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It would seem … that man has been shocked by the war into forgetting how to be a political animal. This suspicion is confirmed by the spread of Fascism, which is a headlong flight into fantasy from the necessity for political thought.

— Rebecca West The Necessity and Grandeur of the International Ideal (1935)

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Politics

More quotes by Rebecca West

Art is at least in part a way of collecting information about the universe.

I myself have never been able to find out what feminism is; I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.

Everyone realizes that one can believe little of what people say about each other. But it is not so widely realized that even less can one trust what people say about themselves.

Socialism is not a bomb thrown at the natural institution of society, but a well-considered medicine for a diseased community.

The word “idiot” comes from a Greek root meaning private person.

Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941)

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Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.

Albert Einstein

Every Communist must grasp the truth: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

Mao Zedong

Three-fourths of the Italian economy, industrial and agricultural, is in the hands of the state.

Benito Mussolini

Fear and destructiveness are the major emotional sources of fascism, eros belongs mainly to democracy.

Theodor Adorno The Authoritarian Personality (1950)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Rebecca West (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.