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.

- Boris Yeltsin

The Soviet Union could not exist without the image of the empire. The image of the empire could not exist without the image of force. The USSR ended …

- Boris Yeltsin

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

- Boris Yeltsin

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.

- Boris Yeltsin

Gorbachev gave us freedom of worship and freedom of speech and freedom to see what was going on and freedom to vote, but that freedom won't last unle…

- Boris Yeltsin

Liberty sets the mind free, fosters independence and unorthodox thinking and ideas. But it does not offer instant prosperity or happiness and wealth …

- Boris Yeltsin

Money, big money (which is actually a relative concept) is always, under any circumstances, a seduction, a test of morals, a temptation to sin.

- Boris Yeltsin

It is especially important to encourage unorthodox thinking when the situation is critical: At such moments every new word and fresh thought is more …

- Boris Yeltsin

I especially love driving down a hill directly at a tree and swerving to one side at the last moment. That's my way to relax.

- Boris Yeltsin