Vladimir Lenin

Oh, yes, gentlemen! You are free not only to invite us, but to go yourselves wherever you will, even into the marsh. In fact, we think that the marsh is your proper place, and we are prepared to render you every assistance to get there. Only let go of our hands, don't clutch at us and don't besmirch the grand word freedom, for we too are 'free' to go where we please, free to fight not only against the marsh, but also against those who are turning towards the marsh!

There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.

We are not utopians, we do not 'dream' of dispensing at once with all administration, with all subordination. These anarchist dreams, based upon a misunderstanding of the tasks of the proletarian dictatorship, are totally alien to Marxism, and, in fact, serve only to postpone the socialist revolution until the time when people will be different.

To rely upon conviction, upon loyalty, upon the conscientiousness of the army – that is stupidity, that is childishness, that is naiveté, that is unworthiness.

The more powerful the resistance, the more ruthless will be our terror.

Capitalists are no more capable of self-sacrifice than a man is capable of lifting himself up by his own bootstraps.

We shall be told that the peasant is an individualist, that he is for private property. But we reply that he is also for social property, if only he can make a profit out of it.

It is absolutely ridiculous to assert that any given economic form can disappear before the conditions for its existence have ripened.

The state is an institution for the exploitation of the oppressed class.

The art of any propagandist and agitator consists in his ability to find the best means of influencing any given audience, by presenting a definite truth in a most convincing way, by relating it to the most vital interests of the given audience, by choosing the most appropriate arguments, illustrations, etc.

Learning is never complete without practice.

The way to conquer the enemy is to do what he doesn't expect.

We need the whole of the state, the whole of the power, the whole of the violence, to crush the resistance of the exploiters.

Of all the arts, for us the cinema is the most important.

The sound of the machine-gun is the finest music in the world.

Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: freedom for slave-owners.

We must learn to approach the masses with the greatest patience and caution, so as not to spoil the work of socialist construction by hasty and clumsy measures.

The advanced guard of the proletariat, the Communist Party, is necessary to lead the working class.

We shall conquer the world not by arms, but by an idea.

The more conscious the masses become, the more they will realise the inevitability of social revolution.