Andrei Sakharov Quotes

We must make demands of reason and create a life worthy of ourselves and of the goals we only dimly perceive

life reason worthy create goals

I worked under conditions of the highest security and under great pressure, first in Moscow and subsequently in a special secret research centre. At the time we were all convinced that this work was of vital significance for the balance of power in the world and we were fascinated by the grandeur of the task.

work power time security world secret balance pressure special great research significance

For me, the moral difficulties lie in the continual pressure brought to bear on my friends and immediate family, pressure which is not directed against me personally but which at the same time is all around me.

difficulties thetimes time family friends pressure moral lie bear

My public stand represented a turning point for me and my entire future. The article very quickly became known throughout the world. For a long time the Soviet press contained no mention of the Progress, and later references were either disapproving in the extreme or else ironic. A great many critics, even if sympathetically disposed towards me, regarded my reflections in this work as exceedingly naive and speculative.

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Our country, like every modern state, needs profound democratic reforms. It needs political and ideological pluralism, a mixed economy and protection of human rights and the opening up of society.

rights protection pluralism society human profound political economy country state modern

I want to emphasize that the question of regulating birth rates is highly complex and that any standardized, dogmatic solution for all time and all peoples would be wrong.

birth wrongs people thetimes time

A thermonuclear war cannot be considered a continuation of politics by other means (according to the formula of Clausewitz). It would be a means of universal suicide.

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The threat of hunger cannot be eliminated without the assistance of the developed countries, and this requires significant changes in their foreign and domestic policies.

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