Mikhail Kalashnikov Quotes

I wanted to invent an engine that could run for ever. I could have developed a new train, had I stayed in the railway. It would have looked like the AK-47 though.

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“I made it to protect the motherland.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

I was probably born with some designing abilities.

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“For years, I had a top secret clearance and never left Russia. Just once did I go to Bulgaria with my wife for a holiday at the Golden Sands resort, but I could not mention my real name. I was allowed to travel abroad only in the early 1990s.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“People often ask me how I feel about my invention being used to kill people every day and the AK being a common weapon of ethnic conflicts. I want to make it clear that I created my assault rifle to protect my country. You can blame politicians for its spreading out of control on a global scale.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

I'm proud of my invention, but I'm sad that it is used by terrorists.

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

The fact that people die because of an AK-47 is not because of the designer, but because of politics.

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“I tried a dozen different modifications that were rejected. But they all served as a path to the final design.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“Life can make you do many things, even kiss a man with a runny nose.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“Life is composed of different inventions.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

I do not consider the AK to be the best-ever assault rifle.

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“Any designer believes his gun is the best, and when its test performance is a bit less impressive compared to others, he feels bitterness and envy.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“I had to gain experience as I did not have a technical education.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“The negative side is that sometimes it is beyond control.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“We had grain but no mills, so I designed a special mill of wood so we could make flour.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

I have continued to work at different things, and rebuilt my home all by myself. I did it for the sake of satisfaction at doing something. I did it because I happened to be where I was.

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“I shot with it a lot. I still do now. That is why I am hard of hearing.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“I was trying to perform as best as possible. I was a boy at the time, but worked well with the sickle.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“Man keeps inventing things all the time.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“Terrorists also want to use simple and reliable arms.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“Things that are complex are not useful, Things that are useful are simple.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

I would prefer to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work - for example a lawnmower.

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“I created a weapon to defend the borders of my motherland. It's not my fault that it's being used where it shouldn't be. The politicians are more to blame for this.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“Before attempting to create something new, it is vital to have a good appreciation of everything that already exists in this field.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“I sleep well. It's the politicians who are to blame for failing to come to an agreement and resorting to violence.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“When I see Bin Laden with his AK-47, I got nervous. But what can I do, terrorists aren't fools: they too chose the most reliable guns.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“It is painful for me to see when criminal elements of all kinds fire from my weapon.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

My aim was to create armaments to protect the borders of my motherland. It is not my fault that the Kalashnikov became very well-known in the world; that it was used in many troubled places. I think the policies of these countries are to blame, not the designers. Man is born to protect his family, his children, his wife. But I want you to know that apart from armaments, I have written three books in which I try to educate our youth to show respect for their families, for old people, for history.

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“It is the Germans who are responsible for the fact that I became a fabricator of arms. If not for them, I would have constructed agricultural machines. ( ... ) If someone asks me how I can sleep at night knowing that my arms have killed millions of people, I respond that I have no problem sleeping, my conscience is clean. I constructed arms to defend my country.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

I am still ready to shake hands with anyone who designs a better assault rifle than mine.

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“My work is my life, and my life is my work. I invented this assault rifle to defend my country. Today, I am proud that it has become for many synonymous with liberty.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

My spiritual pain is unbearable. I keep having the same unsolved question: if my rifle claimed people's lives, then can it be that I a Christian and an Orthodox believer, was to blame for their deaths?

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“The AK-47 is not a device of aggression ... I devised this machine-gun for the security of my country.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

“I've always wanted to improve and expand on the good name of my weapon by doing good things.”

— Mikhail Kalashnikov

Then it was like a genie out of the bottle and it began to walk all on its own and in directions I did not want.

— Mikhail Kalashnikov