Leon Trotsky Quotes

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.
Leon Trotsky

Life, Great, Live

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

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

Peace, War, Everything

The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves.
Leon Trotsky

Life, Strength, Character

You may not be interested in strategy, but strategy is interested in you.
Leon Trotsky

May, Interested, Strategy

Not believing in force is the same as not believing in gravity.
Leon Trotsky

Same, Believing, Force

Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man.
Leon Trotsky

Age, Happen, Old

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.
Leon Trotsky

Nothing, Last, Quite

Fascism is nothing but capitalist reaction.
Leon Trotsky

Nothing, Reaction, Fascism

If we had had more time for discussion we should probably have made a great many more mistakes.
Leon Trotsky

Time, Great, Mistakes

Where force is necessary, there it must be applied boldly, decisively and completely. But one must know the limitations of force; one must know when to blend force with a maneuver, a blow with an agreement.
Leon Trotsky

Force, Necessary, Blow

From being a patriotic myth, the Russian people have become an awful reality.
Leon Trotsky

Reality, Become, Patriotic

In a serious struggle there is no worse cruelty than to be magnanimous at an inopportune time.
Leon Trotsky

Time, Struggle, Serious

Insurrection is an art, and like all arts has its own laws.
Leon Trotsky

Art, Laws, Arts

Learning carries within itself certain dangers because out of necessity one has to learn from one's enemies.
Leon Trotsky

Learning, Learn, Within

Revolutions are always verbose.
Leon Trotsky

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

Noticed, Technique, Mastered

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.
Leon Trotsky

Nature, Society, Humanity

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.
Leon Trotsky

Car, Impossible, Question

Ideas that enter the mind under fire remain there securely and for ever.
Leon Trotsky

Mind, Fire, Ideas

If we had more time for discussion we should probably have made a great many more mistakes.
Leon Trotsky

Time, Great, Mistakes

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.
Leon Trotsky

Country, Two, Find

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Biography

Nationality: Russian

Type: Revolutionary

Born: October 26, 1879

Died: August 21, 1940

Links

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Cite this Page: Citation

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