Quotes by Antonio Gramsci

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

“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 pa...”

“I live, I am partisan. This is why I hate those who do not take sides; I hate those who are indifferent”

“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 o...”

“The principle must always rule that ideas are not born of other ideas, philosophies of other philosophies; they are a continually renewed expression of real historical development. The unity of his...”

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

“Ideas and opinions are not spontaneously "born" in each individual brain: they have had a centre of formation, or irradiation, of dissemination, of persuasion-a group of men, or a single individual...”

“Common sense is a chaotic aggregate of disparate conceptions, and one can find there anything that one like.”

“The brain is not nourished on beans and truffles but rather the food manages to reconstitute the molecules of the brain once it has been turned into homogeneous and assimilable substances, which po...”

“Common sense is not a single unique conception, identical in time and space. It is the "folklore" of philosophy, and, like folklore, it takes countless different forms. Its most fundamental charact...”

“At the limit it could be said that every speaking being has a personal language of his own, that is his own particular way of thinking and feeling. Culture, at its various levels, unifies in a seri...”

“The crisis creates situations which are dangerous in the short run, since the various strata of the population are not all capable of orienting themselves equally swiftly, or of reorganizing with t...”

“Since defeat in the Struggle must always be envisaged, the preparation of one's own successors is as important as what one does for victory.”

“The popular element "feels" but does not always know or understand; the intellectual element "knows" but does not always understand and in particular does not always feel.”

“My practicality consists in this, in the knowledge that if you beat your head against the wall it is your head which breaks and not the wall - that is my strength, my only strength.”

“Possibility means "freedom". The measure of freedom enters into the concept of man. That the objective possibilities exist for people not to die of hunder and that people do die of hunger, has its ...”

“To tell the truth, to arrive together at the truth, is a communist and revolutionary act.”

“History teaches, but it has no pupils.”

“The history of education shows that every class which has sought to take power has prepared itself for power by an autonomous education. The first step in emancipating oneself from political and so...”

“When I was a child the boys of the town never came near me except to make fun of me. I was almost always alone. Sometimes, finding me by chance among them, they hurled themselves against me, and no...”