I am nothing but I must be everything.
In a higher phase of communist society... only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be fully left behind and society inscribe on its banners: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses an ideal vision of a communist society where resources are allocated based on individual needs rather than social class or wealth.
Karl Marx's quote highlights the importance of a future communist society that transcends the limitations of bourgeois rights, suggesting that true equality can only be achieved when individuals contribute based on their abilities and receive according to their needs. This reflects the core tenet of Marxist philosophy, advocating for a system where wealth and resources are distributed in a manner that prioritizes collective welfare over individual profit, ultimately leading to a more just and equitable society.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about societal structures during a political debate.
More from Karl Marx
All quotes →Religion is the opiate of the people.
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.
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.
To be radical is to grasp things by the root.
Men's ideas are the most direct emanations of their material state.
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If what Billy Pilgrim learned from the Tralfamadorians is true, that we will all live forever, no matter how dead we may sometimes seem to be, I am not overjoyed. Still--if I am going to spend eternity visiting this moment and that, I'm grateful that so many of those moments are nice.
We call the one side [of humanity] religion, and we call the other science. Religion is always right. ... Science is always wrong; it is the very artifice of men. Science can never solve one problem without raising ten more problems.
If one does away with the fact of the Resurrection, one also does away with the Cross, for both stand and fall together, and one would then have to find a new center for the whole message of the gospel.