History is more interesting than politics.
I am not always happy with the compliments Estonia has received.
I was too busy looking into Yeltsin's eyes to notice what was under the table.
I've never met a general yet who could milk a cow.
If geography is prose, maps are iconography.
In the past, when I shot films about fishermen and hunters, I always had to admire their ability to perceive time in its entirety. The present was always temporary.
It is precisely in the name of European values that Estonia needs a secure border.
Looking in the mirror to check if my tie is straight is a waste of my time. I only look in the mirror once a day, and that's in the morning when I shave.
Our civilisation has lost this bond between times, and tends to measure time with a yardstick, bit by bit, from one point to another.
Science will liberate us from the chains of big cities and lead us back to nature.
Security is like virginity: you're either a virgin or you're not. You either have security or you don't.
That radio was very important for me. It meant I always knew what was going on in the world.
This is scum on the surface of the state cauldron, scum that we will gather with a ladle and throw into the slop pail.
Throughout Soviet times, I understood what was really happening in the world around me.
Traveling is the only passion that doesn't need to feel shy in front of intellect.
With that radio I was always swimming with the current political streams in the West. I was never stranded.
In the fulfillment of your duties, let your intentions be so pure that you reject from your actions any other motive than the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
President of the Republic of Estonia between 1992 and 2001.
As a child he spent many years abroad with his family and is therefore fluent in French, German, English and Finnish.
Honorary Member of the Finnish Literary Society.
Was ambassador to Finland for a short period of time before being appointed President of the Republic of Estonia in 1992.
He is known as the author and translator of many books. From the 1960s to the 1980s he worked as a screenwriter and producer for a film company in Tallinn.
Some of his films which made plain the hardships of ethnic peoples behind the Iron Curtain were banned in the Soviet Union but they earned critical praise abroad where they were shown in smuggled copies.
He was the first president of Estonia in the post Soviet era and an internationally recognized filmmaker, travel writer and translator.
Had three children: sons Mart (b. 1959) and Kristjan (b. 1966) and daughter Tuule (b. 1985).
Was a noted historian and ethnographer. Made several ethnographic movies in the 70s.
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