“It is not heroes that make history, but history that makes heroes.”

“History shows that there are no invincible armies.”

“History has shown there are no invincible armies.”

“You cannot make a revolution with silk gloves.”

“Undoubtedly, our path is not of the easiest; but, just as undoubtedly, we are not to be frightened by difficulties. Paraphrasing from the well-known words of Luther, Russia might say: ‘Here I stand on the frontier between the old, capitalist world and the new, socialist world. Here on this frontier I unite the efforts of the proletarians of the West and of the peasantry of the East in order to shatter the old world. May the god of history be my aid!”

“When the Bolsheviks came to power they were soft and easy with their enemies... we had begun by making a mistake. Leniency towards such a power was a crime against the working classes. That soon became apparent...”

“I believe in only one thing, the power of human will.”