Americans have a severe disease - worse than AIDS. It's called the winner's complex.
Mikhail GorbachevRead
It is better to discuss things, to argue and engage in polemics than make perfidious plans of mutual destruction.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Engaging in open discussion is preferable to plotting harmful actions against each other.
This quote emphasizes the importance of dialogue and debate over scheming harmful intentions. Mikhail Gorbachev advocates for constructive communication as a means to resolve conflicts rather than resorting to destructive plots that could lead to mutual harm. This perspective highlights the belief that understanding different viewpoints can prevent catastrophic outcomes.
Themes
DiscussionPolemicsDialogueDestructionCommunicationConflict
In practice
Example use cases
During a peace conference, one might quote this to encourage open dialogue.
More from Mikhail Gorbachev
All quotes βGentlemen, comrades, do not be concerned about all you hear about Glasnost and Perestroika and democracy in the coming years. They are primarily for outward consumption. There will be no significant internal changes in the Soviet Union, other than for cosmetic purposes. Our purpose is to disarm the Americans and let them fall asleep.
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The soviet people want full-blooded and unconditional democracy.
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To me, nature is sacred. Trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals.
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New approaches are needed, new orientations in both thought and action. We must make the transition to a new civilization...We are talking of a transition toward a new civilization. No one knows what it will be like. What is important is to orient in that direction... I am convinced that a new civilization will inevitably take on certain features that are characteristic of, or inherent in, the socialist ideal.
Mikhail GorbachevRead
According to Lenin, socialism and democracy are indivisible.... The essence of perestroika lies in the fact that it unites socialism with democracy and revives the Leninist concept of socialist construction both in theory and in practice. We want more socialism and, therefore, more democracy.
Mikhail GorbachevRead
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