Modern History Quotes

“When corruption is the very foundation of a regime, those who battle it are extremists.”
― Alexei Navalny, Patriot: A Memoir

“The hero of one of my favite books, Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy, says, "Yes, the only suitable place for an honest man in Russia at the present time is prison.”
― Alexei Navalny, Patriot: A Memoir

“What are AJkraine's borders with Russia? The same as Russia's with Ukraine, which we internationally recognized and defined in 1991. There's nothing to discuss here. Almost all borders in the world are more or less accidental and cause someone discontent. But in the twenty-first century, we can't start ward just to redraw them. Otherwise, the world will sink into chaos.”
― Alexei Navalny, Patriot: A Memoir

“We must do what they fear -- tell the truth, spread the truth. This is the most powerful weapon against this regime of liars, thieves and hypocrites. Everyone has this weapon. So make use of it.”
― Alexei Navalny, Patriot: A Memoir

“A serious political leader cannot simply decide to turn his back on a huge number of his fellow citizens because he personally dislikes their views.”
― Alexei Navalny, Patriot: A Memoir

“The politics of an authoritarian country are structured in a very primitive way: you are either for the regime or against it. All other political options have been completely obliterated.”
― Alexei Navalny, Patriot: A Memoir

“They were ancient history. They were so ancient they made ancient history look modern.
Well, okay . . . maybe medieval.”
― Roberta Pearce, For Those Who Wait

“All schooboys had been to the stores and had noticed the long queues, and knew that the most used word in the Soviet lexicon was "shortage.”
― Alexei Navalny, Patriot: A Memoir

“I firmly believe that all the best things on earth have been created by brave nerds.”
― Alexei Navalny

“If you have a criminal conviction, you are barred from running for office.”
― Alexei Navalny, Patriot: A Memoir

“Needless to say, anybondy traveling abroad - a boon wholly beyond the reach of 99.9 percent of Soviet citizens - was under a moral obligation to acquire foreign-manufactured gifts for everyone.”
― Alexei Navalny, Patriot: A Memoir

“Because of Putin, hundreds now, and in the future tens of thousands, of Ukrainians and Russian citizens will die. Yes, he will stop Ukraine from developing, he will drag it into the swamp, but Russia too will pay a high price.”
― Alexei Navalny, Patriot: A Memoir

“Once again, I was conscious of the paradox of the compound: that here, at the heart of the unfolding events, we could catch no more than a glimpse of them. Fires were burning all over Dili; the smell was in our nostrils from the moment we wok up, and occasionally we could see columns of smoke. But the flames themselves, and the faces of the fire starters, were invisible. At the computers in the Unamet press room, we waited in turn to log on to the news websites and learn what was happening to us.”
― Richard Lloyd Parry, In the Time of Madness: Indonesia on the Edge of Chaos

“Don't read their rubbish... Read mine ☺️”
― Jacqueline Creek, The Girl with the Emerald Brooch: Growing up: 1954 - 1965

“It was a roiling and mobile civilization marked by a steady increase in carnality, vulgarity, brutality. Yet, oddly, the institutions and the accustomed frameworks of liberal parliamentary democracy, of that highest creation of the now passing Modern Age, continued to exist--at a time when civilization itself (a term first appearing in English in 1601) was coming apart. History is not governed by logic: but we must at least consider that this strange duality cannot exist much longer: that sooner or later the very political structure of democracy may undergo a deep-going and at least for a while irreversible transformation, including mutations that may have already begun.”
― John Lukacs, Democracy and Populism: Fear and Hatred

“When History is written it will be stated that the the Pakistani intelligence agency I.S.I. defeated the Soviet Union in Afghanistan with the help of America. Then there will be another sentence: The I.S.I., with the help of America, defeated America.”  The ex-head of ISI Hamid Gul declared in public.”
― Theo Alistair, Mass Insanity

“When History is written it will be stated that the the Pakistani intelligence agency I.S.I. defeated the Soviet Union in Afghanistan with the help of America.

Then there will be another sentence: The I.S.I., with the help of America, defeated America.” 
- The ex-head of ISI Hamid Gul declared in public.”
― Theo Alistair

“Genie understood that everyone would be trapped together inside this crippled city for the foreseeable future--in the snow, in the dark, with no electricity, in below-freezing temperatures. Under those circumstances, she felt 'mass hysteria would have meant total destruction.' (pg. 79)”
― Jon Mooallem, This Is Chance!: The Shaking of an All-American City, a Voice That Held It Together

“When resources decide survival, power stops asking and starts taking.”
― Angelika Regossi, Russian Colonial Food: Journey through the dissolved Communist Empire

“The land was enormous, the ambitions were grand, and the control had to be just as big.”
― Angelika Regossi, Russian Colonial Food: Journey through the dissolved Communist Empire