Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)

Marxist, revolutionairy, writer, first premier of the USSR

• "Не идти вперед — значит быть отброшенным назад."
  • Translation: "Not to go forward - means to be thrown aback."

• "Хуже всякого глухого, кто не хочет слушать"
  • Translation: "None so deaf as those that won't hear."

• "Равнодушие есть молчаливая поддержка того, кто силен, того, кто господствует."
  • Translation: "Indifference is silent support for the ones in power, the ones who reign"

• "Как миросозерцание, анархизм есть вывернутая наизнанку буржуазность. Жить в обществе и быть свободным от общества нельзя."
  • Translation: "As a world view, anarchism is bourgeoisie turned inside out. To live in a society and be free from it is impossible."

• "Может ли сила сотни превышать силу тысячи? Может. И превышает, когда сотня организована."
  • Translation: "Can the power of a hundred be greater than the power of a thousand? It can. And it does, when the hundred is organized."

• "Вот она, судьба моя. Одна боевая компания за другой <…> И ненависть пошляков из-за этого. Ну, а я все же не променял бы сей судьбы на мир с пошляками."
  • Translation: "Here it is, my fate. One military campaign after another. ... And the hatred of the corrupt for that. But I would not exchange this fate for a peace with the corrupt."

• "С большими словами надо обращаться осмотрительно. Трудности их превращения в большие дела громадны."
  • Translation: "One should be careful when using big words. The difficulties of turning them into big deeds are humongous"

• "Все благое и полезное, доведенное до крайности, может стать и даже, за известным пределом, становится злом и вредом."
  • Translation: "Everything good and helpful, when brought to extremes, can, and usually does, become evil and harmful"

• "Кто хочет помочь колеблющимся, должен начать с того, чтобы перестать колебаться самому."
  • Translation: "Who wants to help the uncertain people, has to start from dealing with his own uncertainty."

• "Комунизм, это власт советов плюс электрификация всей страны."
  • Translation: "Communism is the rule of soviets plus the electrification of the whole country."

Attributed

• "War, like every great crisis in the life of individuals or the history of nations, oppresses and breaks some, steels and enlightens others."

• "A lie told often enough becomes accepted truth."

• "One must always try to be as radical as reality itself."

• "It is true that liberty is precious; so precious that it must be carefully rationed."

• "While the State exists there can be no freedom; when there is freedom there will be no State."

• "Under socialism all will govern in turn and will soon become accustomed to no one governing."

• "One man with a gun can control 100 without one."

• "Learn, Learn, Learn!"

• "Trust is good, but control is better."

See also

• List of people by name