“A person is strong only when he stands upon his own truth, when he speaks and acts with his deepest convictions. Then, whatever the situation he may be in, he always knows what he must say and do. He may fall, but he cannot bring shame upon himself or his cause. If we seek the liberation of the people by means of a lie, we will surely grow confused, go astray, and loose sight of our objective, and if we have any influence at all on the people we will lead them astray as well - in other words, we will be acting in the spirit of reaction and to its benefit.” PeopleIfsKnowsWellsMayMeanPersonsSpiritLyingFallSpeakStrongGrowsCausesActingSituationInfluenceBenefitsSightShameConvictionReactionsObjectivesLiberationConfused Author:Mikhail Bakunin
“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.” PeopleFeelsPersonsRealFactsPrinciplesAcceptanceClaimsIndividualityLocalsPrincipalPatriotOppressedHistoricNationalityFatherland Author:Mikhail Bakunin
“...one exploiting sect, one people of leeches, one single devouring parasite closely and intimately bound together not only across national boundaries, but also across all divergences of political opinion ... [Jews have] that mercantile passion which constitutes one of the principle traits of their national character” PeopleCharacterTogetherPoliticalPassionOpinionPrinciplesBoundsJewBoundariesTraitsSectsParasitesDevouringPolitical OpinionsLeechesDivergence Author:Mikhail Bakunin
“Every people, like every person, . . . has a right to be itself.” PeoplePersons Author:Mikhail Bakunin
“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.” PeopleReasonReligionChurchForgetImagineAtheismMinutesMiseryTaverns Author:Mikhail Bakunin
“When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called "the People's Stick."” PeopleIfsSchoolSticksBeatenAnarchismAnarchist Author:Mikhail Bakunin
“The communism of Marx seeks a strong state centralization, and where this exists, there the parasitic Jewish nation - which speculates upon the labor of people - will always find the means for its existence.” PeopleMeanStatesStrongNationsExistenceLaborJewCommunismCentralization Author:Mikhail Bakunin
“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.” PeopleSelfCoursesAnswersMassOrganizationUniversalAimSlaveryBottomRebellionAnarchyDictatorshipBegetsToiling Author:Mikhail Bakunin
