674 Quotes by Karl Marx

Man makes his own history, but he does not make it out of the whole cloth; he does not make it out of conditions chosen by himself, but out of such as he finds close at hand.

All our invention and progress seem to result in endowing material forces with intellectual life, and stultifying human life into a material force.

When the proletariat declares the dissolution of the hitherto existing world order, it merely declares the secret of its own existence, since it is in fact the dissolution of this order. When it demands the negation of private property, it is only laying down as a principle for society what society has laid down as a principle for the proletariat, what has already been incorporated in itself without its consent as the negative result of society.

Sie wissen das nicht, aber sie tun es.

You must be aware that the reward for labour, and quantity of labour, are quite disparate things.

It is one of the greatest misapprehensions to speak of free, human, social labour, of albour without private property. "Labour" by its very nature is unfree, unhuman, unsocial activity, determined by private property and creating private property. Hence the abolition of private property will become a reality only when it is concieved as the abolition of "labour".

Non c’è via maestra per la scienza, e solo hanno una probabilità di raggiungerne le vette luminose coloro che non temono di affaticarsi a salirne i ripidi sentieri.

Vous êtes saisis d'horreur parce que nous voulons abolir la propriété privée. Mais dans votre société la propriété privée est abolie pour les 9/10ème de ses membres. C'est précisément parce qu'elle n'existe par pour 9/10ème qu'elle existe pour vous. Vous nous reprochez donc de vouloir abolir une forme de la propriété qui ne peut constituer qu'à la condition de priver l'immense majorité de la société de toute propriété.

Religion ist die Unfähigkeit des menschlichen Verstandes, Ereignissen ins Gesicht zu sehen, die er nicht versteht.