“O.K., so I’m not so smart. I’m working class. But it’s the working class that keeps the world running, and it’s the working class that gets exploited. What the hell kind of revolution have you got just tossing out big words that working-class people can’t understand? What the hell kind of social revolution is that? I mean, I’d like to make the world a better place, too. If somebody’s really being exploited, we’ve got to put a stop to it. That’s what I believe, and that’s why I ask questions. Am I right, or what?”
Source: Norwegian Wood
“Varlıklarının toplumsal üretiminde, insanlar, belirli ilişkiler kurarlar; bu üretim ilişkileri, onların maddi üretici güçlerinin belirli bir gelişme derecesine tekabül eder. Bu üretim ilişkilerinin tümü, toplumun iktisadi yapısının, belirli toplumsal bilinç şekillerine tekabül eden bir hukuksal ve siyasal üstyapının, üzerinde yükseldiği gerçek temeli oluşturur. Maddi yaşamın üretim tarzı, genel olarak toplumsal, siyasal ve entelektüel yaşam sürecini koşullandırır. İnsanların varlığını belirleyen şey, bilinçleri değildir; tam tersine, onların bilincini belirleyen, toplumsal varlıklarıdır. Gelişmelerinin belirli bir aşamasında toplumun maddi üretici güçleri, o zamana kadar içinde hareket ettikleri mevcut üretim ilişkilerine, ya da bunların hukuksal ifadesinden başka bir şey olmayan mülkiyet ilişkilerine ters düşerler. Üretici güçlerin gelişmesinin biçimleri olan bu ilişkiler, onların engelleri haline gelirler. O zaman bir toplumsal devrim çağı başlar. İktisadi temeldeki değişme, kocaman üstyapıyı, büyük ya da az bir hızla altüst eder.”
Source: A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
“The real revolution is always concerned with the least glamorous stuff. With raising a reading level from second to third. With simplifying history and writing it down (or reciting it) for old folks. With helping illiterates fill out food-stamp forms--for they must eat, revolution or not. The dull, frustrating work with our people is the work of the black revolutionary artist. It means, most of all, staying close them to be there whenever they need you.
Essay: Duties of the Black Revolutionary Artist”
Source: In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose
“It is in order to obtain for all of us joys that are now reserved to a few; in order to give leisure and the possibility of developing everyone’s intellectual capacities, that the social revolution must guarantee daily bread to all. After bread has been secured, leisure is the supreme aim.”
Source: The Conquest of Bread and Other Writings
“With initial success, every social revolution simultaneously does two things: It attracts to itself fresh forces and strength, and at the same time it crystallizes the opposition.”
Source: Why We Can't Wait
“Waiting for unity is just inviting inertia.”
Source: Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race
“When the civilians have grown out of the need for government, and are capable enough to carry the responsibility of their society on their own, there will be no reason for the state to exist. Thus, having served their brief role in the evolution of society, all constructs of state, government and representation will go extinct on their own - just like the tail on our back disappeared when we had no use for them, once we started to walk upright on our feet, breaking free from our traditional habit of hanging from the trees.”
Source: Mucize Misafir Merhaba: The Peace Testament
“Good engineer designs gadgets, great engineer designs society.”
Source: Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo
“Slippers are democracy’s first line of defense, bullets it’s last.”
Source: Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch
“The true dialectic of revolutions, however, stands this wisdom of parliamentary moles on its head: not through a majority to revolutionary tactics, but through revolutionary tactics to a majority — that is the way the road runs.”
Source: The Russian Revolution,: And Leninism or Marxism?