I am nothing but I must be everything.
Karl MarxRead
There are, besides, eternal truths, such as Freedom, , etc., that are common to all states of society. But Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis; it therefore acts in contradiction to all past historical experience.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Marx critiques Communism for rejecting universal truths and morality.
In this quote, Karl Marx asserts that while there are fundamental truths like freedom that exist across all societies, Communism undermines these timeless values. He argues that instead of finding a new foundation for morality and religion, Communism negates them entirely, which contradicts historical experiences and teachings.
Themes
FreedomCommunismTruthMoralitySociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate on political philosophy, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of retaining moral values in governance.
More from Karl Marx
All quotes →Religion is the opiate of the people.
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It is absolutely impossible to transcend the laws of nature. What can change in historically different circumstances is only the form in which these laws expose themselves.
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Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.
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To be radical is to grasp things by the root.
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Men's ideas are the most direct emanations of their material state.
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