---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The people that once bestowed commands…"
description: "\"“The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and allelse, now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things: bread a..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a21/herbert-marcuse-3589_bread-circuses_the-people-that-once-bestowed-commands-c_2772932.jpg"
---

#  The people that once bestowed commands, consulships…

![“The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and allelse, now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things: bread and circuses!” quote by herbert marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a21/herbert-marcuse-3589_bread-circuses_the-people-that-once-bestowed-commands-c_2772932.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a21/herbert-marcuse-3589_bread-circuses_the-people-that-once-bestowed-commands-c_2772932.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a21/herbert-marcuse-3589_bread-circuses_the-people-that-once-bestowed-commands-c_2772932.jpg)

> ““The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and allelse, now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things: bread and circuses!””

[herbert marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/)

This quote is also attributed to [Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/) in other sources. Attributions for famous quotes are often disputed.

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Critiques modern society’s shift from political power to trivial distractions like entertainment and basic needs.

**In simple terms:** Society now seeks only bread and spectacles.

Key Takeaway

Recognize and resist superficial distractions.

Themes

politics consumerism distraction

Mood

critical concerned

Type

academic philosophical

When to use this quote

- political activism
- media literacy
- education
- community organizing

Key Concepts

critical theory mass media

Questions to Reflect On

- What replaces meaningful engagement?
- How to foster deeper civic participation?

A Different Perspective

May oversimplify complex social dynamics.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

## Related quotes

> [The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else, now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things: bread…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juvenal/the-people-that-once-bestowed-commands-consulships-legions-and-all/)

[Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/)

> [Panem et Circenses" translates into 'Bread and Circuses.' The writer was saying that in return for full bellies and entertainment, his people had given…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/panem-et-circenses-translates-into-bread-and-circuses-the-writer-was/)

[Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/)

> [I read the Romans had bread and circuses. We had home relief and boxing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jake-lamotta/i-read-the-romans-had-bread-and-circuses-we-had-home-relief-and-boxing/)

[Jake LaMotta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jake-lamotta/)

> [Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juvenal/give-them-bread-and-circuses-and-they-will-never-revolt/)

[Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/)

> [Two things only the people actually desire: bread and circuses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juvenal/two-things-only-the-people-actually-desire-bread-and-circuses/)

[Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/)

> [“I love her like two cheese sticks without cheese. Bread and circuses.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/i-love-her-like-two-cheese-sticks-without-cheese-bread-and-circuses/)

[Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/)

> [There is an obvious connection, on the declining Roman empire's bread and circuses model, between political enthusiasm for public spectacles and the periods when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-sinclair/there-is-an-obvious-connection-on-the-declining-roman-empire-s-bread/)

[Iain Sinclair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-sinclair/)

> [Now that no one buys our votes, the public has long since cast off its cares; for the people that once bestowed commands, consulships,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juvenal/now-that-no-one-buys-our-votes-the-public-has-long-since-cast-off-its/)

[Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/)

> [Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juvenal/already-long-ago-from-when-we-sold-our-vote-to-no-man-the-people-have/)

[Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/)

> [The Romans always wanted bread and circuses-food and entertainement! As we destroy their city, I will offer them both. Behold, a sample!" Someething dropped…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-romans-always-wanted-bread-and-circuses-food-and-entertainement/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [We love against the night, burning like stars against the darkness of bread and circuses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-love-against-the-night-burning-like-stars-against-the-darkness-of/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [The purpose of bread and circuses is, as Neil Postman said in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death, to distract, to divert emotional energy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hedges/the-purpose-of-bread-and-circuses-is-as-neil-postman-said-in-his-book/)

[Chris Hedges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hedges/)

## More by herbert marcuse

> [The strains and stresses suffered by the individual in society are grounded in the normal functioning of that society (and of the individual!) rather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/the-strains-and-stresses-suffered-by-the-individual-in-society-are/)

[Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/)

> [ \[Art\] can speak its own language only as long as the images are alive which refuse and refute the established order. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/art-can-speak-its-own-language-only-as-long-as-the-images-are-alive/)

[Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/)

> [If man has learned to see and know what really is, he will act in accordance with truth, Epistemology is in itself ethics, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/if-man-has-learned-to-see-and-know-what-really-is-he-will-act-in/)

[Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/)

> [Hypostatized into a ritual pattern, Marxian theory becomes ideology. But its content and function distinguish it from classical forms of ideology; it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/hypostatized-into-a-ritual-pattern-marxian-theory-becomes-ideology/)

[Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/)

> [Art cannot change the world, but it can contribute to changing the consciousness and drives of the men and women who could change the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/art-cannot-change-the-world-but-it-can-contribute-to-changing-the/)

[Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/)

> [That which is cannot be true.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/that-which-is-cannot-be-true/)

[Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/)

> [The closed language does not demonstrate and explain it communicates decision, dictum, command. Where it defines, the definition becomes "separation of good from evil;"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/the-closed-language-does-not-demonstrate-and-explain-it-communicates/)

[Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/)

> [The apparatus defeats its own purpose if its purpose is to create a humane existence on the basis of a humanized nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/the-apparatus-defeats-its-own-purpose-if-its-purpose-is-to-create-a/)

[Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/)

> [“As Hegel defines it: "Thinking is, indeed, essentially the negation of that which is before us." ... Reason is the negation of the negative.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/as-hegel-defines-it-thinking-is-indeed-essentially-the-negation-of/)

[Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/)

> [The precarious ontological link between Logos and Eros is broken, and scientific rationality emerges as essentially neutral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/the-precarious-ontological-link-between-logos-and-eros-is-broken-and/)

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> [If mass communications blend together harmoniously, and often unnoticeably, art, politics, religion, and philosophy with commercials, they bring these realms of culture to their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/if-mass-communications-blend-together-harmoniously-and-often/)

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> [This society turns everything it touches into a potential source of progress and exploitation, of drudgery and satisfaction, of freedom and of oppression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/this-society-turns-everything-it-touches-into-a-potential-source-of/)

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[Explore all 123 herbert marcuse quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/)

## More Bread Circuses quotes

> [Panem et Circenses" translates into 'Bread and Circuses.' The writer was saying that in return for full bellies and entertainment, his people had given…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/panem-et-circenses-translates-into-bread-and-circuses-the-writer-was/)

[Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/)

> [We love against the night, burning like stars against the darkness of bread and circuses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-love-against-the-night-burning-like-stars-against-the-darkness-of/)

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> [The Romans always wanted bread and circuses-food and entertainement! As we destroy their city, I will offer them both. Behold, a sample!" Someething dropped…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-romans-always-wanted-bread-and-circuses-food-and-entertainement/)

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> [Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juvenal/already-long-ago-from-when-we-sold-our-vote-to-no-man-the-people-have/)

[Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/)

> [The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else, now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things: bread…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juvenal/the-people-that-once-bestowed-commands-consulships-legions-and-all/)

[Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/)

> [Now that no one buys our votes, the public has long since cast off its cares; for the people that once bestowed commands, consulships,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juvenal/now-that-no-one-buys-our-votes-the-public-has-long-since-cast-off-its/)

[Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/)

> [There is an obvious connection, on the declining Roman empire's bread and circuses model, between political enthusiasm for public spectacles and the periods when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-sinclair/there-is-an-obvious-connection-on-the-declining-roman-empire-s-bread/)

[Iain Sinclair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-sinclair/)

> [“I love her like two cheese sticks without cheese. Bread and circuses.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/i-love-her-like-two-cheese-sticks-without-cheese-bread-and-circuses/)

[Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/)

> [Two things only the people actually desire: bread and circuses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juvenal/two-things-only-the-people-actually-desire-bread-and-circuses/)

[Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/)

> [Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juvenal/give-them-bread-and-circuses-and-they-will-never-revolt/)

[Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/)

> [I read the Romans had bread and circuses. We had home relief and boxing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jake-lamotta/i-read-the-romans-had-bread-and-circuses-we-had-home-relief-and-boxing/)

[Jake LaMotta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jake-lamotta/)

> [The purpose of bread and circuses is, as Neil Postman said in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death, to distract, to divert emotional energy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hedges/the-purpose-of-bread-and-circuses-is-as-neil-postman-said-in-his-book/)

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Browse all 13 Bread Circuses quotes

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