Gramsci, Antonio

"The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear."

"I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will."

"One of the most important things to do in the world is to unmask ideology as ideology."

"The intellectuals are the dominant group's deputies in the exercise of subaltern functions."

"Common sense is not something rigid and immobile, but is continually transforming itself."

"All men are intellectuals, one could therefore say, but not all men have in society the function of intellectuals."

"To know oneself is the beginning of all wisdom."

"The war of position is not pushed forward by cavalry charges."

"History teaches, but it has no pupils."

"The starting point of critical elaboration is the consciousness of what one really is."

"Create without creating illusions."

"Be a pessimist about the state of the world, but an optimist about your ability to change it."

"Hegemony is not merely imposed from above; it must be actively maintained and renewed."

"The supremacy of a social group manifests itself in two ways: as domination and as intellectual and moral leadership."

"Each man must, according to his ability, share in defending the State."

"Philosophy is not abstract and detached from life."

"The old is dying and the new cannot yet be born."

"Every human being is a philosopher."

"The intellectuals serve the needs of the dominant class."

"Prison has taught me that man can be free even in chains."

"Culture and tradition must be continually rethought."

"Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will."

"The state is the entire complex of practical and theoretical activities with which the ruling class maintains its rule."

"Art and science are two expressions of human creativity."

"Reading great books is like having a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries."

"The struggle for a new culture and a new life is indivisible from the struggle for a new politics."

"National-popular collective will is the subject of history."

"The real is rational and the rational is real in history."

"We must think of the world as it is and as it might become."

"The structure and superstructure are bound together in reciprocal relationships."