„V nebezpečí je ten, kdo nereaguje na běh událostí.“
Kdo přijde pozdě, toho život potrestá.
Datum narození: 2. březen 1931
Další jména: Michail Gorbačov
Gorbačov během projevu v roce 1986.
Kdo přijde pozdě, toho život potrestá.
Zdroj: [Novinky.cz, Mé tažení proti alkoholu byla chyba, přiznal Gorbačov, http://www.novinky.cz/zahranicni/evropa/369613-me-tazeni-proti-alkoholu-byla-chyba-priznal-gorbacov.html, 2015-05-15, 2015-06-24]
Nobel Address (1991)
Kontext: During the last six years we have discarded and destroyed much that stood in the way of a renewal and transformation of our society. But when society was given freedom it could not recognize itself, for it had lived too long, as it were, "beyond the looking glass". Contradictions and vices rose to the surface, and even blood has been shed, although we have been able to avoid a bloodbath. The logic of reform has clashed with the logic of rejection, and with the logic of impatience which breeds intolerance.
Nobel Address (1991)
Kontext: A period of transition to a new quality in all spheres of society's life is accompanied by painful phenomena. When we were initiating perestroika we failed to properly assess and foresee everything. Our society turned out to be hard to move off the ground, not ready for major changes which affect people's vital interests and make them leave behind everything to which they had become accustomed over many years. In the beginning we imprudently generated great expectations, without taking into account the fact that it takes time for people to realize that all have to live and work differently, to stop expecting that new life would be given from above.
Speech to the UN General Assembly (7 December 1988)
Kontext: We are witnessing most profound social change. Whether in the East or the South, the West or the North, hundreds of millions of people, new nations and states, new public movements and ideologies have moved to the forefront of history. Broad-based and frequently turbulent popular movements have given expression, in a multidimensional and contradictory way, to a longing for independence, democracy and social justice. The idea of democratizing the entire world order has become a powerful socio-political force. At the same time, the scientific and technological revolution has turned many economic, food, energy, environmental, information and population problems, which only recently we treated as national or regional ones, into global problems. Thanks to the advances in mass media and means of transportation, the world seems to have become more visible and tangible. International communication has become easier than ever before.
As quoted in TIME magazine (9 September 1985)
Kontext: Certain people in the United States are driving nails into this structure of our relationship, then cutting off the heads. So the Soviets must use their teeth to pull them out.