Boris Yeltsin

“Forgive me.”

“You can build a throne with bayonets, but you can't sit on it for long.”

“The path of reforms is not easy, but we will not turn away from it.”

“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.”

“It is especially important to encourage unorthodox thinking when the situation is critical.”

“I am leaving. I have done all I could.”

“We are all responsible for the country. We are all responsible for the future.”

“God bless Russia.”

“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.”

“I am resigning... because Russia must enter the new millennium with new politicians, with new faces, with new, smart, strong, energetic people.”