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.
— Diary in Exile, 1935
The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.
— Their Morals and Ours
Let us not forget that revolutions are accomplished through people, although they be nameless. Materialism does not ignore the feeling, thinking, and acting man, but explains him.
— History of the Russian Revolution
Terror is a powerful means of policy and one would have to be a hypocrite not to understand this.
— The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, Books I-II
With all due respect to all philistines, the dictatorship of the proletariat does just consist in "giving a hiding" to the classes that were previously supreme, before forcing them to recognize the new order and to submit to it.
— Terrorism and Communism: A Reply to Karl Kautsky
Workers – men and women – of all countries, place yourselves under the banner of the Fourth International. It is the banner of your approaching victory!
— The Transitional Program for Socialist Revolution
Learning carries within itself certain dangers because out of necessity one has to learn from one's enemies.
— Literature and Revolution
In the meantime, the first characteristic of a really revolutionary party is -- to be able to look reality in the face.
— Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It
Generally speaking, by the way, that is the moral of the opponents of violence in politics: they renounce violence when it comes to introducing changes in what already exists, but in defense of the existing order they will not stop at the most ruthless acts.
— History of the Russian Revolution
Everything is relative in this world, where change alone endures.