"Your commanders have ordered you to storm the White House and to arrest me. But I as the elected President of Russia give you the order to turn your tanks and not to fight against your own people."

Boris Yeltsin Politics See all quotes by Boris Yeltsin →

React to this quote

More by Boris Yeltsin

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

“A sense of proportion and humanitarian action are not issues for terrorists. Their aim is that of killing and destroying.”

“In quotes: Reactions to Yeltsin death”

“Yeltsin laid the foundation for the Russia Putin built", by Felix RieferDeutsche Welle”

“I cannot shift the blame for Chechnya, for the sorrow of numerous mothers and fathers. I made the decision, therefore I am responsible.”

“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.”

Resonant Thoughts

"100,000 soldiers are reported to have died in the Iraqi war. If you count 100 relatives of each soldier, it means that practically there are millions of people who now have antagonism toward the white…"

— Sun Myung Moon

Politics1920–2012

#war

"…White racism is about people who don’t feel so bad about fixed things. But white racism is a fixed thing, and it is perpetuated because of fixedness. Anything that we can do that causes people to des…"

— Anna Deavere Smith

Politics1950

#Human Nature

"We've won the war. Now you have to lead us out of it."

— Ulysses S. Grant

Politics1822–1885

#leadership

"Born enemies don't fight. Nations you would say were designed to go to war against each other — by their skins, their language, their smell: always jealous of each other, always hating each other — th…"

— Jean Giraudoux

Literature1882–1944

#war