Умом Россию не понять,
Аршином общим не измерить.
У ней особенная стать,
В Россию можно только верить!

You will not grasp her with your mind
Or cover with a common label,
For Russia is one of a kind —
Believe in her, if you are able...

translated by Anatoly Liberman, published in "Russian Life in the United States"

When the Tsar has a cold all Russia coughs.

The best thing we can do if we want the Russians to let us be Americans is to let the Russians be Russian.

George F Kennan

The market is historically formed as an objective economic and social reality.

Many people are surprised to hear that we have comedians in Russia, but they are there. They are dead, but they are there.

Yakov Smirnoff

The Russians will try all the rooms in a house, enter those that are not locked, and when they come to one that cannot be broken into, they will withdraw and invite you to dine genially that same evening.

When you think of somewhere really cold for inspiration, you eventually get to Russia.

Sally Singer

You only have power over people so long as you do not take everything away from them. But when you have robbed a man of everything, he is no longer in your power — he is free again.

We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.

Anton Chekhov

Advertising is the very essence of democracy.

I took a speed-reading course and read “War and Peace” in 20 minutes. It involves Russia.

Woody Allen

I have spent all my life under a Communist regime, and I will tell you that a society without any objective legal scale is a terrible one indeed. But a society with no other scale but the legal one is not quite worthy of man either.

Reason has always existed, but not always in a reasonable form.

Karl Marx

Everyone wants Russia to be a prosperous, democratic state that is fully integrated.

We had a very successful trip to Russia. We made it back.

Bob Hope

The first time I went to Russia, it was in January, and I was standing in the middle of Red Square. I remember thinking that I never expected to be here without an M-16 in my hand.

Everybody has always underrated the Russians. They keep their own secrets alike from foe and friends.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchil

There are like 50 players from Russia in the top 10. Every week you have to play an ova. They ask, “Who are you playing?” I say, “I am playing an ova today.”

Any idiot can face a crisis, it is this day-to-day living that wears you out.

Anton Chekhov

There are things in Russia that are not as they seem.

The West has not lived through totalitarianism, with a single ideology for 70 years. We are escaping from the burden of the past, and only after we have done that will we be ready to integrate with Europe, and Europe needs Russia.

Boris Yeltsin

Money, like vodka, turns a person into an eccentric.

Russia has got to be the team to beat, in my opinion. When they are playing together as a team, they are tough to beat.

Jaromir Jagr

Russians are very receptive to new ideas. Once Russians have set their minds on a course of action, they can do in a few months what other countries can take years to do.

One of the greatest ironies of today's Moscow: the millionaire beggar-pensioner.

While Russians have shown huge strength and resilience in standing up again and again after being knocked down, the big question for me is how can Russians in future stop being knocked down? Instead of focusing energy and attention on getting up again after yet another blow, how can Russia be mre pro-active and not get knocked down in the first place?