremble because tomorrow he may lose his job, home and bread.

He who votes does not have power. He who counts the votes has power.

If you go back far enough, [socialism] meant basically control of production by producers, elimination of wage labor, democratization of all spheres of life; production, commerce, education, media, workers’ control in factories, community control of communities, and so on.

America’s greatest strength has always been its hopeful vision of human progress.

You cannot be President of the United States if you don’t have faith. Remember Lincoln, going to his knees in times of trial in the Civil War and all that stuff.

Africa’s mineral wealth is great; we should co-operate in its development.

In the middle of a recession, where we’re just climbing out of it, where the economy -unemployment is still at 9.7 percent, the idea of raising taxes and reducing spending is a prescription for disaster.

It’s a historical phenomenon that in 250 years, a nation could move from a colony into the most prosperous nation of the world and the leader of the world. It is indeed an achievement, a tribute to the talent of the American nation, the American people and an optimal political and economic system.

I feel a lot of people listen to what I have to say.

The United States was seriously defeated in Iraq by Iraqi nationalism – mostly by nonviolent resistance. The United States could kill the insurgents, but they couldn’t deal with half a million people demonstrating in the streets.

The Russian people have their own cultural code, their own tradition.

Let’s not talk about Communism. Communism was just an idea, just pie in the sky.

When you have the facts on your side, argue the facts. When you have the law on your side, argue the law. When you have neither, holler.

The individualist…recognizes the limitations of the powers of individual reason and consequently advocates freedom.

The PR industry…have a conception of what a democracy ought to be…the specialized class are trained to do their work for the service of the masters…and the rest of the population ought to be deprived of any form of organization because organization just causes trouble.

There are on occasions, as we know, when resources are abundant, but they are expended so incompetently that the advantage is nullified.

The Russian people and Russian culture are the linchpin, the glue that binds together this unique civilization.