Vladimir Lenin

It is impossible to predict the time and progress of revolution. It is governed by its own more or less mysterious laws.

For the complete extinction of the state, complete Communism is necessary.

Medicine is the keystone of the arch of socialism.

A democracy is a state which recognizes the subjection of the minority to the majority, that is, an organization for the systematic use of violence by one class against the other, by one part of the population against another.

We are not utopians, we do not “dream” of dispensing at once with all administration, with all subordination. These anarchist dreams, based upon incomprehension of the tasks of the proletarian dictatorship, are totally alien to Marxism, and, as a matter of fact, serve only to postpone the socialist revolution until people are different. No, we want the socialist revolution with people as they are now, with people who cannot dispense with subordination, control, and "foremen and accountants".

The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.

No amount of political freedom will satisfy the hungry masses.

Under socialism all will govern in turn and will soon become accustomed to no one governing.

Crime is a product of social excess.

Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle. The modern industrial proletariat does not belong to the category of such classes.

No revolution is worth anything unless it can defend itself.

Our aim is to achieve a socialist system of society, which, by eliminating the division of mankind into classes, by eliminating all exploitation of man by man and nation by nation, will inevitably eliminate the very possibility of war.

To decide once every few years which members of the ruling class is to repress and crush the people through parliament-this is the real essence of bourgeois parliamentarism, not only in parliamentary- constitutional monarchies, but also in the most democratic republics.

The leaders of the petty bourgeoisie must teach the people to trust the bourgeoisie. The proletarians must teach the people to distrust the bourgeoisie.

The government is tottering. We must deal it the death blow an any cost. To delay action is the same as death.

Capitalists are no more capable of self-sacrifice than a man is capable of lifting himself up by his own bootstraps.

One of the chief symptoms of every revolution is the sharp and sudden increase in the number of ordinary people who take an active, independent and forceful interest in politics.

Capitalism has triumphed all over the world, but this triumph is only the prelude to the triumph of labour over capital.

We would be deceiving both ourselves and the people if we concealed from the masses the necessity of a desperate, bloody war of extermination, as the immediate task of the coming revolutionary action.

Only an armed people can be the real bulwark of popular liberty.

Sometimes - history needs a push.