Quotes from Leon Trotsky

England is nothing but the last ward of the European madhouse, and quite possibly it will prove to be the ward for particularly violent cases.

There are no absolute rules of conduct, either in peace or war. Everything depends on circumstances.

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!

Revolutions are always verbose.

Everything is relative in this world, where change alone endures.

Religions are illogical primitive ignorance. There is nothing as ridiculous and tragic as a religious government.

I wrote a study about this question, The Lessons of October, which served as a pretext for my elimination from the government.

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.

The revenge of history is more powerful than the revenge of the most powerful General Secretary.

To overthrow the power of the bourgeoisie and to establish the power of the proletariat in one country still does not signify the full victory of Socialism.

Not believing in force is the same as not believing in gravitation.

Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression, and violence, and enjoy it to the full.

The historic ascent of humanity, taken as a whole, may be summarized as a succession of victories of consciousness over blind forces - in nature, in society, in man himself.

One of the most surprising things in life is the sudden realization that one has become old

Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain - at least in a poor country like Russia - and his vanity begins to swell out like his tires. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect.

There is a limit to the application of democratic methods. You can inquire of all the passengers as to what type of car they like to ride in, but it is impossible to question them as to whether to apply the brakes when the train is at full speed and accident threatens.

Technique is noticed most markedly in the case of those who have not mastered it.

The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.

Everything is relative in this world, where change alone endures.

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.

You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.

A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified.

Tell me anyway--Maybe I can find the truth by comparing the lies.

In a country where the sole employer is the State, opposition means death by slow starvation. The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced by a new one: who does not obey shall not eat.