Zygmunt Bauman Quotes

Zygmunt Bauman on Freedom

• Attributed to Zygmunt Bauman:

  “Freedom in liquid modernity is the freedom to choose, but not the freedom to escape choice.”

Zygmunt Bauman on Justice

• “A good society is a society which believes that it is not good enough; that it is the task of the collectivity to insure individuals against individually suffered misfortune; and that the quality of society is measured by the quality of life of its weakest, just like the carrying power of a bridge is measured by its weakest pillar.”

  Quoted in "Ziggy Stardust" , New Humanist (2004, posted 31 May 2007)

Zygmunt Bauman on Knowledge

• “[Referring to his father] In fact, we almost lost our lives because of his honesty. In 1939, we were running away from Posnan as the Germans were invading - the town was almost on the German border. We took the last train east, but we were stopped at a station which was being bombed by the Germans. We should have run away from the station because that was the object of the bombing, but he wanted t”

  From an interview, as cited in "Passion and pessimism" , The Guardian (5 April 2003)

• “[After an article by Bogdan Musiał was published in Poland alleging Bauman had worked for the Polish secret service] The fact that I for three years cooperated with intelligence - well, that's the only thing I never said.”

  Wikiquote

• “[Asked "Did counter-espionage mean informing on people who were fighting against the communist project?"] That's what would be expected from me, but I don't remember doing [anything like that]. I had nothing to do - I was sitting in my office and writing - it was hardly a field in which you could collect interesting information.”

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• “[G]radually, like so many others in my position, I came to the conclusion that there was a yawning gap between the official word and the practice ... so I became a revisionist, rejecting the official version of Marxism.”

  From an interview with Aida Edemariam , as cited in "Professor with a past" , The Guardian (28 April 2007)

Read all Zygmunt Bauman quotes on Knowledge

Zygmunt Bauman on Politics

• Attributed to Zygmunt Bauman:

  “The Holocaust was not a deviation from modernity but one of its possibilities.”

• Attributed to Zygmunt Bauman:

  “Strangers are people who do not fit our cognitive maps; that is what makes them strange.”

• “[Following the second world war] If you looked at the political spectrum in Poland at that time, the Communist party promised the best solution. Its political programme was the most fitting for the issues which Poland faced. And I was completely dedicated. Communist ideas were just a continuation of the Enlightenment.”

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• “[Asked "What did that involve, exactly?"] Well, it's counter-espionage. Every good citizen should participate in counter-espionage. That was one thing that I kept secret, because I signed an obligation that it would be kept secret ... So that's the only thing.”

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Read all Zygmunt Bauman quotes on Politics

Zygmunt Bauman on Time

• Attributed to Zygmunt Bauman:

  “Modernity is liquid; nothing solid lasts long enough to take its shape.”

Zygmunt Bauman on Truth

• “[Referring to his father] In fact, we almost lost our lives because of his honesty. In 1939, we were running away from Posnan as the Germans were invading - the town was almost on the German border. We took the last train east, but we were stopped at a station which was being bombed by the Germans. We should have run away from the station because that was the object of the bombing, but he wanted to find a ticket inspector to pay for our tickets.”

  From an interview, as cited in "Passion and pessimism" , The Guardian (5 April 2003)

Zygmunt Bauman on Virtue

• Attributed to Zygmunt Bauman:

  “Ethics begins where comfort ends.”