“Life is not an easy matter... You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness.”
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There is a limit to the application of democratic methods. You can inquire of all the passengers as to what type of car they like to ride in, but it is impossible to question them as to whether to apply the brakes when the train is at full speed and accident threatens.
Leon Trotsky 
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Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain - at least in a poor country like Russia - and his vanity begins to swell out like his tires. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect.
Leon Trotsky
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You may not be interested in strategy, but strategy is interested in you.
Leon Trotsky
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Not believing in force is the same as not believing in gravity.
Leon Trotsky
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In a serious struggle there is no worse cruelty than to be magnanimous at an inopportune time.
Leon Trotsky
57% of people like this quote