Nikita Khrushchev Quotes

26 Sourced Quotes

About the capitalist states, it doesn't depend on you whether or not we exist. If you don't like us, don't accept our invitations, and don't invite us to come and see you. Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you.

Nikita Khrushchev
If one cannot catch the bird of paradise, better take a wet hen.

Nikita Khrushchev
Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.

Nikita Khrushchev
Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will dig you in. (We will bury you.)

Nikita Khrushchev
If you live among wolves you have to act like a wolf.

Nikita Khrushchev
The thought sometimes — the unpleasant thought sometimes creeps up on me here as to whether perhaps Khrushchev was not invited here to enable you to sort of rub him in your sauce and to show the might and the strength of the United States so as to make him sort of … so as to make him shaky at the knees. If that is so, then if I came — if it took me about 12 hours to get here, I guess it'll just — it'll take no more than about 10½ hours to fly back.

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
The two most powerful nations of the world had been squared off against each other, each with its finger on the button. You'd have thought that war was inevitable. But both sides showed that if the desire to avoid war is strong enough, even the most pressing dispute can be solved by compromise. And a compromise over Cuba was indeed found.

Nikita Khrushchev
When you are skinning your customers you should leave some skin on to grow again so that you can skin them again.

Nikita Khrushchev
I don't like jazz. When I hear jazz, it's as if I had gas on the stomach. I used to think it was static when I heard it on the radio.

Nikita Khrushchev
If we were to promise people nothing better than only revolution, they would scratch their heads and say: 'Is it not better to have good goulash?'

Nikita Khrushchev
If you start throwing hedgehogs under me, I shall throw a couple of porcupines under you.

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.

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.

Nikita Khrushchev
Comrades! We must abolish the cult of the individual decisively, once and for all.

Nikita Khrushchev
Everyone can err, but Stalin considered that he never erred, that he was always right. He never acknowledged to anyone that he made any mistake, large or small, despite the fact that he made not a few mistakes in the matter of theory and in his practical activity.

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.

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."

Nikita Khrushchev
They are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even when there is no river.

Nikita Khrushchev
My arms are up to the elbows in blood. That is the most terrible thing that lies in my soul.

Nikita Khrushchev
Berlin is the testicle of the West. When I want the West to scream, I squeeze on Berlin.

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.

Nikita Khrushchev
We are going to make the imperialists dance like fishes in a saucepan, even without war.

Nikita Khrushchev
He who cannot eat horsemeat need not do so. Let him eat pork. But he who cannot eat pork, let him eat horsemeat. It's simply a question of taste.

Nikita Khrushchev
Mr. President, call the toady of American imperialism to order.

Nikita Khrushchev