Antonio Gramsci

modernity life illusion disillutioned

“The point of modernity is to live a life without illusions while not becoming disillusioned”

― Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

pessimist intlligence optimist will

“I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.”

― Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

crisis old dying die new cannot born

“The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born”

― Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

man mind consciousness producthistory nature

“Man is above all else mind, consciousness -- that is, he is a product of history, not of nature.”

― Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

men intellectual function society

“All men are intellectuals, but not all men have in society the function of intellectuals”

― Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

beat head wall break

“If you beat your head against the wall, it is your head that breaks and not the wall.”

― Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

work critical own conception world brain activity personality

“Is it better to work out consciously and critically one's own conception of the world and thus, in connection with the labours of one's own brain, choose one's sphere of activity, take an active part in the creation of the history of the world, be one's own guide, refusing to accept passively and supinely from outside the moulding of one' own personality?”

― Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

language process metaphor semantic process museum fossil

“The whole of language is a continuous process of metaphor, and the history of semantics is an aspect of the history of culture; language is at the same time a living thing and a museum of fossils of life and civilisations.”

― Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

old world dying new struggle born time monster

"The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters."

― Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

happen responsibility want happen abdicate

"What comes to pass does so not so much because a few people want it to happen, as because the mass of citizens abdicate their responsibility and let things be."

― Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

indifference dead weight history

"Indifference is the dead weight of history."

― Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

state dictatorship

"Every State is a dictatorship."

― Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

telling truth revolutionary

"Telling the truth is always revolutionary."

― Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)