We have wasted our spirit in the regions of the abstract and general just as the monks let it wither in the world of prayer and contemplation.
Alexander HerzenHistory knocks at a thousand gates at every moment, and the gatekeeper is chance. We shout into the mist for this one or that one to be opened for us, but through every gate are a thousand more. We need wit and courage to make our way while our way is making us.
Alexander HerzenFalse gods must be repudiated, but that is not all: The reasons for their existence must be sought beneath their masks.
Alexander HerzenI believe in nothing here, except a handful of people, a few ideas, and the fact that one cannot arrest movement.
Alexander HerzenThis socialism will develop in all its phases until it reaches its own extremes and absurdities. Then once again a cry of denial will break from the titanic chest of the revolutionary minority and again a mortal struggle will begin, in which socialism will play the role of contemporary conservatism and will be overwhelmed in the subsequent revolution, as yet unknown to us.
Alexander Herzen