If there is a State, then there is domination, and in turn, there is slavery. Mikhail Bakunin More Quotes by Mikhail Bakunin More Quotes From Mikhail Bakunin 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 Bakunin libertylawmen It is the characteristic of privilege and of every privileged position to kill the mind and heart of men. The privileged man, whether practically or economically, is a man depraved in mind and heart. Mikhail Bakunin mindheartmen People’s State, is a yoke, on the one hand giving rise to despotism and on the other to slavery. They say that such a yoke – dictatorship is a transitional step towards achieving full freedom for the people: anarchism or freedom is the aim, while state and dictatorship is the means, and so, in order to free the masses of people, they have first to be enslaved! Mikhail Bakunin ordermeanfirsts Liberty means that a man is recognized as free and treated as free by those who surround him. Mikhail Bakunin responsibilitymenmean Human nature is so constituted that the propensity for evil is always intensified by external circumstances, and the morality of the individual depends much more on the conditions of his existence and the environment in which he lives than on his own will. Mikhail Bakunin moralityhuman-natureevil If you took the most ardent revolutionary, vested him in absolute power, within a year he would be worse than the Tsar himself. Mikhail Bakunin revolutionarywould-beyears Intellectual slavery, of whatever nature it may be, will always have as a natural result both political and social slavery. Mikhail Bakunin slaverypoliticalintellectual Look at Christ, my dear friend: His life was divine through and through, full of self-denial, and He did everything for mankind, finding His satisfaction and His delight in the dissolution of His material being. Mikhail Bakunin delightsatisfactionself The first revolt is against the supreme tyranny of theology, of the phantom of God. As long as we have a master in heaven, we will be slaves on earth. Mikhail Bakunin atheismheavenlong Whoever says State necessarily says domination, and, consequently, slavery; a State without slavery, open or concealed, is inconceivable: that is why we are enemies of the State. Mikhail Bakunin slaverystatesenemy Everything will pass, and the world will perish but the Ninth Symphony will remain. Mikhail Bakunin symphonymusicalworld Revolution requires extensive and widespread destruction, a fecund and renovating destruction, since in this way and only this way are new worlds born Mikhail Bakunin revolutionwayworld The truth is that the whole life of the worker is simply a continuous and dismaying succession of terms of serfdom - voluntary from the juridical point of view but compulsory in the economic sense - broken up by momentarily brief interludes of freedom accompanied by starvation; in other words, it is real slavery. Mikhail Bakunin brokenrealviews If God is, man is a slave; now, man can and must be free; then, God does not exist. I defy anyone whomsoever to avoid this circle; now, therefore, let all choose. Mikhail Bakunin circlesgodmen I feel myself always the patriot of all oppressed fatherlands. Nationality is a historic, local fact which, like all real and harmless facts, has the right to claim general acceptance. Every people, like every person, is involuntarily that which it is and therefore has a right to be itself. Nationality is not a principle; it is a legitimate fact, just as individuality is. Every nationality, great or small, has the incontestable right to be itself, to live according to its own nature. This right is simply the corollary of the general principal of freedom. Mikhail Bakunin realacceptancepeople A divine falsehood is more powerful than any human truth. Mikhail Bakunin powerfulhumansdivine Every people, like every person, . . . has a right to be itself. Mikhail Bakunin personspeople Does it follow that I reject all authority? Perish the thought. In the matter of boots, I defer to the authority of the boot-maker. Mikhail Bakunin atheismbootsdoe We exhort the compromisers to open their hearts to truth, to free themselves of their wretched and blind circumspection, of their intellectual arrogance, and of the servile fear which dries up their souls and paralyzes their movements. Let us therefore trust the eternal Spirit which destroys and annihilates only because it is the unfathomable and eternal source of all life. The passion for destruction is a creative passion, too! Mikhail Bakunin intellectual-arrogancepassionheart Christianity is the complete negation of common sense and sound reason. Mikhail Bakunin common-sensechristianitysound
