I am truly free only when all human beings, men and women, are equally free. The freedom of other men, far from negating or limiting my freedom, is, on the contrary, its necessary premise and confirmation.
Mikhail BakuninRead
As long as we have a master in heaven, we will be slaves on earth.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that belief in a higher power may lead to a lack of autonomy on earth.
Mikhail Bakunin's quote implies that the concept of divine authority and the notion of a 'master in heaven' can enslave individuals in their earthly lives by promoting submission and obedience. It critiques the idea that reliance on a higher power can diminish personal freedom and encourage passivity in the face of injustice or oppression.
Themes
FreedomAuthorityBeliefOppressionAutonomy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a debate on the influence of religion in society.
More from Mikhail Bakunin
All quotes βWe must overthrow the material and moral conditions of our present-day life. . . . We must first purify our atmosphere and completely transform the milieu in which we live; for it corrupts our instinct and our will, and constricts our heart and our intelligence
Mikhail BakuninRead
The liberty of man consists solely in this, that he obeys the laws of nature because he has himself recognized them as such, and not because they have been imposed upon him externally by any foreign will whatsoever, human or divine, collective or individual.
Mikhail BakuninRead
By striving to do the impossible, man has always achieved what is possible. Those who have cautiously done no more than they believed possible have never taken a single step forward.
Mikhail BakuninRead
By striving to do the impossible, man has always achieved what is possible.
Mikhail BakuninRead
This contradiction lies here: they wish God, and they wish humanity. They persist in connecting two terms which, once separated, can come together again only to destroy each other.
Mikhail BakuninRead
Similar quotes
The history of all previous societies has been the history of class struggles.
Karl MarxRead
Nothing else matters much...not wealth, nor learning, nor even health...without this gift: the spiritual capacity to keep zest in living. This is the creed of creeds, the final deposit and distillation of all important faiths: that you should be able to believe in life.
Harry Emerson FosdickRead
The wounds were burning like suns at five in the afternoon, and the crowd broke the windows At five in the afternoon. Ah, that fatal five in the afternoon! It was five by all the clocks! It was five in the shade of the afternoon!
Federico Garcia LorcaRead
Surely the glory of journalism is its transience.
Malcolm MuggeridgeRead
Every thought is a cause & every condition is an effect. Change your thoughts & you change your destiny.
Joseph MurphyRead
I felt that if a man's proposals met with approval, it should encourage him; if they met with opposition, it should make him fight back; but the real tragedy for him was to lift up his voice among the living and meet with no response neither approval nor opposition just as if he were left helpless in a boundless desert.
Lu XunRead