Americans have a severe disease - worse than AIDS. It's called the winner's complex.
Mikhail GorbachevRead
Peace is not unity in similarity but unity in diversity, in the comparison and conciliation of differences.
Interpretation
True peace arises from embracing and reconciling our differences rather than seeking uniformity.
This quote emphasizes that genuine peace does not come from everyone being the same, but rather from appreciating and valuing the differences among individuals and groups. Mikhail Gorbachev highlights the importance of dialogue and understanding as essential components of achieving harmony, suggesting that diversity in perspectives can lead to a more profound and lasting peace.
In practice
During a community meeting discussing local issues, this quote can be used to encourage acceptance among diverse opinions.
Americans have a severe disease - worse than AIDS. It's called the winner's complex.
Gentlemen, comrades, do not be concerned about all you hear about Glasnost and Perestroika and democracy in the coming years. They are primarily for outward consumption. There will be no significant internal changes in the Soviet Union, other than for cosmetic purposes. Our purpose is to disarm the Americans and let them fall asleep.
The soviet people want full-blooded and unconditional democracy.
To me, nature is sacred. Trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals.
New approaches are needed, new orientations in both thought and action. We must make the transition to a new civilization...We are talking of a transition toward a new civilization. No one knows what it will be like. What is important is to orient in that direction... I am convinced that a new civilization will inevitably take on certain features that are characteristic of, or inherent in, the socialist ideal.
According to Lenin, socialism and democracy are indivisible.... The essence of perestroika lies in the fact that it unites socialism with democracy and revives the Leninist concept of socialist construction both in theory and in practice. We want more socialism and, therefore, more democracy.
Ultimately, peace is just not about politics. It's about attitudes; about a sense of empathy; about breaking down the divisions that we create for ourselves in our own minds and our own hearts that don't exist in any objective reality, but that we carry with us generation after generation. And I know, because America, we, too, have had to work hard over the decades, slowly, gradually, sometimes painfully, in fits and starts, to keep perfecting our union.
Could I have but a line a century hence crediting a contribution to the advance of peace, I would yield every honor which has been accorded by war.
I believe that peace with the Palestinians is most urgent - urgent than ever before. It is necessary. It is crucial. It is possible. A delay may worsen its chances. Israel and the Palestinians are, in my judgment, ripe today to restart the peace process.
The more peace there is in us, the more peace there will be in our troubled world.
I want peace. I want to see if somewhere there isn't something left in life of charm and grace.
It takes a few to make war, but it takes a village and a nation to build peace.
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