“
Spune-mi, daca te-as prinde-ntr-o zi
si ti-as saruta talpa piciorului,
nu-i asa ca ai schiopata putin, dupa aceea,
de teama sa nu-mi strivesti sarutul?
”
”
Nichita Stănescu (O viziune a sentimentelor)
“
The terrified men did not move. Then Nadia Fedin did something instinctive; she drew her Nagant revolver and fired three short bursts into the head of the nearest soldier. Stepan Ivanovich’s skull burst like a ripe cabbage showering his horrified comrades with viscous brain and bits of bone.
”
”
K.G.E. Konkel (Who Has Buried the Dead?: From Stalin to Putin … The last great secret of World War Two)
“
Fedin laughed outright, a grim, calculating gesture as hard and unfeeling as cold steel. “Twenty million Russians have been slaughtered by the Fascists in the last six years..... Always remember this, Squadron Leader. It was our war, our victory and now it is our Berlin. We tolerate your presence in this city… if that.
”
”
K.G.E. Konkel (Who Has Buried the Dead?: From Stalin to Putin … The last great secret of World War Two)
“
Outside, beyond the vast red bricked labyrinth of Kremlin walls, a humid night ensnarled the Soviet capital in its spell. Yet here in the womb-like private cinema Josef Stalin sat, eyes transfixed on the screen, as Johnny Weissmuller arced through a canopy of trees boldly screaming his signature jungle call.
”
”
K.G.E. Konkel (Who Has Buried the Dead?: From Stalin to Putin … The last great secret of World War Two)
“
They came for him near midnight, seven hard-faced men arriving simultaneously in a matching set of Zis 101s, the black-lacquered saloon car so shamelessly modeled on the American Buick Roadmaster, and so capriciously favored by the sinister flying squads of the NKVD.
Ironically, the arrest when it came did not shock Batya. He had prepared for it.
”
”
K.G.E. Konkel (Who Has Buried the Dead?: From Stalin to Putin … The last great secret of World War Two)
“
Trebuie sa te departezi putin de tine ca sa te poti apropia de ceilalti.
”
”
Andrei Pleșu
“
Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Whoever wants it back has no brain.
”
”
Vladimir Putin
“
No one is easier to manipulate than a man who exaggerates his own influence.
”
”
Masha Gessen (The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin)
“
Those who can make people believe absurdities, can make people commit atrocities.
”
”
Voltaire
“
Esti singur in vartejul suferintei tale si daca vrei sa iesi trebuie sa tragi aer in piept si sa te scufunzi pana se sfarseste. Mai degraba iubeste-o pana cand iubirea ti se face apa si se scurge prin toti porii. Iubeste-o in absenta. Va fi ca si cum te-ai arunca de nebun intr-un zid. De sute, de mii de ori. Neclintit, zidul iti va rupe oasele, pielea ti-o vei zdreli, iti vei sfasia hainele pana cand te vei fi prelins in praful de la baza lui. Un somn lung te va cuprinde, apoi te vei trezi ca dupa un cosmar pe care vei incerca sa-l rememorezi. Soarele diminetii nu-ti va da timp si vei uita. Cu fiecare zi care va trece vei mai fi uitat putin cate putin...Vindeca-te singur. E tot ce poti face pentru tine.
”
”
Tudor Chirilă (Exerciţii de echilibru)
“
...un adevarat medic aproape niciodata nu cere ajutorul altui medic. Pentru ca sunt dureros de constienti de cat de putin stie cineva sa vindece bolnavii.
”
”
Erich Segal (Doctors)
“
Stiu ca orice tovarasie este o iluzie a anularii singuratatii,dar si asa traiesc pentru cele cateva iluzii,asa incat una in plus sau in minus...Si albastrul cerului e o iluzie,dar nu ma incanta mai putin din cauza asta.
”
”
Jeni Acterian (Jurnalul unei fete greu de mulţumit)
“
Bike is the most democratic transport vehicle. Bike is the most daring, challenging as it gives its owner the tempting feeling of freedom, that is why one can say without any exaggeration, bike is a symbol of freedom," Putin said.
”
”
Vladimir Putin
“
We shall fight against them, throw them in prisons and destroy them.
”
”
Vladimir Putin
“
We are hurtling back into a Soviet abyss, into an information vacuum that spells death from our own ignorance. All we have left is the internet, where information is still freely available. For the rest, if you want to go on working as a journalist, it's total servility to Putin. Otherwise, it can be death, the bullet, poison, or trial—whatever our special services, Putin's guard dogs, see fit.
”
”
Anna Politkovskaya
“
Seventy years of communism had destroyed the work ethic of an entire nation. Millions of Russians had been sent to the gulags for showing the slightest hint of personal initiative. The Soviets severely penalized independent thinkers, so the natural self-preservation reaction was to do as little as possible and hope that nobody would notice you.
”
”
Bill Browder (Red Notice: How I Became Putin's No. 1 Enemy)
“
Somehow, people always forget that it's much easier to install a dictator than to remove one
”
”
Garry Kasparov (Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped)
“
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.
”
”
Vladimir Putin
“
Because I'm on the phone, Mom!"
"Fooling around with your friends again! Who is that?"
"Ahmadinejad."
"Oh, my goodness! What is he saying?"
"That he wants to see Jeezy at the Beacon tonight. Putin's going too. He scalped a ticket from Kim Jong Il. All tha gangstas are going."
"Don't be so fresh, young man!"
"Gotta go," he says to me. "Enemy forces have dropped a Momshell."
"Fall back, solider. Over and out.
”
”
Jennifer Donnelly (Revolution)
“
It turned out that capitalism alone could make people not only rich and happy but also poor, hungry, miserable, and powerless.
”
”
Masha Gessen (The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin)
“
Fiecare îsi comunica erorile cum poate iar ele cuprind totdeauna un pic de adevar; ceilalti înteleg cît pot; fiecare spune mai putin decît întelege si întelege mai mult decît i se spune, iar ce întelege nu i se spune, fiindca ce i se spune nu întelege, si asa mai departe.
”
”
Gellu Naum (Zenobia)
“
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.
”
”
Vladimir Putin
“
What is patriotism? Let us begin with what patriotism is not. It is not patriotic to dodge the draft and to mock war heroes and their families. It is not patriotic to discriminate against active-duty members of the armed forces in one’s companies, or to campaign to keep disabled veterans away from one’s property. It is not patriotic to compare one’s search for sexual partners in New York with the military service in Vietnam that one has dodged. It is not patriotic to avoid paying taxes, especially when American working families do pay. It is not patriotic to ask those working, taxpaying American families to finance one’s own presidential campaign, and then to spend their contributions in one’s own companies. It is not patriotic to admire foreign dictators. It is not patriotic to cultivate a relationship with Muammar Gaddafi; or to say that Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin are superior leaders. It is not patriotic to call upon Russia to intervene in an American presidential election. It is not patriotic to cite Russian propaganda at rallies. It is not patriotic to share an adviser with Russian oligarchs. It is not patriotic to solicit foreign policy advice from someone who owns shares in a Russian energy company. It is not patriotic to read a foreign policy speech written by someone on the payroll of a Russian energy company. It is not patriotic to appoint a national security adviser who has taken money from a Russian propaganda organ. It is not patriotic to appoint as secretary of state an oilman with Russian financial interests who is the director of a Russian-American energy company and has received the “Order of Friendship” from Putin. The point is not that Russia and America must be enemies. The point is that patriotism involves serving your own country. The
”
”
Timothy Snyder (On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century)
“
Typically, however, the winner is just the player who made the next-to-last mistake.
”
”
Garry Kasparov (Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped)
“
I introduced Putin to our Scottish terrier, Barney. He wasn't very impressed. On my next trip to Russia, Vladimir asked if I wanted to meet his dog, Koni. Sure, I said. As we walked the birch-lined grounds of his dacha, a big black Labrador came charging across the lawn. With a twinkle in his eye, Vladimir said, "Bigger, stronger, and faster than Barney." Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada [said], "You're lucky he only showed you his dog.
”
”
George W. Bush (Decision Points)
“
I am not anti-American,' he said. 'I just despise the current American administration. I despair that Bush has made ordinary, decent people all over the world think twice about what was once, and still could be again, a great country, when what happened on September 11th should have made ordinary, decent people all over the world embrace America as never before. I don't like it that neo-conservative politicians bully their so-called allies while playing to the worst, racist instincts of their own bewildered electorate. I don't like it that we live in an era where to be anti-war is to be anti-American, to be pro-Palestine is to be anti-Semitic, to be critical of Blair is somehow to be supportive of Putin and Chirac. All anybody is asking for in this so-called age of terror is some leadership. Yet everywhere you look in public life there is no truth, no courage, no dignity to speak of.
”
”
Charles Cumming (Typhoon)
“
De ce iubim femeile
Pentru ca le zambesc tuturor copiilor mici care trec pe langa ele. Pentru ca merg pe strada drepte, cu capul sus, cu umerii trasi inapoi si nu raspund privirii tale cand le fixezi ca un maniac. Pnetru ca-ti spun <> exact atunci cand te iubesc mai putin, ca un fel de compensatie. Pnetru ca scriu fie extrem de delicat, colectionand mici observatii si schitand subtile nuante psihologice, fie brutal si scatologic ca nu cumva sa fie suspectate de literatura feminina. Pnetru ca sunt extrordinare cititoare, pentru care se scriu trei sferturi din poezia si proza lumii. Pnetru ca din ele-am iesit si-n ele ne-ntoarcem, si mintea noastra se roteste ca o planeta greoaie, mereu si mereu, numai in jurul lor.
”
”
Mircea Cărtărescu
“
I have some rules of my own. One of them is never to regret anything. Over time, I came to the conclusion that this was the right thing to do. As soon as you start regretting and looking back, you start to sour. You always have to think about the future. You always have to look ahead. Of course you have to analyze your past mistakes, but only so that you can learn and correct the course of your life.
”
”
Vladimir Putin (First Person: An Astonishingly Frank Self-Portrait by Russia's President Vladimir Putin)
“
So if you blame Facebook, Trump, or Putin for ushering in a new and frightening era of post-truth, remind yourself that centuries ago millions of Christians locked themselves inside a self-reinforcing mythological bubble, never daring to question the factual veracity of the Bible, while millions of Muslims put their unquestioning faith in the Quran. For millennia, much of what passed for “news” and “facts” in human social networks were stories about miracles, angels, demons, and witches, with bold reporters giving live coverage straight from the deepest pits of the underworld. We have zero scientific evidence that Eve was tempted by the serpent, that the souls of all infidels burn in hell after they die, or that the creator of the universe doesn’t like it when a Brahmin marries a Dalit—yet billions of people have believed in these stories for thousands of years. Some fake news lasts forever.
”
”
Yuval Noah Harari (21 Lessons for the 21st Century)
“
Communism is like an autoimmune disorder; it doesn’t do the killing itself, but it weakens the system so much that the victim is left helpless and unable to fight off anything else. It destroys the human spirit on an individual level, perverting the values of a successful free society.
”
”
Garry Kasparov (Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped)