Communism needs democracy like the human body needs oxygen.
Leon TrotskyRead
In a serious struggle there is no worse cruelty than to be magnanimous at an inopportune time.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Being generous or noble at the wrong moment can be detrimental.
This quote by Leon Trotsky highlights the importance of timing in our actions, specifically in situations of conflict or struggle. It suggests that showing generosity or kindness when it is not appropriate can lead to negative outcomes, emphasizing that compassion must be tempered with an understanding of the context and timing of our responses.
Themes
TimingGenerosityCrueltyStruggleContext
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about leadership, one might cite this quote to stress the need for situational awareness.
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.
Leon TrotskyRead
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 The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced by a new one: who does not obey shall not eat.
Leon TrotskyRead
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.
Leon TrotskyRead
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.
Leon TrotskyRead
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!
Leon TrotskyRead
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