Boris Yeltsin Quotes & Sayings

“I understand that it's hard for everyone, but one cannot give in to emotions... we'll have to draw lessons from the current crisis and now we'll have to work on overcoming it.”

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

“We don't appreciate what we have until it's gone. Freedom is like that. It's like air. When you have it, you don't notice it.”

“You can build a throne with bayonets, but you can't sit on it for long.”

“A man must live like a great brilliant flame and burn as brightly as he can. In the end he burns out. But this is far better than a mean little flame.”

“International terrorism is throwing down a challenge, and not just to Russia.”

“I refer to calls for humanitarian intervention in the affairs of another state - a new idea, this - even when they are made under the pretext of defending human rights and freedoms.”

“Thousands of mercenaries, who have trained in camps on the territory of Chechnya as well as come in from abroad, are actually preparing to impose extremist ideas on the whole world.”

“Your commanders have ordered you to storm the White House and to arrest me. But I as the elected President of Russia give you the order to turn your tanks and not to fight against your own people.”

“It is especially important to encourage unorthodox thinking when the situation is critical: At such moments every new word and fresh thought is more precious than gold. Indeed, people must not be deprived of the right to think their own thoughts.”