Boris Yeltsin Quotes

The collapse of the Soviet Union gave rise to a new world order. In this era, newly freed Russia saw the emergence of a controversial leader -- Boris Yeltsin. Much as he is credited to be a reformer, he is also seen as a manipulator and hard-liner. Boris Yeltsin died on April 23, 2007. Here is a collection of some famous Boris Yeltsin quotes.

• The debilitating bouts of depression, the grave second thoughts, the insomnia and headaches in the middle of the night, the tears and despair... the hurt from people close to me who did not support me at the last minute, who didn't hold up, who deceived me -- I have had to bear all of this.
  
  
• There are numerous bugbears in the profession of a politician. First, ordinary life suffers. Second, there are many temptations to ruin you and those around you. And I suppose third, and this is rarely discussed, people at the top generally have no friends.
  
  
• I want to apologize for our unfulfilled dreams. What we thought would be easy has proved painfully difficult. I would like to apologize for having failed to justify the hopes of the people who believed that we would be able to make a leap from the gloomy and stagnant totalitarian past to a bright, prosperous and civilized future at just one go. I myself believed in this. We haven't managed to make this leap, and I was naive in thinking we could.
  
  
• Today is the last day of an era past.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• A sense of proportion and humanitarian action are not issues for terrorists. Their aim is that of killing and destroying.
  
  
• You can build a throne with bayonets, but you can't sit on it for long.
  
  
• International terrorism is throwing down a challenge, and not just to Russia.
  
  
• It is especially important to encourage unorthodox thinking when the situation is critical. At such moments every new word and fresh thought is more precious than gold. Indeed, people must not be deprived of the right to think their own thoughts.
  
  
• One could see that what you are writing was that today's meeting with President Bill Clinton was going to be a disaster. Now, for the first time, I can tell you that you are a disaster.
  
  
• Let's not talk about Communism. Communism was just an idea, just pie in the sky.