1870-1924, Russian Revolutionary Leader
All our lives we fought against exalting the individual, against the elevation of the single person, and long ago we were over and done with the business of a hero, and here it comes up again: the glorification of one personality. This is not good at all. I am just like everybody else.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Heroes and Heroism]
Any cook should be able to run the country.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Government]
Authority poisons everybody who takes authority on himself.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Authority]
Capitalists are no more capable of self-sacrifice than a man is capable of lifting himself up by his own bootstraps.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Capitalism]
Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Communism and Socialism]
Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle. The modern industrial proletariat does not belong to the category of such classes.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Despair]
Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Freedom]
Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Children]
I am a bad, wicked man, but I am practicing moral self-purification; I don't eat meat any more, I now eat rice cutlets.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Self-improvement]
If Socialism can only be realized when the intellectual development of all the people permits it, then we shall not see Socialism for at least five hundred years.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Socializing and Socialism]
It is true that liberty is precious. So precious that it must be rationed.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Freedom]
Literature must become party literature. Down with unpartisan litterateurs! Down with the superman of literature! Literature must become a part of the general cause of the proletariat.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Literature]
No amount of political freedom will satisfy the hungry masses.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Masses]
The history of all countries shows that the working class exclusively by its own effort is able to develop only trade-union consciousness.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Working Class]
The most important thing when ill, is to never lose heart.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Illness]
To rely upon conviction, devotion, and other excellent spiritual qualities — that is not to be taken seriously in politics.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Politicians and Politics]
Under socialism all will govern in turn and will soon become accustomed to no one governing.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Communism and Socialism]
When one makes a Revolution, one cannot mark time; one must always go forward — or go back. He who now talks about the ''freedom of the press'' goes backward, and halts our headlong course towards Socialism.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Freedom of Speech]
Whenever the cause of the people is entrusted to professors, it is lost.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [Intelligence and Intellectuals]
While the State exists there can be no freedom; when there is freedom there will be no State.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – [State]