Communism is the corruption of a dream of justice.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
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
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
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
Social advance depends as much upon the process through which it is secured as upon the result itself.
—Jane Addams (1860–1935) American Social Reformer, Feminist
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
Socialism is like a dream. Sooner or later you wake up to reality.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
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
The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level.
—Norman Mailer (1923–2007) American Novelist Essayist
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
Our fear that Communism might some day take over most of the world blinds us to the fact that anti-communism already has.
—Unknown
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 (b.1947) American Journalist, Political Satirist
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
I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
A specter is haunting Europe—the specter of communism.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
A successful social technique consists perhaps in finding unobjectionable means for individual self-assertion.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
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
Communists are people who fancied that they had an unhappy childhood.
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American Writer
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
When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use.
—Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) Soviet Leader
From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
Communism is like one big phone company.
—Lenny Bruce (1925–66) American Comedian, Writer, Social Critic, Satirist
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
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
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
I am a Marxist… of the Groucho tendency.
—Unknown
Under socialism all will govern in turn and will soon become accustomed to no one governing.
—Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian Revolutionary Leader
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 Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Socialism must come down from the brain and reach the heart.
—Jules Renard (1864–1910) French Writer, Diarist
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
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
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 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 Politician, Philosopher, Socialist
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
The crusade against Communism was even more imaginary than the specter of Communism.
—A. J. P. Taylor (1906–90) British Historian, Journalist, Broadcaster
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
The theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
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
Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.
—Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian Revolutionary Leader
Great Socialist statesmen aren’t made, they’re still-born.
—Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) (1870–1916) British Short Story Writer, Satirist, Historian
Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chinese Statesman
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
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
All I know is I’m not a Marxist.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
Every reasonable human being should be a moderate Socialist.
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955) German Novelist, Short Story Writer, Social Critic, Philanthropist, Essayist
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
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
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