Friedrich Engels Quotes
Friedrich Engels was a 19th-century German philosopher, social scientist, and revolutionary, the closest collaborator of Karl Marx and a co-founder of the tradition of thought that bears Marx's name. With Marx he co-authored the Communist Manifesto in 1848 and The German Ideology, and after Marx's death he prepared the second and third volumes of Capital for publication. The quotes below are attributed to Friedrich Engels, organized by topic.
Friedrich Engels on Freedom
-
Attributed to Friedrich Engels:
“Freedom is the recognition of necessity.”
Friedrich Engels on God
-
Attributed to Friedrich Engels:
“Religion is a fantastic reflection in men's minds of those external forces which control their daily life.”
Friedrich Engels on Knowledge
-
Attributed to Friedrich Engels:
“An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.”
Friedrich Engels on Politics
-
Attributed to Friedrich Engels:
“The state is not abolished, it withers away.”
-
Attributed to Friedrich Engels:
“All history has been a history of class struggles.”
-
Attributed to Friedrich Engels:
“The materialist conception of history starts from the proposition that the production of the means to support human life is the basis of all social structure.”
-
Attributed to Friedrich Engels:
“Force, however, plays yet another role in history, a revolutionary role.”
-
Attributed to Friedrich Engels:
“When it is a question of making a profit, the bourgeoisie has no fatherland.”
-
Attributed to Friedrich Engels:
“The first condition of socialism is the abolition of private property in the means of production.”