I don't have any regrets about the nineties. It was an exciting, tumultuous time. Even though I'd never been interested in politics or even read the papers, I ended up running for deputy. Who were the foremen of perestroika? Writers, artists... poets... You could have collected autographs at the First Congress of the People's Deputies of the USSR. My husband is an economist, and it would drive him up the wall: “Poets are capable of setting people's hearts on fire with words. You're going to end up with a revolution on your hands—and then what? How are you going to build democracy? Who's going to do it? I can already see what your efforts are leading to." He laughed at me. We ended up getting divorced because of it... But as it turned out, he was right ...

— Secondhand Time by Svetlana Aleksievich, Bela Shayevich (Page 37)