Social values in general are incrementally variable: neither safety, diversity, rational articulation, nor morality is categorically a good thing to have more of, without limits. All are subject to diminishing returns, and ultimately negative returns.
—Thomas Sowell (b.1930) American Conservative Economist, Political Commentator
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
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
A specter is haunting Europe—the specter of communism.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use.
—Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) Soviet Leader
All I know is I’m not a Marxist.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
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 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
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
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
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
Every reasonable human being should be a moderate Socialist.
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955) German Novelist, Critic, Philanthropist, Essayist
Socialism is like a dream. Sooner or later you wake up to reality.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British 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
Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chinese Statesman
To make men Socialists is nothing, but to make Socialism human is a great thing.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
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
Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.
—Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian Revolutionary Leader
Under socialism all will govern in turn and will soon become accustomed to no one governing.
—Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian Revolutionary Leader
Many people consider the things government does for them to be social progress, but they consider the things government does for others as socialism.
—Earl Warren (1891–1974) American Judge, Politician, Governor
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
Communism is like prohibition, it is a good idea, but it won’t work.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
Socialism proposes no adequate substitute for the motive of enlightened selfishness that to-day is at the basis of all human labor and effort, enterprise and new activity.
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930) American President, Chief Justice
The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level.
—Norman Mailer (1923–2007) American Novelist Essayist
A man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
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
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
I am a Marxist… of the Groucho tendency.
—Unknown
Socialism must come down from the brain and reach the heart.
—Jules Renard (1864–1910) French Writer, Diarist
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
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