Joseph Stalin

Marxism is not only the theory of socialism, it is an integral world outlook, a philosophical system, from which Marx’s proletarian socialism logically follows. This philosophical system is called dialectical materialism.

[After Communism succeeds] …then, there will come a peace across the earth.

Writers are the engineers of human souls.

You do not lament the loss of hair of one who has been beheaded.

Have not fascism in Italy and National Socialism in Germany claimed that they have attained similar results [as in U.S.S.R.]? Have not both been achieved at the price of privation and personal liberty sacrificed for the good of the state?

There is not, nor should there be, an irreconcilable contrast between the individual and the collective, between the interests of an individual person and the interests of the collective.

When I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.

The worst things in history have happened when people stop thinking for themselves and listen to other people and, even worse, start following other people. That’s what gives rise to dictators.

It is easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.

Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.

Anyone who does anything useful will not go unpaid.

There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person solves a problem.

He who is not busy being born is busy dying.

Willpower is a myth. The problem with trying to use willpower to achieve and sustain a behavioral change is that it is fueled by emotion. And as we all know, our emotions are, at best, fickle. They come and go. When your emotions start running down — and they will — even your best-laid plans will fall flat.

I take my only exercise acting as a pallbearer at the funerals of my friends who exercise regularly.

I love life, but not everything in it. I love people, but not all of them. I love myself, but not everything about me.

The only prosperity the people can afford to be satisfied with is the kind that lasts.

That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong.

Three most deleterious things of modern life in their present order of importance are: tobacco, alcohol and intemperate eating. Both alcohol and tobacco are taboo in plants.

Improvements have been coming so quickly that the past is being lost to the rising generation, and it can be preserved only by putting it in a form where it may be seen and felt. That is the reason behind this collection.

Love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay, Love isn’t love ’til you give it away!