--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The bourgeois man is first and foremost…" description: "\"“The bourgeois man is first and foremost fashioned and turned into a machine. He is happy even if he has become only a number in a political sum, and h..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/254/friedrich-schlegel-42876_children_the-bourgeois-man-is-first-and-foremost_1427539.jpg" --- # The bourgeois man is first and foremost fashioned and… ![“The bourgeois man is first and foremost fashioned and turned into a machine. He is happy even if he has become only a number in a political sum, and he can be called in every respect perfect if he has transformed himself from a person into a cipher. As it is with the individual, so with the…” quote by Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/254/friedrich-schlegel-42876_children_the-bourgeois-man-is-first-and-foremost_1427539.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/254/friedrich-schlegel-42876_children_the-bourgeois-man-is-first-and-foremost_1427539.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/254/friedrich-schlegel-42876_children_the-bourgeois-man-is-first-and-foremost_1427539.jpg) > ““The bourgeois man is first and foremost fashioned and turned into a machine. He is happy even if he has become only a number in a political sum, and he can be called in every respect perfect if he has transformed himself from a person into a cipher. As it is with the individual, so with the masses. They eat, marry, produce children, become old, and so on to infinity. Pure life simply for the sake of life is the source of baseness, and everything is base that has nothing of the world-spirit of philosophy and poetry.”” [Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-schlegel/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The bourgeois individual is reduced to a mechanistic, impersonal role, losing humanity and spiritual depth, becoming merely a statistical entity. **In simple terms:** People become machines, losing soul and meaning. Key Takeaway Cultivate personal and, resist dehumanization. Themes dehumanization bourgeoisie mechanization existential emptiness Mood melancholic reflective Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - workplace routines - consumer culture - social conformity - education systems Key Concepts sociology philosophy critical theory Questions to Reflect On - How do you retain individuality in a conformist society? - What practices nurture your inner spirit? A Different Perspective Emphasis on material success can ignore inner fulfillment. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bourgeois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bourgeois/) [Bourgeois Man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bourgeois-man-754345/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Computers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/computers/) [Individual Masses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual-masses-5072802/) [Pure Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pure-life-374521/) [Respect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/respect/) [Transformed Person](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transformed-person-5072803/) ## Related quotes > [The petit-bourgeois is a man unable to imagine the Other. 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Everything tastes different. It is as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chloe-thurlow/i-was-always-in-love-with-love-and-now-i-am-in-love-in-love/) [Chloe Thurlow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chloe-thurlow/) > [“We must go out to Pure Life, Pure Truth, Pure Love, and that is the definition of God. He is the ultimate goal of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/we-must-go-out-to-pure-life-pure-truth-pure-love-and-that-is-the/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [God is not the mere dead conception to which we have thus given utterance, but he is in himself pure Life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-gottlieb-fichte/god-is-not-the-mere-dead-conception-to-which-we-have-thus-given/) [Johann Gottlieb Fichte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-gottlieb-fichte/) > [Most of us don't confront pure anything. What our life does involve is a whole lot of 60/40 and 70/30.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-sheridan/most-of-us-don-t-confront-pure-anything-what-our-life-does-involve-is/) [Taylor Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-sheridan/) > [If you decide to live a pure life, don't expect the world to understand your decision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-evert/if-you-decide-to-live-a-pure-life-don-t-expect-the-world-to/) [Jason Evert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-evert/) > [If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/if-a-man-lives-a-pure-life-nothing-can-destroy-him/) [Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/) > [Pure art exists only on the level of instant response to pure life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-haring/pure-art-exists-only-on-the-level-of-instant-response-to-pure-life/) [Keith Haring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-haring/) > [“The dreams of a pure life, The dreams of a loving wife, Find pleasure in a Godly life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/the-wife-s-r/the-dreams-of-a-pure-life-the-dreams-of-a-loving-wife-find-pleasure/) [The Wife S.R](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/the-wife-s-r/) > [The one thing I had pure in my life was creativity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fantastic-negrito/the-one-thing-i-had-pure-in-my-life-was-creativity/) [Fantastic Negrito](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fantastic-negrito/) > [“I couldn't stand the idea of a woman having to have a single pure life and a man being able to have a double…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/i-couldn-t-stand-the-idea-of-a-woman-having-to-have-a-single-pure/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) ## More by Friedrich Schlegel > [“industry and utility are the angels of death who, with fiery swords, prevent man's return to Paradise.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-schlegel/industry-and-utility-are-the-angels-of-death-who-with-fiery-swords/) [Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-schlegel/) > [“Die Blüten aller Dinge jeglicher Art flicht Poesie in einen leichten Kranz und so nennt und reimt auch Wilhelmine Gegenden, Zeiten, Begebenheiten, Personen, Spielwerke…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-schlegel/die-bl-ten-aller-dinge-jeglicher-art-flicht-poesie-in-einen-leichten/) [Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-schlegel/) > [“Qui augmente sa connaissance augmente son ignorance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-schlegel/qui-augmente-sa-connaissance-augmente-son-ignorance/) [Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-schlegel/) > [“A classical work of literature can never be completely understood. 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There are only two kinds of institutions for them, artificial and natural. The institutions of feudalism are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/economists-have-a-singular-method-of-procedure-there-are-only-two/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [“Like symbolism, decadence puts forth the idea that the function of literature is to evoke impressions and 'correspondences', rather than to realistically depict the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/asti-hustvedt/like-symbolism-decadence-puts-forth-the-idea-that-the-function-of/) [Asti Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/asti-hustvedt/) > [The enmity of such a party towards Socialism does not mean that the members are only prejudiced against it because they do not know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-radek/the-enmity-of-such-a-party-towards-socialism-does-not-mean-that-the/) [Karl Radek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-radek/) > [With almost no exceptions, art by men is much more expensive than art by women. Even great women artists, like Louise Bourgeois and Lee…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/with-almost-no-exceptions-art-by-men-is-much-more-expensive-than-art/) [Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/) > [The bourgeois thinkers of the eighteenth century thus turned Aristotle's formula on its head: satisfactions which the Greek philosopher had identified with leisure were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/the-bourgeois-thinkers-of-the-eighteenth-century-thus-turned/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [Where there is no danger of overt action there is rarely any interference with freedom. That is why there has so often been amazing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-lippmann/where-there-is-no-danger-of-overt-action-there-is-rarely-any/) [Walter Lippmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-lippmann/) > [Advancing bourgeois society liquidates memory, time, recollection as irrational leftovers of the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-adorno/advancing-bourgeois-society-liquidates-memory-time-recollection-as/) [Theodor Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-adorno/) > [ Avant-garde theatre, with its distrust of the individual (that bourgeois invention), tends to go beyond \[character\] and the psychological approach in search of a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrice-pavis/avant-garde-theatre-with-its-distrust-of-the-individual-that/) [Patrice Pavis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrice-pavis/) > [One's existence should be in two parts: one should live like a bourgeois and think like a demigod.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/one-s-existence-should-be-in-two-parts-one-should-live-like-a/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) > [I think of myself as being a bit of a wimp deep down - a bourgeois wimp - and I'm fighting that. I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-mirren/i-think-of-myself-as-being-a-bit-of-a-wimp-deep-down-a-bourgeois-wimp/) [Helen Mirren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-mirren/) > [Conformity may not always reign in the prosperous bourgeois suburb, but it ultimately always governs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-kronenberger/conformity-may-not-always-reign-in-the-prosperous-bourgeois-suburb/) [Louis Kronenberger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-kronenberger/) > [We can say farewell to 10 years of bourgeois rule... now we have the opportunity to change Denmark.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helle-thorning-schmidt/we-can-say-farewell-to-10-years-of-bourgeois-rule-now-we-have-the/) [Helle Thorning-Schmidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helle-thorning-schmidt/) > [In a higher phase of communist society... only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be fully left behind and society inscribe on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/in-a-higher-phase-of-communist-society-only-then-can-the-narrow/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [For what is the program of the bourgeois parties? A bad poem on springtime, filled to bursting with metaphors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/for-what-is-the-program-of-the-bourgeois-parties-a-bad-poem-on/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [What have we achieved since the end of the Second World War? We have allowed petty, bourgeois regimes in which everything is average, mediocre.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahar-ben-jelloun/what-have-we-achieved-since-the-end-of-the-second-world-war-we-have/) [Tahar Ben Jelloun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahar-ben-jelloun/) [Browse all 304 Bourgeois quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bourgeois/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The bourgeois man is first and foremost fashioned and turned into a machine. 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