Things that are complex are not useful, Things that are useful are simple.
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.
Before attempting to create something new, it is vital to have a good appreciation of everything that already exists in this field.
The fact that people die because of an AK-47 is not because of the designer, but because of politics.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I sleep well. It's the politicians who are to blame for failing to come to an agreement and resorting to violence.
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.
It is painful for me to see when criminal elements of all kinds fire from my weapon.
I am still ready to shake hands with anyone who designs a better assault rifle than mine.
I'm proud of my invention, but I'm sad that it is used by terrorists.
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.
I tried a dozen different modifications that were rejected. But they all served as a path to the final design.
You see, with [designing]weapons, it is like a woman who bears children. For months she carries her baby and thinks about it. A designer does much the same thing with a prototype. I felt like a mother - always proud. It is a special feeling, as if you were awarded with a special award. I shot with it a lot. I still do now. That is why I am hard of hearing.
Life can make you do many things, even kiss a man with a runny nose.
The AK-47 is not a device of aggression ... I devised this machine-gun for the security of my country.
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?
I was trying to perform as best as possible. I was a boy at the time, but worked well with the sickle.
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.
I was probably born with some designing abilities.
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.
