Communists are people who fancied that they had an unhappy childhood.
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American Writer
Communism, like any other revealed religion, is largely made up of prophecies.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
Many people feel empty, a world that seemed so strong just collapsed. Forty years have been wasted on stupid strife for the sake of an unsuccessful experiment. The values gathered together have vanished, the strategies for survival have become ridiculous. And so forty years of our lives have become a story, a bad anecdote. But it may be possible to remember these adventures with a kind of irony.
—Gyorgy Konrad (1933–2019) Hungarian Novelist, Sociologist, Essayist
Our power does not know liberty or justice. It is established on the destruction of the individual will.
—Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian Revolutionary Leader
There is nothing in socialism that a little age or a little money will not cure.
—Will Durant (1885–1981) American Historian, Philosopher, Memoirist, Socialist
Communism is like prohibition, it is a good idea, but it won’t work.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use.
—Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) Soviet Leader
Marxism is like a classical building that followed the Renaissance; beautiful in its way, but incapable of growth.
—Harold Macmillan (1894–1986) British Head of State
Communism has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
A man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
I am a Communist, a convinced Communist! For some that may be a fantasy. But to me it is my main goal.
—Mikhail Gorbachev (b.1931) Soviet Head of State
I will not pretend that if I had to choose between communism and Nazism I would choose communism.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Communism possesses a language which every people can understand.—Its elements are hunger, envy, and death.
—Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German Poet, Writer
All I know is I’m not a Marxist.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
Socialism must come down from the brain and reach the heart.
—Jules Renard (1864–1910) French Writer, Diarist
Communism to me is one-third practice and two-thirds explanation.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
We are persons of quality, I assure you, and women of fashion, and come to see and to be seen.
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
One strength of the communist system of the East is that it has some of the character of a religion and inspires the emotions of a religion.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Communists have become bureaucrats. If anything will destroy us, it is this.
—Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian Revolutionary Leader
Communists have always played an active role in the fight by colonial countries for their freedom, because the short-term objects of Communism would always correspond with the long-term objects of freedom movements.
—Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) South African Political leader
A common danger tends to concord. Communism is the exploitation of the strong by the weak. In Communism, inequality comes from placing mediocrity on a level with excellence.
—Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–65) French Social Philosopher, Journalist
It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice. I consider the real vice is making losses.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Communism didn’t fall. It was pushed.
—George H. W. Bush (1924–2018) American Republican Statesman, 41st President
Communism is inequality, but not as property is. Property is exploitation of the weak by the strong. Communism is exploitation of the strong by the weak.
—Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–65) French Social Philosopher, Journalist
If Socialism can only be realized when the intellectual development of all the people permits it, then we shall not see Socialism for at least five hundred years.
—Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian Revolutionary Leader
By concentrating on what is good in people, by appealing to their idealism and their sense of justice, and by asking them to put their faith in the future, socialists put themselves at a severe disadvantage.
—Ian McEwan British Novelist, Short-Story Writer
A specter is haunting Europe—the specter of communism.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
Your levelers wish to level down as far as themselves.—But they cannot bear leveling up to themselves.—They would all have some people under them.—Why not then have some people above them?
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Socialists think profits are a vice; I consider losses the real vice.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Communism is the corruption of a dream of justice.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chinese Statesman
I have no concern with any economic criticisms of the communist system; I cannot inquire into whether the abolition of private property is expedient or advantageous. But I am able to recognize that the psychological premises on which the system is based are an untenable illusion. In abolishing private property we deprive the human love of aggression of one of its instruments… but we have in no way altered the differences in power and influence which are misused by aggressiveness.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
I am a Marxist… of the Groucho tendency.
—Unknown
Every reasonable human being should be a moderate Socialist.
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955) German Novelist, Short Story Writer, Social Critic, Philanthropist, Essayist
Under socialism all will govern in turn and will soon become accustomed to no one governing.
—Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian Revolutionary Leader
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
This socialism will develop in all its phases until it reaches its own extremes and absurdities. Then once again a cry of denial will break from the titanic chest of the revolutionary minority and again a mortal struggle will begin, in which socialism will play the role of contemporary conservatism and will be overwhelmed in the subsequent revolution, as yet unknown to us.
—Alexander Herzen (1812–70) Russian Revolutionary, Writer
You’ll see certain Pythagorean whose belief in communism of property goes to such lengths that they pick up anything lying about unguarded, and make off with it without a qualm of conscience as if it had come to them by law.
—Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
What men call social virtues, good fellowship, is commonly but the virtue of pigs in a litter, which lie close together to keep each other warm.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
When one pays a visit it is for the purpose of wasting other people’s time, not one’s own.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Our fear that Communism might some day take over most of the world blinds us to the fact that anti-communism already has.
—Unknown
Communism, my friend, is more than Marxism, just as Catholicism is more than the Roman Curia. There is a mystique as well as a politick. Catholics and Communists have committed great crimes, but at least they have not stood aside, like an established society, and been indifferent. I would rather have blood on my hands than water like Pilate.
—Graham Greene (1904–91) British Novelist, Playwright, Short Story Writer
To the believer Marxism presents, first, a system of ultimate ends that embody the meaning of life and are absolute standards by which to judge events and actions…
—Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) Austrian-American Political Economist, Sociologist
We must conclude that it is not only a particular political ideology that has failed, but the idea that men and women could ever define themselves in terms that exclude their spiritual needs.
—Salman Rushdie (b.1947) Indian-born British Novelist
Lions, wolves, and vultures don’t live together in herds, droves or flocks. Of all animals of prey, man is the only sociable one. Every one of us preys upon his neighbor, and yet we herd together.
—John Gay (1685–1732) English Poet, Dramatist
A great social success is a pretty girl who plays her cards as carefully as if she were plain.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American Novelist
Great Socialist statesmen aren’t made, they’re still-born.
—Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) (1870–1916) British Short Story Writer, Satirist, Historian
The theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
For us in Russia communism is a dead dog. For many people in the West, it is still a living lion.
—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Russian Dissident Novelist