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.
Browse Friedrich Engels by topic
Friedrich Engels on Freedom
-
Attributed to Friedrich Engels:
“Freedom is the recognition of necessity.”
-
“How do you think the transition from the present situation to community of Property is to be effected? The first, fundamental condition for the introduction of community of property is the political liberation of the proletariat through a democratic constitution .”
Draft of a Communist Confession of Faith (1847)
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.”
-
“Draft of a Communist Confession of Faith (1847)”
How do you think the transition from the present situation to community of Property is to be effected? The first, fundamental condition for the introduction of community of property is the political liberation of the proletariat through a democratic constitution .
Friedrich Engels on Knowledge
-
Attributed to Friedrich Engels:
“An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.”
-
“Written under the pseudonym of Friedrich Oswald, “Telegraph für Deutschland”, Telegraph für Deutschland , Nos. 2-5, (January 1841)”
For I am of the opinion... that the reconquest of the German speaking left bank of the Rhine is a matter of national honour, and that the Germanisation of a disloyal Holland and of Belgium is a political necessity for us. Shall we let the German nationality be completely suppressed in these countries, while the Slavs are rising ever more powerfully in the East? -
“Today I have shaved my moustache off again and buried the youthful corpse with much wailing. I look like a woman; it is shameful; and if I had known that without a moustache I should look such a sight I would not have hacked it off. As I stood before the mirror, scissors in hand, and had shorn off the right side, the Old Man came into the office and had to laugh out loud, when he saw me with half ”
Letter to his sister, Marie (February 18, 1841) -
“The Magyar Struggle in Neue Rheinische Zeitung (13 January 1849).”
For the first time in the revolutionary movement of 1848 , for the first time since 1793 , a nation surrounded by superior counter-revolutionary forces dares to counter the cowardly counter-revolutionary fury by revolutionary passion , the terreur blanche by the terreur rouge . For the first time after a long period we meet with a truly revolutionary figure, a man who in the name of his people dar -
“The Magyar Struggle in Neue Rheinische Zeitung (13 January 1849).”
There is no country in Europe which does not have in some corner or other one or several ruined fragments of peoples ( Völkerruinen ), the remnant of a former population that was suppressed and held in bondage by the nation which later became the main vehicle of historical development . These relics of a nation mercilessly trampled under foot in the course of history, as Hegel says, these residual -
“The Magyar Struggle in Neue Rheinische Zeitung (13 January 1849).”
How did this division of the nations come about, what was its basis? The division is in accordance with all the previous history of the nationalities in question. It is the beginning of the decision on the life or death of all these nations, large and small. All the earlier history of Austria up to the present day is proof of this and 1848 confirmed it. Among all the large and small nations of Aus
Friedrich Engels on Nature
-
“For I am of the opinion... that the reconquest of the German speaking left bank of the Rhine is a matter of national honour, and that the Germanisation of a disloyal Holland and of Belgium is a political necessity for us. Shall we let the German nationality be completely suppressed in these countries, while the Slavs are rising ever more powerfully in the East?”
Written under the pseudonym of Friedrich Oswald, “Telegraph für Deutschland”, Telegraph für Deutschland , Nos. 2-5, (January 1841) -
“The Austrian Germans and Magyars will be set free and wreak a bloody revenge on the Slav barbarians . The general war which will then break out will smash this Slav Sonderbund and wipe out all these petty hidebound nations, down to their very names. The next world war will result in the disappearance from the face of the earth not only of reactionary classes and dynasties, but also of entire reactionary peoples. And that, too, is a step forward.”
The Magyar Struggle in Neue Rheinische Zeitung (13 January 1849) | Referring to the Serb uprising of 1848–49 , in which Serbs from Vojvodina fought against the previously victorious Hungarian revolution .
Friedrich Engels on Politics
-
“The state is not abolished, it withers away.”
Anti-Dühring , pt. 3, ch. 2 (1877) -
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.”
Friedrich Engels on Time
-
“For the first time in the revolutionary movement of 1848 , for the first time since 1793 , a nation surrounded by superior counter-revolutionary forces dares to counter the cowardly counter-revolutionary fury by revolutionary passion , the terreur blanche by the terreur rouge . For the first time after a long period we meet with a truly revolutionary figure, a man who in the name of his people dares to accept the challenge of a desperate struggle , who for his nation is Danton and Carnot in one person — Lajos Kossuth .”
The Magyar Struggle in Neue Rheinische Zeitung (13 January 1849).