The 90 best famous phrases of Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx He was a Prussian philosopher, economist and intellectual born in 1818, in the idyllic town of Trier.
Along with the also philosopher Friedrich Engels, Marx wrote the famous "Communist Manifesto", thus laying the foundations of what we know today as communism and socialism. The ideas of this remarkable thinker still accompany us today and his works are considered to be Required reading for anyone interested in politics or international economics.
- It may interest you: "100 phrases about communism and the class struggle"
Other relevant works of Marx were: "Capital", "On the Jewish question", "Revolutionary Spain" or "Misery of philosophy ”, all of them being works which provide us with the particular point of view of this famous sociologist.
Famous phrases and reflections of Karl Marx
Would you like to know the most interesting phrases of this remarkable celebrity?
Below you can discover the 90 best phrases of Karl Marxpossibly the most revolutionary mind in modern politics.
1. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people.
As we can see Marx was a convinced atheist, religion would have no place in his conception of the State.
2. The more of himself man attributes to God, the less he leaves for himself.
The idea of God is an idea that we can individually manipulate at will, creating our own version of what it should be.
3. The bourgeois family is based on capital, on private profit.
The bourgeoisie would be the first victim in a possible communist Europe.
4. Chatting and doing are different things, rather antagonistic.
Words that are not supported by facts have no real value.
5. The theory of communism can be reduced to one sentence: abolish all private property.
In this simple and clear quote, we discover what is the main pillar of communist ideology.
6. Political power is simply the organized power of one class to oppress another.
In 19th century Europe the bourgeoisie totally dominated the political sphere, thus obtaining total control of the nation in which they lived.
7. The whole history of human society, up to the present time, is a history of class struggle.
The powerful have always tried to maintain his control over the poor, making the latter a totally unhappy person.
8. The bourgeoisie not only forges its own destruction, but also its own gravedigger: the proletariat.
The proletariat, much more powerful in number, can gain control of the institutions by force. As long as he wants it fervently.
9. The way things are presented is not the way they are; and if things were as they are presented, the whole science would be superfluous.
In order to obtain an exhaustive knowledge on a specific subject, science is revealed as totally essential.
10. We need another education for another society and another society for another education.
Education is the foundation by which a society is built. Without education, society will see its capabilities severely diminished.
11. Proletarians of all countries, unite.
In this quote, Marx encourages the proletariat to unite their efforts and dare to take control of the nation.
12. The devaluation of the human world grows directly due to the valuation of the world of things.
Everything has a value, but that value is given by us. Whoever has control of an economy will give whatever value he wants to each thing.
13. Darwin's book is very important and serves as a basis for the class struggle in history.
Charles Darwin is undoubtedly another great thinker to consider, with his theory of evolution he left all creationists of the time stunned.
14. For us, communism is not a state that must be implanted, an ideal to which reality must be subjected. We call communism the real movement that annuls and surpasses the current state of affairs.
This famous thinker was a staunch defender of his theory of communism, a theory that on paper may prove to be the most intelligent ever thought.
15. Man is the supreme being for man.
Man is the greatest enemy of himself, many of the limitations we live with today are self-imposed limitations.
16. You are terrified that we want to abolish private property, as if already within your current society, private property was not abolished for nine-tenths of the population.
The bourgeoisie, of course, was totally against the loss of private property, because with this practice they would lose the control they had over the proletariat.
17. The fight against religion is the fight against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion.
Religion has always held great power within society from its beginnings, in a secular country religion would become a mere vestige of the past.
18. Today, the public Power becomes, purely and simply, the Administrative Council that governs the collective interests of the bourgeois class.
The economy is a very important factor within any country, because the person who has the most wealth will have a greater capacity to influence the lives of others.
19. Hegel says somewhere that all the great facts and characters of universal history appear, as it were, twice. But he forgot to add: once as a tragedy and the other as a farce.
The great events of history can be observed from very different points of view over the years.
20. You believe in love as divine property because you love. You believe that God is wise and kind because you do not know something superior in yourself than goodness and intelligence and you believe that God exists, that he is a being, because you yourself exist and are a being.
We all have the right to believe in God or not, but how far should the influence of the church go within a nation? That question is totally alien to our personal beliefs.
21. Religious misery is, on the one hand, the expression of real misery and, on the other, the protest against it.
The church has always preached a life of austerity, but we only need to take a look at the Vatican, to know that its top leaders do not comply with this practice.
22. Religious alienation is alienation of the second degree. He expresses in the form of a justifying theory the absurdity that makes her be born.
This quote conveys something very true about religion, religion seeks to create a practice within its faithful extended conformism, thus allowing the powerful to always hold the best possible position within the society.
23. Men contract certain relations of production that correspond to a certain phase of development of their material productive forces.
The economy in which we live determines to a large extent our ability to impact on it, as the famous saying tells us: “money calls money”.
24. What contemplative materialism reaches the most, that is, materialism that does not conceive of sensoriality as a practical activity, is to contemplate individuals within civil society.
We must not get carried away by an empty and meaningless materialism, life can be much more.
25. Communism does not deprive anyone of the power to appropriate social products; the only thing it does not admit is the power to usurp the work of others through this appropriation.
Communism would be the manager of the work of its population, trying to give the appropriate value to such work.
26. As for me, I do not have the credit of having discovered the existence of classes in modern society or the struggle between them.
In this quote, Marx confesses to us that he was not the ideology of the so-called social classes or the discoverer of the struggle that they lead.
27. No social formation disappears before all the productive forces that fit within it are developed.
The ideas of this philosopher had the power to change the world as we know it, but it was up to the people themselves to echo them.
28. The institutions of Feudalism are artificial institutions; those of the bourgeoisie, natural.
With the arrival of the industrial revolution, the bourgeois class managed to gain control of the institutions.
29. In these times of revolutionary crisis it is precisely when the spirits of the past conjure up fearfully to their aid, borrow their names, his war slogans, his clothing, to, with this venerable old age disguise and this borrowed language, represent the new scene of history universal.
Politics has always been a great masquerade ball, where knowing who your natural ally is may not be an easy task.
30. Economists have a unique way of proceeding. For them there are no more than two kinds of institutions, artificial and natural.
In this quote we can discover what Marx thought about economists, these thinkers were obviously part of the same bourgeoisie and defended their own interests.
31. When the productive forces grow and the springs of collective wealth run full blast, only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois law be totally exceeded.
For the class struggle to achieve equalization, it is necessary that the standard of living of the proletariat be the highest possible.
32. All criticism begins with criticism of religion.
As we can see, Karl Marx was a staunch defender of atheism and the abolition of religion.
33. The ruling ideas of an age were always only the ideas of a ruling class.
The ruling class always has a much more relevant role in society. The imprint that this leaves for history is always much higher.
34. The tradition of all dead generations oppresses the brain of the living like a nightmare.
Society moves slowly but steadily into the future, those traditions that do not bring anything good to today's society must disappear.
35. The bourgeoisie produces, above all, its own gravediggers. Its collapse and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.
The proletariat possesses, thanks to its large numbers, the key to gain control of the state.
36. The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism.
With this direct phrase, Marx defended his position as a convinced socialist.
37. Religion brings imaginary or fantastic satisfactions that deflect any rational effort to find real satisfactions.
Religion was seen by this thinker as a great farce, a kind of puppeteers who move the strings of the population.
38. Used as an instrument by all parties, it is not surprising that the Spanish army will take power into its own hands for some time.
This philosopher wrote a book on the so-called Spanish revolution, and as we can see he was totally in favor of the fact that if it were necessary to obtain power by force.
39. Capital is dead labor which, like vampires, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives longer the more labor it sucks.
It is true that in order to maintain a large capital, labor is necessary. No capital is self-sustaining.
40. It is easy to be heroic and generous in a certain moment, what costs is to be faithful and constant.
Staying true to our thoughts will allow us to succeed in the future. Perseverance is essential in the class struggle.
41. The worst fight is the one that is not done.
In order to obtain what we want so much, we must fight with the fierceness that is necessary.
42. Religion is the groan of the oppressed.
He who suffers great adversity, usually uses religion as a shield before his problems.
43. The last phase of a world historical figure is often comical. History follows this path so that humanity can happily say goodbye to its past.
As the years go by, many deny their own past, being really very similar to it. We must learn from the mistakes of the past in order to improve as a society.
44. Pauperism is the hospital of the army of work.
Most jobs will not allow us to prosper over time, the bourgeoisie will always need poor people to do the hardest jobs.
45. The further we go back in history, the more the individual appears and therefore also the producing individual.
Society has changed enormously over time, we must know which aspects of it are positive and which are worth changing.
46. Luxury is the opposite of what is naturally necessary.
The most necessary goods are totally opposed to luxury, an austere way of life would give us the opportunity to value what is really necessary for us.
47. What does the history of thought show but that intellectual production is transformed with material production?
Indeed, for there to be the creation of new companies or products, there must first be a conceptual creation of them.
48. Without the presence of the class struggle, it would be difficult to justify the existence of the unions.
Trade unions can be weapons with which the most disadvantaged classes can try to defend themselves.
49. Capital is not a personal force; it is a social force.
The capital available to a state should be distributed equally among all the social classes that inhabit it. The powerful should not have greater control over him.
50. Abolish the exploitation of man by man and you have abolished the exploitation of one nation by another.
The work must be fair, have a correct working day and be adequately paid.
51. My goal in life is to dethrone God and destroy capitalism.
In this sentence, Karl Marx gives us the opportunity to discover two of his maxims in life.
52. Try to surround yourself with people who make you happy, who make you laugh, who help you when you need it. They are the ones that are worth preserving in your life, since the rest is passing through.
Knowing how to surround yourself with people who add to our lives, will be what will allow us to achieve happiness in the future.
53. An idea can become a force, when it takes hold of the masses.
The masses certainly lend great strength to any idea. With the masses on our side, we will be able to take over a state in a very short time.
54. Money degrades all the gods of man and turns them into commodities.
The desire for wealth makes us lose our values and reduces us to our minimum moral expression.
55. There must be something rotten at the very heart of a social system, which increases its wealth, without diminishing its misery.
The government should try by all means, to end the poverty that exists within its borders.
56. There is only one way to kill capitalism: through taxes, taxes, and more taxes.
Taxes would be capable of ending any company, since the deficit they cause would unequivocally bankrupt it.
57. Since only what is material is perceptible, knowable, nothing is known about the existence of God.
We do not have any tangible proof of the real existence of God, that is why people of science usually do not believe in the existence of him.
58. I am a machine condemned to devour books.
Reading can benefit us greatly, with it we will be able to evolve intellectually.
59. The only antidote to mental suffering is physical pain.
When we feel physical pain, all those mental problems that arise in our mind go to the background.
60. Communism begins where atheism begins.
As we can see, communism and atheism always go hand in hand. Marx's dream was a communist and atheistic nation.
61. Although he is a coward, he is brave who can buy courage.
When we have means superior to those of our adversary, it is easy to be brave.
62. A heavy, progressive or graduated income tax is necessary for the proper development of communism.
In this sentence we can see how this thinker was totally in favor of the creation of a tax agency.
63. The imaginary flowers of religion adorn the chains of man. The man has to get rid of the flowers, and also the chains.
A very poetic phrase with which Karl Marx encourages us to abandon our religious beliefs.
64. Capitalist production does not exist at all, without foreign trade.
Capitalism needs the help of its neighboring countries in order to survive.
65. Go your own way, no matter what people say.
We must be consistent with our ideas, fight for what we want to achieve.
66. The worker needs more respect than bread.
The working class is as deserving of respect as the bourgeoisie, all men need to be respected.
67. The emancipation of work must be a task of the working class.
Companies should not be controlled by an exclusive elite, they should be able to be created by anyone who has sufficient means for their training.
68. The writer may very well serve a movement in history as its mouthpiece, but he cannot, of course, implement it.
The writer describes to us with his words what happens during that moment in history, he is not the creator of that moment.
69. Modern bourgeois society has established new classes, new conditions of oppression and new forms of struggle.
With the industrial revolution, the bourgeois class modernized and improved its systems of exploitation.
70. At this critical moment, one of the contagions that previously seemed absurd explodes: the epidemic of overproduction.
Too high a production can lead to price deflation, thus causing large losses for the company.
71. When commercial capital occupies a position of unquestionable supremacy, it constitutes everywhere a system of plunder.
The drift of a bad economy can bring serious problems to the population over time.
72. In the eyes of dialectical philosophy, nothing is established for all eternity, nothing is absolute or sacred.
This quote reveals to us what is undoubtedly a great truth, nothing in life is absolute.
73. The so-called "history of the world" is nothing more than the creation of man through human work.
Today's civilization, like all previous ones, has been created by the force of hard work and the exploitation of a working class.
74. The writer must earn money in order to be able to live and write, but by no means, he must live and write in order to earn money.
Money for the writer should be a tool that allows him to write more, not write more in an effort to make money.
75. Owners, like all men, love to reap where they never sowed.
We all want to obtain the maximum benefit by making a minimum effort, and to achieve this we will not hesitate to take advantage of the work of others.
76. Under no pretext should weapons and ammunition be surrendered; Any attempt to disarm the workers must be thwarted, and by force, if necessary.
When a revolution begins, the people who started it should not lose heart in their efforts to carry it out.
77. A man cannot become a child again or he will become childish.
Maturity gives us wisdom and experience, thanks to these qualities we manage to become capable men.
78. Revolutions are the locomotives of history.
Many of the great civilizations suffered revolutions at one point, thanks to them they managed to evolve as a society.
79. Wages are determined by the bitter struggle between the capitalist and the worker.
Indeed, the salary is always a reflection of the interests of both parties, employer and worker.
80. Although gold and silver are not money by nature, money is by nature gold and silver.
The money initially represented certain funds in the country's gold reserve. Currently this idea does not have to be real or put into practice.
81. We will never have or ask for compassion from you when our turn comes.
In this quote we can see how this famous philosopher was totally determined to make his ideas come true.
82. Capital is often indiscreet with the health or life span of a worker, unless society requires otherwise.
The working class must be able to accumulate a certain amount of wealth during its productive life, otherwise this class would never succeed in prospering over time.
83. The workers are organized as soldiers, as soldiers in the industrial army, under the power of a hierarchy of officers and sergeants.
It is true that companies have a hierarchical organization. Like an army, all the steps it takes are led by a general or foreman.
84. Greek philosophy seems to have found something with which a good tragedy should not meet: a monotonous ending.
The great Greek tragedies always have tremendous endings, with these endings they managed to cause a greater impact within the public.
85. It is difficult for the man of integrity to understand the needs of the hungry.
Society and politics can manipulate our perception in such a way that we cannot understand why someone else has to go hungry.
86. No revolution is made out of shame. To which I reply: Shame is already a kind of revolution.
If we want to start a revolution, we will have to do whatever it takes to have a great impact within the population. Starting a revolution can be really torturous.
87. An exuberance of friends does not lead to a better philosophy of life.
Being idle people does not make us better people, true friends will be scarce during our life.
88. I have a mind, without ever becoming a hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.
We must be what we want to be, regardless of what others think.
89. The slave, still a prisoner of archaic notions, should always enroll in the program of the rebellion.
When we are subjected, we must fight to get out of that state. Life can be better if we faithfully believe in it.
90. If money is the bond that binds me to human life, that binds to society, that binds me to nature and to man, isn't money the bond of all bonds?
In any capitalist society it is money that maintains order, the paralysis of the economy could greatly encourage the start of a revolution.