Mikhail Kalashnikov 47 Quotations

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.

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

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

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

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.

When a young man, I read somewhere the following: God the Almighty said, 'All that is too complex is unnecessary, and it is simple that is needed' ... So this has been my lifetime motto – I have been creating weapons to defend the borders of my fatherland, to be simple and reliable.

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.

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

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

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