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
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
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
When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use.
—Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) Soviet Leader
Communists are people who fancied that they had an unhappy childhood.
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American Writer
Man will become immeasurably stronger, wiser, and subtler; his body will become more harmonious, his movements more rhythmic, his voice more musical. The forms of life will become dynamically dramatic. The average human type will rise to the heights of an Aristotle, a Goethe, or a Marx. And above these heights, new peaks will rise.
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) Russian Marxist Revolutionary
A specter is haunting Europe—the specter of communism.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.
—Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian Revolutionary Leader
To make men Socialists is nothing, but to make Socialism human is a great thing.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Communism is a cow of many; well milked and badly fed.
—Spanish Proverb
Communism is like prohibition, it is a good idea, but it won’t work.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
The crusade against Communism was even more imaginary than the specter of Communism.
—A. J. P. Taylor (1906–90) British Historian, Journalist, Broadcaster
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
I am a Marxist… of the Groucho tendency.
—Unknown
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
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
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
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
A man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
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 possesses a language which every people can understand.—Its elements are hunger, envy, and death.
—Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German Poet, Writer
Communism is the corruption of a dream of justice.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
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
In a higher phase of communist society… only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be fully left behind and society inscribe on its banners: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
The only hope of socialism resides in those who have already brought about in themselves, as far as is possible in the society of today, that union between manual and intellectual labor which characterizes the society we are aiming at.
—Simone Weil (1909–1943) French Philosopher, Political Activist
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, 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
Communism is like one big phone company.
—Lenny Bruce (1925–66) American Comedian, Writer, Social Critic, Satirist
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
In the end we beat them with Levi 501 jeans. Seventy-two years of Communist indoctrination and propaganda was drowned out by a three-ounce Sony Walkman. A huge totalitarian system has been brought to its knees because nobody wants to wear Bulgarian shoes. Now they’re lunch, and we’re number one on the planet.
—P. J. O’Rourke (1947–2022) American Journalist, Political Satirist
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