#russia

The tradition of Russian literature is also an eastern tradition of learning poetry and prose by heart. ↗

— Ryszard Kapuscinski

#eastern #heart #learning #literature #poetry

There are several reasons why Russians view the oppressive state positively. First, in the Russian Orthodox religion, there is an understanding of authority as something sent by God. ↗

— Ryszard Kapuscinski

#first #god #oppressive #orthodox #positively

There is a fundamental difference between the Polish experience of the state and the Russian experience. In the Polish experience, the state was always a foreign power. So, to hate the state was a patriotic act. ↗

— Ryszard Kapuscinski

#always #between #difference #experience #foreign

The principle of evil in Europe is the enervating spirit of Russian absolutism. ↗

— Lajos Kossuth

#europe #evil #principle #russian #spirit

I'm glad I'm not Brezhnev. Being the Russian leader in the Kremlin. You never know if someone's tape recording what you say. ↗

— Richard M. Nixon

#glad #i #know #kremlin #leader

We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would. ↗

— Zbigniew Brzezinski

#intervene #knowingly #probability #push #russians

But if Russia is to be part of this larger zone of peace it cannot bring into it its imperial baggage. It cannot bring into it a policy of genocide against the Chechens, and cannot kill journalists, and it cannot repress the mass media. ↗

— Zbigniew Brzezinski

#baggage #bring #cannot #genocide #imperial

There's no way out," he announced with satisfaction, "and no amount of wishful dreaming will produce one. The demon won't go back in its bottle, the face-off is for ever, the embrace gets tighter and the toys cleverer with every generation, and there's no such thing for either side as enough security. Not for the main players, not for the nasty little newcomers who each year run themselves up a suitcase bomb and join the club. We get tired of believing that, because we're human. We may even con ourselves into believing the threat has gone away. It never will. Never, never, never." "So, who'll save us then, Walt?" Barley asked. "You and Nedsky?" "Vanity, if anything will, which I doubt," Walter retorted. "No leader wants to go down in history as the ass who destroyed his country in an afternoon. And funk, I suppose. Most of our gallant politicians do have a narcissistic objection to suicide, thank God. ↗

— John le Carré

#nuclear-weapons #russia #spy #war #dreams

The Russians and the Chinese have been absolutely clear they don't want to see Iran with a nuclear weapon. ↗

— Hillary Clinton

#been #chinese #clear #iran #nuclear

I landed a job with Roger Corman. The job was to write the English dialogue for a Russian science fiction picture. I didn't speak any Russian. He didn't care whether I could understand what they were saying; he wanted me to make up dialogue. ↗

— Francis Ford Coppola

#care #corman #could #dialogue #english