Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Whoever wants it back has no brain.
Sometimes it is necessary to be lonely in order to prove that you are right.
Those who fight corruption should be clean themselves.
I have a private life in which I do not permit interference. It must be respected.
My English is very bad.
Terrorism has no nationality or religion.
We shall fight against them, throw them in prisons and destroy them.
My personal position is that society must keep children safe.
Stalinism is linked with a cult of personality and massive violations of the law, with repression and camps. There is nothing like that in Russia and, I hope, will never again be.
One has to be insincere and promise something which you cannot fulfill. So you either have to be a fool who does not understand what you are promising, or deliberately be lying.
Everything will probably never be OK. But we have to try for it.
We need business to understand its social responsibility, that the main task and objective for a business is not to generate extra income and to become rich and transfer the money abroad, but to look and evaluate what a businessman has done for the country, for the people, on whose account he or she has become so rich.
I think the international community should unite to fight such inhuman phenomena as terror attacks and the murder of totally innocent people.
The centuries-old history and culture of India, majestic architectural monuments and museums of Delhi, Agra and Mumbai have a unique attractive force.
It's a historical phenomenon that in 250 years, a nation could move from a colony into the most prosperous nation of the world and the leader of the world. It is indeed an achievement, a tribute to the talent of the American nation, the American people and an optimal political and economic system.
I was brought up in a very ordinary family, in fact, a worker's family. Both my father and mother were ordinary citizens.
I don't read books by people who have betrayed the Motherland.
If you aspire to be a leader of your own country, you must speak your own language, for God's sake.
He who does not regret the break-up of the Soviet Union has no heart; he who wants to revive it in its previous form has no head.
Iraq is a small but very proud nation.
I think the American people should express their preferences, and we'll accept their choice.
The ability to compromise is not a diplomatic politeness toward a partner but rather taking into account and respecting your partner's legitimate interests.
Russia and China are very natural partners. We are neighbors with an immense common border.
Russian democracy is the power of the Russian people with their own traditions of national self-government, and not the realisation of standards foisted on us from outside.
The more intermediaries there are, the more problems there are.
Political activities in Russia should be as transparent as possible. Financing political activities from abroad is something the state should keep an eye on.
Politics should not interfere with sports. And sports should impact politics.
We're no longer in the Cold War. Eavesdropping on friends is unacceptable.
Terrorism has once again shown it is prepared deliberately to stop at nothing in creating human victims. An end must be put to this. As never before, it is vital to unite forces of the entire world community against terror.
I think every person should have some faith inside him, in his heart. What matters is not an external display of this faith, but the inner state of the soul.
You need to put drones under control; you need to lay out certain rules of engagement in order to prevent or minimize collateral casualties. It is extremely important.
At last, Russia has returned to the world arena as a strong state - a country that others heed and that can stand up for itself.
I think happiness is love.
I go to the gym, I swim daily and from time to time I meet with friends and do extra-curricular stuff.
How does one control weight? By not overeating. How does one stay in shape? One plays sports. There are no magic pills here.
You must obey the law, always, not only when they grab you by your special place.
I am the wealthiest man, not just in Europe, but in the whole world. I collect emotions. I am wealthy in that the people of Russia have twice entrusted me with the leadership of a great nation such as Russia - I believe that is my greatest wealth.
The Russian people have unilaterally made their choice in direction of democracy in the early '90s. They will not be led astray. Nobody should be having any doubts.
No one should be allowed to violently trample on the law.
In the modern world, those who are weak will get unambiguous advice from foreign visitors which way to go and what policy course to pursue.
It's Russia some people would like to get rid of. They are still afraid of our nuclear deterrent. We have our own foreign policy whether they like it or not.
A considerable share of the world's population still cannot afford comfortable housing, education and quality health care.
In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the issues of foreign policy and defense are fully in the hands of the president.
The Eurasian union is a project meant to preserve the identities of nations and the historic Eurasian community in the new century, in a new world.
It is necessary to suppress any extremist actions, on all sides, regardless of their origin.
Our military might is the guarantor of Russia's security and independence.
It is wrong to make anyone into an enemy; it is wrong to scare the people of one's own country with that enemy and try to rally some allies on that basis.
I'm eternally grateful to fate and the citizens of Russia that they've trusted me to be the head of the Russian government.
If you want my personal attitude, I would tell you that I don't care about a person's sexual orientation.
We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord's blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.
I see that not everyone in the West has understood that the Soviet Union has disappeared from the political map of the world and that a new country has emerged with new humanist and ideological principles at the foundation of its existence.
The United States and Russian security services regularly exchange information.
Protest actions and propaganda are two slightly different things.
Radicals can be found in any environment.
If the nation is not capable of preserving itself and reproducing, if it loses it vital bearings and ideals, then it doesn't need foreign enemies - it will fall apart on its own.
All attempts to appease the Nazis between 1934 and 1939 through various agreements and pacts were morally unacceptable and politically senseless, harmful and dangerous.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that in Russia, unlike in one third of the world's countries, being gay is not a crime.
No references to the need to fight terror can be an argument for restricting human rights.
I believe that the presidential term should be limited.
China is a great country with a great culture, populated by fascinating, industrious and talented people.
Russia is a part of European culture. Therefore, it is with difficulty that I imagine NATO as an enemy.
Terrorists are always a threat to someone. If we'll be scared of them, it means they have won.
I swim almost every day, a thousand meters.
I think we should not control the Internet.
History proves that all dictatorships, all authoritarian forms of government are transient. Only democratic systems are not transient. Whatever the shortcomings, mankind has not devised anything superior.
In many countries today, moral and ethical norms are being reconsidered; national traditions, differences in nation and culture are being erased.
You can swim any way you like in the Dead Sea, actually.
I have a very positive attitude to anyone who is protecting the environment, but it's inadmissible when people are using it as a means of promoting themselves, using it as a source of self-enrichment. I don't want to name any specific examples... but often, environmentalism is used to blackmail companies.
Where in the world have you seen construction people who do everything on time, with good quality and at minimal prices? Just give me one country like that. A country like that doesn't exist in the world, you know. There's not one such country anywhere in the world.
The leaders of the world's largest economies agreed during the November 2008 G20 summit not to create barriers hindering global trade and capital flows. Russia shares these principles.
My parents told me that children were taken from their families in 1941, and my mother had a child taken from her - with the goal of saving him.
Demographers affirm that choosing to have a second child is already a potential choice in favour of a third.
I spend a little time every day to play sports.
If there are people who act outside the law, then the state must use legal means to impose law in the interests of majority. That's the way it's done in the U.S., and that's the way it's done in Russia.
U.S. society doesn't want to play the role of international policeman.
As far as oligarchs who acquire sports team abroad, and invest money abroad, I wouldn't treat this phenomenon as something bad.
The state security bodies should not be seen as an institution that works against society and the state; one needs to understand what makes them work against their own people.
The path towards a free society has not been simple. There are tragic and glorious pages in our history.
What is a uni-polar world? No matter how we beautify this term, it means one single centre of power, one single centre of force and one single master.
Despite all the achievements of civilisation, the human being is still one of the most vulnerable creatures on earth.
Economic activity is moving from the Atlantic ocean to the Pacific ocean... Russia has a certain natural advantage because it also borders the Pacific Ocean.
We don't need a weakened government but a strong government that would take responsibility for the rights of the individual and care for the society as a whole.
Between major countries, there certainly always are some common ground and points of tension.
Thieves must sit in prison.
What is a Rechtsstaat? It is obedience to the existing law.
I am not prejudiced in any way.
One can truly enjoy his or her life only while experiencing it, and it is inevitably related to a certain level of risk.
President Obama hasn't been elected by the American people in order to be pleasant to Russia.
Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan, 'You're either with us or against us.'
I myself know some people who are gay. We're on friendly terms. I'm not prejudiced in any way.
Anyone who doesn't regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains.
It's alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States.
There are both things in international law: the principle of territorial integrity and right to self-determination.
Nobody and nothing will stop Russia on the road to strengthening democracy and ensuring human rights and freedoms.
Indeed, Russia and the U.S. were allies during the two tragic conflicts of the Second and the First World Wars, which allows us to think there's something objectively bringing us together in difficult times, and I think - I believe - it has to do with geopolitical interests and also has a moral component.
I have never stated Russia is an energy superpower, but we have more reserves than almost anybody else. We have always behaved, and we will continue to behave, in a responsible way. We intend to participate in the elaboration of common rules in the energy sector and to abide by rules which are developed together.
The growing economic potential of India and Russia is mutually complementary in many respects.
Libya is divided into tribes and clans.
Russia does not and cannot have any political choice but democracy. I want to say, and even stress, that we share those universal democratic principles taken around the whole world.
The Russian people have their own cultural code, their own tradition.
McCain fought in Vietnam - I think that he has enough civilian blood on his hands.
For Russia, there is not and there may not be another political option but democracy. However, Russian democracy is... not at all the realization of standards imposed on us from outside.
