Destroy or be destroyed-there is no middle way! Let us then be the destroyers! Mikhail Bakunin More Quotes by Mikhail Bakunin More Quotes From Mikhail Bakunin Political Freedom without economic equality is a pretense, a fraud, a lie; and the workers want no lying. Mikhail Bakunin hypeequalitylying In antiquity slaves were, in all honesty called slaves. In the middle ages, they took the name of serfs. Nowadays they are called wage earners. Mikhail Bakunin honestyagenames People go to church for the same reasons they go to a tavern: to stupefy themselves, to forget their misery, to imagine themselves, for a few minutes anyway, free and happy. Mikhail Bakunin atheismpeoplereligion Freedom, morality, and the human dignity of the individual consists precisely in this; that he does good not because he is forced to do so, but because he freely conceives it, wants it, and loves it. Mikhail Bakunin individual-moralitylibertyand-love In every State, the government is nothing but a permanent conspiracy on the part of the minority against the majority, which it enslaves and fleeces. Mikhail Bakunin majoritylibertygovernment 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 Bakunin diversitymenculture Children do not constitute anyone's property: Mikhail Bakunin societyparentchildren A Boss in Heaven is the best excuse for a boss on earth, therefore If God did exist, he would have to be abolished. Mikhail Bakunin bossearthheaven They maintain that only a dictatorship - their dictatorship, of course - can create the will of the people, while our answer to this is: No dictatorship can have any other aim but that of self-perpetuation, and it can beget only slavery in the people tolerating it; freedom can be created only by freedom, that is, by a universal rebellion on the part of the people and free organization of the toiling masses from the bottom up. Mikhail Bakunin organizationselfpeople From the naturalistic point of view, all men are equal. There are only two exceptions to this rule of naturalistic equality: geniuses and idiots. Mikhail Bakunin equalityviewsmen To revolt is a natural tendency of life. Even a worm turns against the foot that crushes it. In general, the vitality and relative dignity of an animal can be measured by the intensity of its instinct to revolt. Mikhail Bakunin crushfeetanimal A person is strong only when he stands upon his own truth, when he speaks and acts from his deepest convictions. Mikhail Bakunin strengthstrongspeak When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called "the People's Stick." Mikhail Bakunin stickspeopleschool Mr. Marx does not believe in God, but he believes deeply in himself. His heart is filled not with love but with rancor. He has very little benevolence toward men and becomes... furious and... spiteful... when anyone dares question the omniscience of the divinity whom he adores, that is to say, Mr. Marx himself. Mikhail Bakunin religiouschristianbelieve All religions are cruel, all founded on blood; for all rest principally on the idea of sacrifice - that is, on the perpetual immolation of humanity to the insatiable vengeance of divinity. Mikhail Bakunin sacrificebloodideas The urge to destroy is a creative urge. Mikhail Bakunin urgescreative All religions, with their gods, their demigods, and their prophets, their messiahs and their saints, were created by the credulous fancy of men who had not attained the full development and full possession of their faculties. Mikhail Bakunin atheismmenreligion The freedom of all is essential to my freedom. Mikhail Bakunin essentials If there is a State, there must be domination of one class by another and, as a result, slavery; the State without slavery is unthinkable - and this is why we are the enemies of the State. Mikhail Bakunin slaveryclassenemy Religion is a collective insanity. Mikhail Bakunin positive-atheismatheisminsanity
