"The human being is in the most literal sense a political animal, not merely a gregarious animal, but an animal which can individuate itself only in the midst of society."

Animals

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Insight & Reflection

This reflection on animals by Karl Marx resonates across generations. It highlights a fundamental truth about human nature: our continuous search for meaning in animals is what ultimately defines our character and our path forward.

About Karl Marx

Karl Marx was a German philosopher, social and political theorist, and revolutionary socialist. He developed the theory of historical materialism, analysing societal structure and change, particularly class struggle under capitalism, and predicting the system's ultimate replacement by communism. Marx co-authored The Communist Manifesto (1848) with Friedrich Engels, and undertook a critique of classical political economy in his magnum opus, Das Kapital (1867–1894). His ideas and their later development, collectively known as Marxism, have had enormous influence on intellectual, political, and social history, and have inspired revolutionary movements in many countries.

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Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the Quotes Archive Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by Karl Marx

"The writer must earn money in order to be able to live and to write, but he must by no means live and write for the purpose of making money."

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"The product of mental labor - science - always stands far below its value, because the labor-time necessary to reproduce it has no relation at all to the labor-time required for its original production."

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"It is not history which uses men as a means of achieving - as if it were an individual person - its own ends. History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of their ends."

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"Capital is money, capital is commodities. By virtue of it being value, it has acquired the occult ability to add value to itself. It brings forth living offspring, or, at the least, lays golden eggs."

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More about Animals

"We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne."

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