--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Labor produces marvels for the rich but…" description: "\"Labor produces marvels for the rich but it produces deprivation for the worker. It produces palaces, but hovels for the worker. It produces beauty, but..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d9a/karl-marx-399_barbaric_labor-produces-marvels-for-the-rich-but_1653168.jpg" --- # Labor produces marvels for the rich but it produces… ![“Labor produces marvels for the rich but it produces deprivation for the worker. It produces palaces, but hovels for the worker. It produces beauty, but deformity for the worker. It replaces labor by machines, but it throws one section of the workers back to barbaric labor, and it turns the…” quote by Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d9a/karl-marx-399_barbaric_labor-produces-marvels-for-the-rich-but_1653168.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d9a/karl-marx-399_barbaric_labor-produces-marvels-for-the-rich-but_1653168.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d9a/karl-marx-399_barbaric_labor-produces-marvels-for-the-rich-but_1653168.jpg) > “Labor produces marvels for the rich but it produces deprivation for the worker. It produces palaces, but hovels for the worker. It produces beauty, but deformity for the worker. It replaces labor by machines, but it throws one section of the workers back to barbaric labor, and it turns the remainder into machines.” [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Capitalism creates wealth for a few while exploiting the many, leading to stark inequality and dehumanization of labor. **In simple terms:** Wealth for few, suffering for many. Key Takeaway Challenge unjust systems. Themes inequality exploitation alienation Mood critical revolutionary Type political philosophical When to use this quote - labor rights activism - policy reform - union organizing Key Concepts class struggle economic disparity human dignity Questions to Reflect On - What alternatives can reduce exploitation? - How can workers reclaim agency? A Different Perspective Revolution may cause instability. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Deprivation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deprivation/) [Labor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/labor/) [Machines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/machines/) [Palaces](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/palaces/) [Work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/work/) [Workers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/workers/) ## Related quotes > [We cannot distribute more wealth than is created. We cannot in the long run pay labor as a whole more than it produces.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-hazlitt/we-cannot-distribute-more-wealth-than-is-created-we-cannot-in-the/) [Henry Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-hazlitt/) > [No person who is well bred, kind and modest is ever offensively plain; all real deformity means want for manners or of heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ruskin/no-person-who-is-well-bred-kind-and-modest-is-ever-offensively-plain/) [John Ruskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ruskin/) > [Most of the reasons for late-term abortions have to do with severe fetal deformities, but when I found out that dwarfism was also a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-h-richardson/most-of-the-reasons-for-late-term-abortions-have-to-do-with-severe/) [John H Richardson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-h-richardson/) > [We know great Nature's pow'r, Mother of things, whose vast unbounded sway From the deep centre all around extends Wide to the flaming barriers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-armstrong/we-know-great-nature-s-pow-r-mother-of-things-whose-vast-unbounded/) [John Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-armstrong/) > [In such a world as this, with such hearts as ours, weakness is wickedness in the long run. Whoever lets himself be shaped and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-maclaren/in-such-a-world-as-this-with-such-hearts-as-ours-weakness-is/) [Alexander MacLaren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-maclaren/) > [Well, I will scourge those apes, And to these courteous eyes oppose a mirror, As large as is the stage whereon we act; Where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-jonson/well-i-will-scourge-those-apes-and-to-these-courteous-eyes-oppose-a/) [Ben Jonson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-jonson/) > [All our distinctions ire accidental; beauty and deformity, though personal qualities, are neither entitled to praise nor censure; yet it so happens that they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-georg-ritter-von-zimmermann/all-our-distinctions-ire-accidental-beauty-and-deformity-though/) [Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-georg-ritter-von-zimmermann/) > [He had a head which statuaries loved to copy, and a foot the deformity of which the beggars in the streets mimicked.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/he-had-a-head-which-statuaries-loved-to-copy-and-a-foot-the-deformity/) [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) > [In all human love it must be realized that every man promises a woman, and every woman promises a man that which only God…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/in-all-human-love-it-must-be-realized-that-every-man-promises-a-woman/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Information leads to transformation. If you are not inspired by being informed, you will expire by becoming deformed!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/israelmore-ayivor/information-leads-to-transformation-if-you-are-not-inspired-by-being/) [Israelmore Ayivor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/israelmore-ayivor/) > [I refuse the title of artist to those who owe their reputations to a physical deformity. I regard them as buffoons.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-bernhardt/i-refuse-the-title-of-artist-to-those-who-owe-their-reputations-to-a/) [Sarah Bernhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-bernhardt/) > [Physical deformity, calls forth our charity. But the infinite misfortune of moral deformity calls forth nothing but hatred and vengeance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clarence-darrow/physical-deformity-calls-forth-our-charity-but-the-infinite/) [Clarence Darrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clarence-darrow/) > [What’s with her?” says the painter. “She’s mad because she’s a woman,” Jon says. This is something I haven’t heard for years, not since…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/what-s-with-her-says-the-painter-she-s-mad-because-she-s-a-woman-jon/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [By all means, there should be no children when either mother or father suffers from such diseases as tuberculosis, gonorrhea, syphilis, cancer, epilepsy, insanity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-sanger/by-all-means-there-should-be-no-children-when-either-mother-or-father/) [Margaret Sanger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-sanger/) > [Rewards and punishments, to speak frankly, are the desk of the soul, that is, a means of enslaving a child's spirit, and better suited…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-montessori/rewards-and-punishments-to-speak-frankly-are-the-desk-of-the-soul/) [Maria Montessori](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-montessori/) ## More by Karl Marx > [“Economists have a singular method of procedure. 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/) > [As the variable capital always stays in the hands of the capitalist in some form or other, it cannot be claimed in any way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/as-the-variable-capital-always-stays-in-the-hands-of-the-capitalist/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [Money degrades all the gods of man and converts them into commodities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/money-degrades-all-the-gods-of-man-and-converts-them-into-commodities/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [As a beast of toil an ox is fixed capital. If he is eaten, he no longer functions as an instrument of labour, nor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/as-a-beast-of-toil-an-ox-is-fixed-capital-if-he-is-eaten-he-no-longer/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [Communism... is the genuine resolution of the antagonism between man and nature and between man and man; it is the true resolution of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/communism-is-the-genuine-resolution-of-the-antagonism-between-man-and/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/it-is-not-the-consciousness-of-men-that-determines-their-being-but-on/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [Philosophy is to the real world as masturbation is to sex](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/philosophy-is-to-the-real-world-as-masturbation-is-to-sex/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [“Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven't said enough!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/go-on-get-out-last-words-are-for-fools-who-haven-t-said-enough/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [“If you love without evoking love in return - if through the vital expression of yourself as a loving person you fail to become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/if-you-love-without-evoking-love-in-return-if-through-the-vital/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [Do not be deluded by the abstract word Freedom. Whose freedom? Not the freedom of one individual in relation to another, but freedom of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/do-not-be-deluded-by-the-abstract-word-freedom-whose-freedom-not-the/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [The burgeoisie, by the rapid improvement of all instruments of production, by the immensely facilitated means of communication, draws all nations into civilization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/the-burgeoisie-by-the-rapid-improvement-of-all-instruments-of/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [Ideas do not exist separately from language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/ideas-do-not-exist-separately-from-language/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [So in Jewry we recognise a contemporary universal anti-social phenomenon, which has reached its present pitch through a process of, historical development in which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/so-in-jewry-we-recognise-a-contemporary-universal-anti-social/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [The class struggle necessarily leads to the dictatorship of the proletariat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/the-class-struggle-necessarily-leads-to-the-dictatorship-of-the/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [If this labourer were in possession of his own means of production, and was satisfied to live as a labourer, he need not work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/if-this-labourer-were-in-possession-of-his-own-means-of-production/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) [Explore all 571 Karl Marx quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) ## More Barbaric quotes > [Fighting, to me, seems barbaric. I don't really like it. I enjoy out-thinking another man and out-maneuvering him, but I still don't like to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sugar-ray-robinson/fighting-to-me-seems-barbaric-i-don-t-really-like-it-i-enjoy-out/) [Sugar Ray Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sugar-ray-robinson/) > [“Barbaric is letting the woman suffer to be alone for the rest of her life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/missy-lyons/barbaric-is-letting-the-woman-suffer-to-be-alone-for-the-rest-of-her/) [Missy Lyons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/missy-lyons/) > [Mr. Speaker, for the last 5 years I have been working with a bipartisan group of my colleagues to make it illegal to continue…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/earl-blumenauer/mr-speaker-for-the-last-5-years-i-have-been-working-with-a-bipartisan/) [Earl Blumenauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/earl-blumenauer/) > [Sometimes I wish eastern Congo could suffer an earthquake or a tsunami, so that it might finally get the attention it needs. The barbaric…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-d-kristof/sometimes-i-wish-eastern-congo-could-suffer-an-earthquake-or-a/) [Nicholas D. Kristof](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-d-kristof/) > [To know only one thing well is to have a barbaric mind: civilization implies the graceful relation of all varieties of experience to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-graves/to-know-only-one-thing-well-is-to-have-a-barbaric-mind-civilization/) [Robert Graves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-graves/) > [Taxes are a barbaric remnant of ancient times in which early farmers, tied to the land, no longer able to roam freely, unable to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/taxes-are-a-barbaric-remnant-of-ancient-times-in-which-early-farmers/) [L. Neil Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-neil-smith/) > [Consider the wave of revulsion that floods the average person when he or she hears of the practice of human sacrifice by the Aztecs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-allen/consider-the-wave-of-revulsion-that-floods-the-average-person-when-he/) [Steve Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-allen/) > [In other words, the barbaric acts carried out in this building were probably almost a matter of routine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-hoon/in-other-words-the-barbaric-acts-carried-out-in-this-building-were/) [Geoff Hoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-hoon/) > [Football is so barbaric. Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking by playing it. I feel almost like I escaped from boot camp.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-bosworth/football-is-so-barbaric-sometimes-i-wonder-what-i-was-thinking-by/) [Brian Bosworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-bosworth/) > [In Spain in the meantime, Aristotelian scholar Juan Gines de Sepulveda was putting the impolitic moralizing of Las Casas into proper perspective for posterity:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gines-de-sepulveda/in-spain-in-the-meantime-aristotelian-scholar-juan-gines-de-sepulveda/) Juan Gines de Sepulveda > [Dance music ... stirs some barbaric instinct - lulled asleep in our sober lives - you forget centuries of civilization in a second, &…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/dance-music-stirs-some-barbaric-instinct-lulled-asleep-in-our-sober/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“The barbarian loves his own pride, and hates, or disbelieves in, the pride of others. I will be a civilized being, I will love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-blixen/the-barbarian-loves-his-own-pride-and-hates-or-disbelieves-in-the/) [Karen Blixen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-blixen/) > [We are going to be able to defeat ISIS on the ground there, as well as in this world, because of the Muslim Americans…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-o-malley/we-are-going-to-be-able-to-defeat-isis-on-the-ground-there-as-well-as/) [Martin O'Malley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-o-malley/) > [Boxing was on the one hand barbaric, unconscionable, out of place in modern society. 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