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
Under socialism all will govern in turn and will soon become accustomed to no one governing.
—Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian Revolutionary Leader
A successful social technique consists perhaps in finding unobjectionable means for individual self-assertion.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
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 man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
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
Communism is a cow of many; well milked and badly fed.
—Spanish Proverb
Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.
—Thomas Sowell (b.1930) American Conservative Economist, Political Commentator
Every reasonable human being should be a moderate Socialist.
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955) German Novelist, Critic, Philanthropist, Essayist
The theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
Men of genius are often dull and inert in society, as a blazing meteor when it descends to earth, is only a stone.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
Communism is the corruption of a dream of justice.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
Experience has taught me that the shallowest of communist platitudes contains more of a hierarchy of meaning than contemporary bourgeois profundity.
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) German Literary and Marxist Critic
I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Communism is like one big phone company.
—Lenny Bruce (1925–66) American Comedian, Satirist
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 substance of the eminent Socialist gentlemen’s speech is that making a profit is a sin. It is my belief that the real sin is taking a loss!
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
People nowadays like to be together not in the old-fashioned way of, say, mingling on the piazza of an Italian Renaissance city, but, instead, huddled together in traffic jams, bus queues, on escalators and so on. It’s a new kind of togetherness which may seem totally alien, but it’s the togetherness of modern technology.
—J. G. Ballard (1930–2009) English Novelist, Short Story Writer
Socialists think profits are a vice; I consider losses the real vice.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chinese Statesman
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
A specter is haunting Europe—the specter of communism.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
Communism is like prohibition, it is a good idea, but it won’t work.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level.
—Norman Mailer (1923–2007) American Novelist Essayist
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
All I know is I’m not a Marxist.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
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
Rascals are always sociable—more’s the pity! and the chief sign that a man has any nobility in his character is the little pleasure he takes in others company.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
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
Leave a Reply