I am nothing but I must be everything.
Karl MarxRead
Without doubt, machinery has greatly increased the number of well-to-do idlers.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Marx critiques how machinery and technology can lead to idleness among the wealthy.
In this quote, Karl Marx highlights the paradox of technological advancement, suggesting that while machinery increases productivity and wealth, it also contributes to a class of affluent individuals who do not engage in productive labor. This observation criticizes the socioeconomic structures that allow for wealth accumulation without work, raising questions about the nature of labor, value, and the consequences of automation in society.
Themes
MachineryIdlersWealthWorkLabor
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about technology's impact on society, one can reference this quote to illustrate the unintended consequences of automation.
More from Karl Marx
All quotes →Religion is the opiate of the people.
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It is absolutely impossible to transcend the laws of nature. What can change in historically different circumstances is only the form in which these laws expose themselves.
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Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.
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To be radical is to grasp things by the root.
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Men's ideas are the most direct emanations of their material state.
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