Nikita Khrushchev quotes

Nikita Khrushchev was a Soviet politician who led the USSR during part of the Cold War. Known for his policy of de-Stalinization, he played a pivotal role in major international events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis. He shaped Soviet domestic and foreign policy in a period of significant tension and transformation. Here are 57 of his quotes:

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers. (Nikita Khrushchev)
Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you! View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
If you start throwing hedgehogs under me, I shall throw a couple of porcupines under you. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
Berlin is the testicle of the West. When I want the West to scream, I squeeze on Berlin. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
Comrades We must abolish the cult of the individual decisively, once and for all. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
If you live among wolves you have to act like a wolf. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
Do you think when two representatives holding diametrically opposing views get together and shake hands, the contradictions between our systems will simply melt away? What kind of a daydream is that? View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
But life is a great school. It thrashes and bangs and teaches you. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
The press is our chief ideological weapon. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
Mr. President, call the toady of American imperialism to order. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
I happened to read recently a remark by the American nuclear physicist W. Davidson, who noted that the explosion of one hydrogen bomb releases a greater amount of energy than all the explosions set off by all countries in all wars known in the entire history of mankind. And he, apparently, is right. (Nikita Khrushchev)
If Adenauer were here with us in the sauna, we could see for ourselves that Germany is and will remain divided but also that Germany never will rise again. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
They say that the Soviet delegates smile. That smile is genuine. It is not artificial. We wish to live in peace, tranquility. But if anyone believes that our smiles involve abandonment of the teaching of Marx, Engels and Lenin he deceives himself poorly. Those who wait for that must wait until a shrimp learns to whistle. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
My arms are up to the elbows in blood. That is the most terrible thing that lies in my soul. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
The more bombers, the less room for doves of peace. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
I once said, "We will bury you," and I got into trouble with it. Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
I remember President Kennedy once stated... that the United States had the nuclear missile capacity to wipe out the Soviet Union two times over, while the Soviet Union had enough atomic weapons to wipe out the United States only once... When journalists asked me to comment... I said jokingly, "Yes, I know what Kennedy claims, and he's quite right. But I'm not complaining... We're satisfied to be able to finish off the United States first time round. Once is quite enough. What good does it do to annihilate a country twice? We're not a bloodthirsty people." View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
Yes, today we have genuine Russian weather. Yesterday we had Swedish weather. I can't understand why your weather is so terrible. Maybe it is because you are immediate neighbours of NATO. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
You Americans are so gullible. No, you won't accept communism outright, but we'll keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you'll finally wake up and find you already have communism. We won't have to fight you. We'll so weaken your economy until you'll fall like overripe fruit into our hands. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
I am very glad to hear this, since I come from the Ukraine. From now on I can sleep peacefully. I will immediately telegraph my daughter in Kiev. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
When it is a question of fighting against imperialism we can state with conviction that we are all Stalinists. We can take pride that we have taken part in the fight for the advance of our great cause against our enemies. From that point of view I am proud that we are Stalinists. (Nikita Khrushchev)
The living will envy the dead. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
We have come to this town where lives the cream of American art.... But just now I was told that I could not go to Disneyland. I asked "Why not? What is it? Do you have rocket-launching pads there?" I do not know. Just listen to what reason I was told: "We," which means the American authorities, "cannot guarantee your security if you go there." What is it? Is there an epidemic of cholera there or something? Or have gangsters taken over the place that can destroy me? Then what must I do? Commit suicide? ... For me, this situation is inconceivable. I cannot find words to explain this to my people. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
The purpose of the United Nations should be to protect the essential sovereignty of nations, large and small. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev
Economics is a subject that does not greatly respect one's wishes. View quote
Nikita Khrushchev