Mikhail Bakunin

Man is only truly free only among equally free men.

— Mikhail Bakunin

Throw a theory into the fire; it only spoils life.

— Mikhail Bakunin

The freedom of all is essential to my freedom.

— Mikhail Bakunin

The passion for destruction is also a creative passion.

— Mikhail Bakunin

A divine falsehood is more powerful than any human truth.

— Mikhail Bakunin

“I reverse the phrase of Voltaire, and say that if God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him. ”

— Mikhail Bakunin

“He who is given power will inevitably become an oppressor and exploiter of society.”

— Mikhail Bakunin

From each according to his faculties; to each according to his needs.

— Mikhail Bakunin

Liberty means that a man is recognized as free and treated as free by those who surround him.

— Mikhail Bakunin

A Boss in Heaven is the best excuse for a boss on earth, therefore If God did exist, he would have to…

— Mikhail Bakunin

The right to unite freely and to separate freely is the first and most important of all political rights.

— Mikhail Bakunin

Everything will pass, and the world will perish but the Ninth Symphony will remain.

— Mikhail Bakunin

I bow before the authority of special men because it is imposed upon me by my own reason.

— Mikhail Bakunin

[Jehovah is] certainly the most jealous, the most vain, the most ferocious, the most unjust, the most bloodthirsty, the most despotic, and…

— Mikhail Bakunin

The star of revolution will rise high above the streets of Moscow, from a sea of blood and fire, and turn into…

— Mikhail Bakunin

“The freedom of each is therefore realizable only in the equality of all. The realization of freedom through equality, in principle and…

— Mikhail Bakunin

But I recognize no infallible authority, even in special questions; consequently, whatever respect I may have for the honesty and the sincerity…

— Mikhail Bakunin

If there is a State, there must be domination of one class by another and, as a result, slavery; the State without…

— Mikhail Bakunin

In antiquity slaves were, in all honesty called slaves. In the middle ages, they took the name of serfs. Nowadays they are…

— Mikhail Bakunin

Whoever says State necessarily says domination, and, consequently, slavery; a State without slavery, open or concealed, is inconceivable: that is why we…

— Mikhail Bakunin

I am truly free only when all human beings, men and women, are equally free. The freedom of other men, far from…

— Mikhail Bakunin

The liberty of man consists solely in this, that he obeys the laws of nature because he has himself recognized them as…

— Mikhail Bakunin

Those mutually opposed manifestos are written with the same eloquence, they breathe the same virtuous indignation, and one is just as sincere…

— Mikhail Bakunin

Priests, kings, statesmen, soldiers, bankers and public functionaries of all sorts; policemen, jailers and hangmen; capitalists, usurers, businessmen and property-owners; lawyers, economists…

— Mikhail Bakunin

It clearly follows that to make men moral it is necessary to make their social environment moral. And that can be done…

— Mikhail Bakunin

...one exploiting sect, one people of leeches, one single devouring parasite closely and intimately bound together not only across national boundaries, but…

— Mikhail Bakunin

People’s State, is a yoke, on the one hand giving rise to despotism and on the other to slavery. They say that…

— Mikhail Bakunin

“All our philosophy starts from a false base; it begins always by considering man as an individual, and not as he should…

— Mikhail Bakunin

Does man's freedom consist in revolting against all laws? We say no, in so far as laws are natural, economic, and social…

— Mikhail Bakunin

“Does it follow that I reject all authority? Perish the thought. In the matter of boots, I defer to the authority of…

— Mikhail Bakunin

“We revolutionary anarchists are the enemies of all forms of State and State organisations ... we think that all State rule, all…

— Mikhail Bakunin

“The masses, on admitting their own incapacity to govern themselves, have elected me as their head By doing so, they have clearly…

— Mikhail Bakunin

I feel myself always the patriot of all oppressed fatherlands. Nationality is a historic, local fact which, like all real and harmless…

— Mikhail Bakunin

“We have already observed that by excluding the immense majority of the human species from its midst, by keeping this majority outside…

— Mikhail Bakunin

“One might rejoin that the State, representing as it does the public welfare or the common interest of all, curtails a part…

— Mikhail Bakunin

“I am a convinced advocate of economic and social equality because I know that, without it, liberty, justice, human dignity, morality, and…

— Mikhail Bakunin

Nationality is not a universal human principle but an historical, local fact...Every nation, even a small one, has its own character, its…

— Mikhail Bakunin

If God existed, only in one way could he serve the cause of human liberty-by ceasing to exist.

— Mikhail Bakunin

Every people, like every person, . . . has a right to be itself.

— Mikhail Bakunin

Do you want to make it impossible for anyone to oppress his fellow-man? Then make sure that no one shall possess power.

— Mikhail Bakunin