The Régime Did Not Want Communists; It

Somebody Once Asked Niels Bohr Why He Had A Horseshoe Hanging Above The Front Door Of His House. Surely You, A World Famous Physicist, Can't Really Believe That Hanging A Horseshoe Above Your Door Brings You Luck? Of Course Not, Bohr Replied, But I Have Been Reliably Informed That It Will Bring Me Luck Whether I Believe In It Or Not.

One Question That People Always Ask At Home Is Never Asked Here: "what Happened To Communism In Russia?" Everybody Yawns When A Visitor Brings It Up, Because The Answer Is So Obvious To Every Russian. The Answer Is That There Never Was Communism In Russia; There Were Only Communists.

All "if" Statements About The Past Are As Dubious As Prophecies Of The Future Are. It Seems Fairly Plausible That If Alexander Or Ghengis Khan Had Never Been Born, Some Other Individual Would Have Filled His Place And Executed The Design Of The Hellenic Or Mongolic Expansion; But The Alexanders Of Philosophy And Religion, Of Science And Art, Seem Less Expendable; Their Impact Seems Less Determined By Economic Challenges And Social Pressures; And They Seem To Have A Much Wider Range Of Possibilities To Influence The Direction, Shape And Texture Of Civilizations.

The Temptations Of God Were Always More Dangerous For Mankind Than Those Of Satan.

In My Youth I Regarded The Universe As An Open Book, Printed In The Language Of Equations, Whereas Now It Appears To Me As A Text Written In Invisible Ink, Of Which In Our Rare Moments Of Grace We Are Able To Decipher A Small Segment.