The redeeming feature of war is that it puts a nation to the test. As exposure to the atmosphere reduces all mummies to instant dissolution, so war passes supreme judgment upon social systems that have outlived their vitality.

The bourgeoisie of the whole world, which looks complacently upon the wholesale massacre after the battle, is convulsed by horror at the desecration of brick and mortar.

Misery motivates, not utopia.

Nothing can have value without being an object of utility.

The unity of the bourgeoisie can be shaken only by the unity of the proletariat.

Since only what is material is perceptible, knowable, nothing is known of the existence of God.

The writer may very well serve a movement of history as its mouthpiece, but he cannot of course create it.