I am nothing but I must be everything.
Karl MarxRead
The history of all previous societies has been the history of class struggles.
Interpretation
Class struggle has shaped societal development throughout history.
This quote by Karl Marx suggests that the conflicts between different social classes are fundamental to understanding the progression and structure of societies. Marx argues that class struggles have been a central theme in history, driving changes in political and economic systems, and ultimately defining the relationships between different groups within society.
In practice
In a lecture about social dynamics, one could cite Marx's quote to emphasize the importance of class interactions.
I am nothing but I must be everything.
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.
The Buddha never intended to make desire itself the problem. When he said craving causes suffering, he was referring not to our natural inclination as living beings to have wants and needs, but to our habit of clinging to experience that must, by nature, pass away.
It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills cost Him crucifixion.
Abortion and racism are both symptoms of a fundamental human error. The error is thinking that when someone stands in the way of our wants, we can justify getting that person out of our lives. Abortion and racism stem from the same poisonous root, selfishness.
God's grace and forgiveness, while free to the recipient, are always costly for the giver.
And if you can find any way out of our culture, then that's a trap too. Just wanting to get out of the trap reinforces the trap.
We are not to look upon our sins as insignificant trifles. On the other hand, we are not to regard them as so terrible that we must despair. Learn to believe that Christ was given, not for picayune and imaginary transgressions, but for mountainous sins; not for one or two, but for all; not for sins that can be discarded, but for sins that are stubbornly ingrained.
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