My spiritual pain is unbearable. I keep having the same unsolved question: if my rifle claimed people's lives, then can it be that I a Christian and an Orthodox believer, was to blame for their deaths?
Mikhail KalashnikovRead
When a young man, I read somewhere the following: God the Almighty said, 'All that is too complex is unnecessary, and it is simple that is needed.' So this has been my lifetime motto – I have been creating weapons to defend the borders of my fatherland, to be simple and reliable.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Simplicity is essential in design and life.
This quote reflects the belief that complexity is often unnecessary, and the most effective solutions are usually the simplest. Mikhail Kalashnikov emphasizes the importance of simplicity and reliability in his work, suggesting that one should strive for straightforwardness in any endeavor, particularly in creating practical tools or solutions.
Themes
SimplicityDesignReliabilityLifePhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a presentation about effective communication, one could quote this to emphasize the importance of clarity and straightforwardness.
More from Mikhail Kalashnikov
All quotes →The fact that people die because of an AK-47 is not because of the designer, but because of politics.
Mikhail KalashnikovRead
It is the Germans who are responsible for the fact that I became a fabricator of arms. If not for them, I would have constructed agricultural machines. (...) If someone asks me how I can sleep at night knowing that my arms have killed millions of people, I respond that I have no problem sleeping, my conscience is clean. I constructed arms to defend my country.
Mikhail KalashnikovRead
People often ask me how I feel about my invention being used to kill people every day and the AK being a common weapon of ethnic conflicts. I want to make it clear that I created my assault rifle to protect my country. You can blame politicians for its spreading out of control on a global scale.
Mikhail KalashnikovRead
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