“I listen to them freely and with all the respect merited by their intelligence, their character, their knowledge, reserving always my incontestable right of criticism and censure.”
Mikhail Bakunin“Freedom, morality, and the human dignity of the individual consists precisely in this; that he does good not because he is forced to do so, but because he freely conceives it, wants it, and loves it.”
Mikhail Bakunin“Even the most wretched individual of our present society could not exist and develop without the cumulative social efforts of countless generations.”
Mikhail Bakunin“Idealism is the despot of thought, just as politics is the despot of will.”
Mikhail Bakunin“I am conscious of my inability to grasp, in all its details and positive developments, any very large portion of human knowledge.”
Mikhail Bakunin“He who desires to worship God must harbor no childish illusions about the matter but bravely renounce his liberty and humanity.”
Mikhail Bakunin“I am truly free only when all human beings, men and women, are equally free. The freedom of other men, far from negating or limiting my freedom, is, on the contrary, its necessary premise and confirmation.”
Mikhail Bakunin“Political Freedom without economic equality is a pretense, a fraud, a lie; and the workers want no lying.”
Mikhail Bakunin“From the naturalistic point of view, all men are equal. There are only two exceptions to this rule of naturalistic equality: geniuses and idiots.”
Mikhail Bakunin“But I recognize no infallible authority, even in special questions; consequently, whatever respect I may have for the honesty and the sincerity of such or such an individual, I have no absolute faith in any person.”
Mikhail Bakunin