The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.

The human being is in the most literal sense a political animal, not merely a gregarious animal, but an animal which can individuate itself only in the midst of society.

The method of production of the material things of life generally determines the social, political and spiritual currents of life.

Nothing is easier than to give Christian asceticism a Socialist tinge.

The consciousness of the past weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.

Capital is money, capital is commodities. By virtue of it being value, it has acquired the occult ability to add value to itself. It brings forth living offspring, or, at the least, lays golden eggs.

Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains.