What Joseph Stalin Said....

Death

"Death is the solution to all problems - no man, no problem."

"One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic."

Politics and governance

"If any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a "peace conference," you can be sure his government has already placed its orders for new battleships and airplanes."

"It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."

"Everyone imposes his own system as far as his army can reach."

"Gaiety is the most outstanding feature of the Soviet Union."

"Print is the sharpest and the strongest weapon of our party."

"A sincere diplomat is like dry water or wooden iron."

"The only real power comes out of a long rifle."

"The people who cast the votes don't decide an election, the people who count the votes do."

"We don't let them have ideas. Why would we let them have guns?"

"When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use."

"You cannot make a revolution with silk gloves."

War

"Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas."

"If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves."

"In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance."

"Die, but do not retreat."

"History shows that there are no invincible armies."

 Personal views

"Gratitude is a sickness suffered by dogs."

"I believe in one thing only, the power of human will."

"I trust no one, not even myself."

"Mankind is divided into rich and poor, into property owners and exploited; and to abstract oneself from this fundamental division; and from the antagonism between poor and rich means abstracting oneself from fundamental facts."

"The Pope? How many divisions has he got?"

"The writer is the engineer of the human soul."

"Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed."