5 Leon Trotsky Quotes on Philosophy

Leon Trotsky quotes on philosophy

6. A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified. (Also quoted as 'The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.')

18. Dialectical thinking is related to vulgar thinking in the same way that a motion picture is related to a still photograph. The motion picture does not outlaw the still photograph but combines a series of them according to the laws of motion. Dialectics does not deny the syllogism, but teaches us to combine syllogisms in such a way as to bring our understanding closer to the eternally changing reality.

19. The concrete is a combination of abstractions - not an arbitrary or subjective combination but one that corresponds to the laws of the movement of a given phenomenon.

27. Life is not an easy matter... You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness.

33. You may not be interested in the dialectic, but the dialectic is interested in you.