Joseph Stalin Quotes Proverbs, and Aphorisms
- December 18, 1878 – March 5, 1953
- Born in Georgia
- Politician
Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953, overseeing a transformation of the country into a major industrial and military power. Through aggressive Five-Year Plans, he pushed rapid industrialization and collectivization, but at immense human cost—including widespread famine, forced labor camps (Gulags), and purges that led to millions of deaths. He played a crucial role in the Allied victory in World War II, yet established a totalitarian regime marked by censorship, repression, and a cult of personality. While some admire his role in Soviet modernization and wartime leadership, Stalin is widely condemned for his brutal policies and widespread human rights abuses.
- “The people who cast the votes don’t decide an election, the people who count the votes do.”
- “You cannot make a revolution with silk gloves.”
- “One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic.”
- “If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves.”
- “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.”
- “Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.”
- “Everyone imposes his own system as far as his army can reach.”
- “We don’t let them have ideas. Why would we let them have guns?”
- “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.”
- “Print is the sharpest and the strongest weapon of our party.”
- “I believe in one thing only, the power of human will.”
- “When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use.”
- “The Pope? How many divisions has he got?”
- “Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.”
- “The writer is the engineer of the human soul.”
- “Gratitude is a sickness suffered by dogs.”
- “A sincere diplomat is like dry water or wooden iron.”
- “In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance.”
- “The only real power comes out of a long rifle.”
- “Gaiety is the most outstanding feature of the Soviet Union.”
- “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.”
- “Death is the solution to all problems. No man – no problem.”
- “History shows that there are no invincible armies.”
- “I trust no one, not even myself.”