I am nothing but I must be everything.
Karl MarxRead
To destroy Christianity, we must first destroy the British Empire.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that to weaken or eliminate Christianity, one must first undermine the power and influence of the British Empire.
Karl Marx's statement reflects his belief that religion, particularly Christianity, is intertwined with political and social structures. By targeting the British Empire—a major colonial force of his time—Marx implies that dismantling the empire would concurrently weaken the religious ideologies it propagated, revealing a deeper critique of the relationship between political power and religion in society.
Themes
ChristianityEmpireMarxPhilosophyReligionPolitics
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about the influence of religion on colonialism, one might say, 'To destroy Christianity, we must first destroy the British Empire.'
More from Karl Marx
All quotes →Religion is the opiate of the people.
Karl MarxRead
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.
Karl MarxRead
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.
Karl MarxRead
To be radical is to grasp things by the root.
Karl MarxRead
Men's ideas are the most direct emanations of their material state.
Karl MarxRead
Similar quotes
Sometimes a fog will settle over a vessel's deck and yet leave the topmast clear. Then a sailor goes up aloft and gets a lookout which the helmsman on deck cannot get. So prayer sends the soul aloft; lifts it above the clouds in which our selfishness and egotism befog us, and gives us a chance to see which way to steer.
Charles SpurgeonRead
The truth of Zen, just a little bit of it, is what turns one's humdrum life, a life of monotonous, uninspiring commonplaceness, into one of art, full of genuine inner creativity.
D.T. SuzukiRead
A state of war is not a blank check... when it comes to the rights of the Nation's citizens.
Sandra Day O'ConnorRead
Earth has one angel less and heaven one more, since yesterday.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
We've gotten lost in our Ego and have forgotten that our Soul's only motive is to merge with the Beloved.
Ram DassRead
For darkness restores what light cannot repair.
Joseph BrodskyRead