H.G. Wells on Stalin : “I confess that I approached Stalin with a certain suspicion and prejudice. A picture had been built up in my mind of a very reserved and self-centred fanatic, a despot without vices, a jealous monopolizer of power. I had been led to believe by various people that he was all these things, and also that he had something of the dark fanatical quality of Savonarola. I found on the contrary a man surprisingly different from my preconception. I expected to find a rather ruthless, hard, perhaps even sullen man. Instead I found a quiet-spoken, seemingly very restrained and amiable man, with a gentle voice and a ready, easy laugh. There was no malice in him, no fear, and, so far as I could judge, no hate. I have never met a man more candid, fair and honest, and to these qualities it is, and to nothing occult and sinister, that he owes his tremendous undisputed ascendancy in Russia. I had thought before I saw him that he might be where he was because men were afraid of him, but I realize that he owes his position to the fact that no one is afraid of him and everybody trusts him.”