The world of the commodity is a world upside-down, which bases itself not upon life but upon the transformation of life into work.

There are more truths in twenty-four hours of a man's life than in all the philosophies.

The world of the commodity is a world upside-down, which bases itself not upon life but upon the transformation of life into work.

Never before has a civilization reached such a degree of a contempt for life; never before has a generation, drowned in mortification, felt such a rage to live.

Who wants a world in which the guarantee that we shall not die of starvation entails the risk of dying of boredom?

What could I wish for the present but to take the greatest pleasure in being what I am?

Purchasing power is a license to purchase power. The old proletariat sold its labour power in order to subsist; what little leisure time it had was passed pleasantly enough in conversations, arguments, drinking, making love, wandering, celebrating and rioting. The new proletarian sells his labour power in order to consume. When he’s not flogging himself to death to get promoted in the labour hierarchy, he’s being persuaded to buy himself objects to distinguish himself in the social hierarchy. The ideology of consumption becomes the consumption of ideology.