Q - Leon Trotsky
Posted on 28th January 2021
Lev Davidovich Bronstein, better known as Leon Trotsky 1879 – 1940 was a Russian revolutionary and politician. He was a major figure in the Russian Civil War 1918 – 1922.
‘Ideas that enter the mind under fire remain there securely and forever’
‘The historic ascent of humanity, taken as a whole may be summarised as a succession of victories of consciousness over blind forces – in nature, in society, in man himself’
‘Where force is necessary, there it must be applied boldly, decisively and completely’
‘You are pitiful isolated individuals; you are bankrupts; your role is played out. Go where you belong from now on – into the dustbin of history!’
‘When one runs with the wolves, one must howl with the pack’
‘If we had more time for discussion we should probably have made a great many more mistakes’
‘The creative union of the conscious with the unconscious is what one usually calls ‘inspiration’
‘One of the more surprising things in life is the sudden realisation that one has become old’
‘Learning carries within itself certain angers because out of necessity one has to learn from one’s enemies’
‘The depth and strength of a human character is defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves’
‘Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man’
‘He who slanders the victim aids the executioner’
‘There are no absolute rules of conduct, either in peace or war. Everything depends on circumstances’
‘Tell me anyway – Maybe I can find the truth by comparing the lies’
‘If one cannot get along without a mirror, even in shaving oneself, how can one reconstruct oneself or one’s life, without seeing oneself in the ‘mirror’ of literature?’
‘Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression, and violence, and enjoy it to the full’
‘Not believing in force is the same as not believing in gravity’
‘Technique is noticed most markedly in the case of those who have not mastered it’
‘Life is not an easy matter… You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness’
‘The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end’
‘As long as I breathe I hope. As long as I breathe I shall fight for the future, that radiant future, in which man, strong and beautiful, will become master of the drifting stream of his history and will direct it towards the boundless horizons of beauty, joy and happiness’
‘You may not be interested in strategy, but strategy is interested in you’
‘Everything is relative in this world, where change alone endures’
‘The history of a revolution is for us first of all a history of the forcible entrance of the masses into the realm of rulership over their own destiny’
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