Communism needs democracy like the human body needs oxygen.
Man will become immeasurably stronger, wiser, and subtler; his body will become more harmonious, his movements more rhythmic, his voice more musical. The forms of life will become dynamically dramatic. The average human type will rise to the heights of an Aristotle, a Goethe, or a Marx. And above these heights, new peaks will rise.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that humanity has the potential to evolve and achieve greater wisdom, strength, and harmony.
Trotsky's quote reflects an optimistic vision of human evolution, suggesting that as society progresses, individuals will develop greater qualities such as strength, wisdom, and creativity. He envisions a future where people will not only emulate the intellectual heights of historical figures like Aristotle and Goethe but will surpass them, leading to a more dynamic and harmonious existence. This perspective emphasizes the potential for growth and improvement within the human spirit and society as a whole.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about personal growth and potential.
More from Leon Trotsky
All quotes →Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, one’s own and that of other people.
In a country where the sole employer is the State, opposition means death by slow starvation. The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced by a new one: who does not obey shall not eat.
The masses go into a revolution not with a prepared plan of social reconstruction, but with a sharp feeling that they cannot endure the old regime. Only the guiding layers of a class have a political program, and even this still requires the test of events and the approval of the masses.
History has different yardsticks for the cruelty of the Northerners and the cruelty of the Southerners in the Civil War. A slave-owner who through cunning and violence shackles a slave in chains, and a slave who through cunning or violence breaks the chains – let not the contemptible eunuchs tell us that they are equals before a court of morality!
The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.
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Baptism is the sacrament of allegiance of them that are to be received into the Kingdom of God, that is to say, into Eternal life, that is to say, to Remission of Sin. For as Eternal life was lost by the committing, so it is recovered by the remitting of men's sins.
He spoke well who said that graves are the footprints of angels.
Their sighing, canting, grace-proud faces, their three-mile prayers, and half-mile graces.
We cannot cheat on DNA. We cannot get round photosynthesis. We cannot say I am not going to give a damn about phytoplankton. All these tiny mechanisms provide the preconditions of our planetary life. To say we do not care is to say in the most literal sense that "we choose death."
No new horror can be more terrible than the daily torture of the commonplace.
One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.