It seems that Russia today–dominated by, and accustomed to, autocracy and empire, and lacking strong civic institutions especially after the shattering of its society by the Bolshevik Terror–is destined to be ruled by self-promoting cliques for some time yet.

Simon Sebag Montefiore
Some Similar Quotes
  1. I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts.... - Nora Ephron

  2. When someone you love says goodbye you can stare long and hard at the door they closed and forget to see all the doors God has open in front of you. - Shannon L. Alder

  3. If you want to be happy, do not dwell in the past, do not worry about the future, focus on living fully in the present. - Roy T. Bennett

  4. Ester asked why people are sad." That’s simple, " says the old man. "They are the prisoners of their personal history. Everyone believes that the main aim in life is to follow a plan. They never ask if that plan is theirs or if it... - Paulo Coelho

  5. Once you realize you deserve a bright future, letting go of your dark past is the best choice you will ever make. - Roy T. Bennett

More Quotes By Simon Sebag Montefiore
  1. But to her, libraries were like hotels: secret villages inhabited by passing strangers from a thousand different worlds brought together just for a few hours.

  2. Who is fit to be elected?' asked Napoleon. 'A Caesar, an Alexander only comes along once a century, so that election must be a matter of chance.

  3. Power is always personal: any study of a Western democratic leader today reveals that, even in a transparent system with its short periods in office, personalities shape administrations. Democratic leaders often rule through trusted retainers instead of official ministers. In any court, power is as...

  4. Very few politicians, who have chosen a political career, can fulfill the aspirations and survive the strains of an elevated office that in a monarchy was filled so randomly. Each tsar had to be simultaneously dictator and supreme general, high priest and Little Father. They...

  5. Marx wrote that 'History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.' This was witty but far from true. History is never repeated, but it borrows, steals, echoes and commandeers the past to create a hybrid, something unique out of the ingredients of past and...

Related Topics