Vladimir Putin

A figure who receives money from abroad for his political work, and thus serves some foreign interest, cannot be a politician in Russia.

It’s better to be hanged for loyalty than be rewarded for betrayal.

The threat of mutual destruction has always restrained participants of the international arena, prevented leading military powers from making hasty moves, and compelled participants to respect each other. U.S. withdrawal from treaties on anti-ballistic missiles is an attempt to put an end to strategic parity, but we will respond to this.

What is going on right now, it is unacceptable, it is wrong. However, it must be admitted that it is the result of inaccurate regulation, that was brought in recently in the sphere of energy, in energy resources.

Terrorism has no nationality or religion.

When in 2007 I spoke in Munich…I spoke about the fact that the United States is widening the jurisdiction of its laws beyond its national borders, and that this is unacceptable. And that’s exactly what’s happening now, also to our European and other partners. Why is this happening? No one wanted to listen and no one did anything to stop this from developing.

In a Canadian-style insurance system, the costs are distributed in the same way that taxes are. If the tax system is progressive…then the wealthy will also pay more of the costs of health care.

I’m a history buff, and I know that big changes take time. But I also know that, setting politics aside, usually things are never as good as you think they are or as bad as you think they are. And that has served me well temperamentally.

A society should never become like a pond with stagnant water, without movement. That’s the most important thing.

Everybody has a right to be stupid, but some people abuse the privilege.

There is no justification for the belief that, so long as power is conferred by democratic procedure, it cannot be arbitrary…it is not the source but the limitation of power which prevents it from being arbitrary.

I believe the U.S. already understands and will understand more and more that only a strong Russia will respond to the genuine interests of the United States.

The despotism of faction is not less to be dreaded than the despotism of an individual.

At the time of the First World War there was a fringe of dissidents, Bertrand Russell for example, who were in jail; Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknicht, in jail; Eugene Debs, in jail. That’s the standard picture throughout history. We find it right now.

Nobody believes the official spokesman… but everybody trusts an unidentified source.

Hizbullah is not a militia.

If the Democrats could get their act together, overcoming the schism between the donor-oriented New Democrat Party management and the increasingly activist and social democratic base, they would have a decent chance to take over Congress.

You never need an argument against the use of violence, you need an argument for it.

I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that.

Israeli interests are not necessarily in harmony with the American interests.

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