If God is, man is a slave; now, man can and must be free; then, God does not exist. I defy anyone whomsoever to avoid this circle; now, therefore, let all choose.
MIKHAIL BAKUNINIf God is, man is a slave; now, man can and must be free; then, God does not exist. I defy anyone whomsoever to avoid this circle; now, therefore, let all choose.
MIKHAIL BAKUNINA jealous lover of human liberty, deeming it the absolute condition of all that we admire and respect in humanity, I reverse the phrase of Voltaire, and say that, if God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him.
MIKHAIL BAKUNINIf there is a State, there must be domination of one class by another and, as a result, slavery; the State without slavery is unthinkable – and this is why we are the enemies of the State.
MIKHAIL BAKUNINThe state is a force incarnate. Worse, it is the silly parading of force. It never seeks to prevail by persuasion. Whenever it thrusts its finger into anything it does so in the most unfriendly way. Its essence is command and compulsion.
MIKHAIL BAKUNINThe peoples’ revolution… will arrange its revolutionary organisation from the bottom up and from the periphery to the centre, in keeping with the principle of liberty.
MIKHAIL BAKUNIN[Jehovah is] certainly the most jealous, the most vain, the most ferocious, the most unjust, the most bloodthirsty, the most despotic, and the most hostile to human dignity and liberty.
MIKHAIL BAKUNINThe freedom of all is essential to my freedom.
MIKHAIL BAKUNINWe must spread our principles, not with words but with deeds, for this is the most popular, the most potent, and the most irresistible form of propaganda.
MIKHAIL BAKUNINNo theory, no ready-made system, no book that has ever been written will save the world. I cleave to no system. I am a true seeker.
MIKHAIL BAKUNINWhere the state begins, individual liberty ceases, and vice versa.
MIKHAIL BAKUNINPolitical Freedom without economic equality is a pretense, a fraud, a lie; and the workers want no lying.
MIKHAIL BAKUNINHe who desires to worship God must harbor no childish illusions about the matter but bravely renounce his liberty and humanity.
MIKHAIL BAKUNINIdealism is the despot of thought, just as politics is the despot of will.
MIKHAIL BAKUNINBut 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