Fyodor Dostoevsky — Quote from The Brothers Karamazov
“In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us: Make us your slaves, but feed us.”
The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
Concepts: totalitarianism, freedom, conformity
Resonant Quotes
- “The so-called consumer society and the politics of corporate capitalism have ...” — Herbert Marcuse, An Essay on Liberation Marcuse's analysis of consumer capitalism as creating a 'second nature' that binds people to commodities perfectly re...
- “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” — George Orwell, Animal Farm Both quotes capture the tragic irony of how revolutionary ideals of equality and freedom become instruments of oppres...
- “A comfortable, smooth, reasonable, democratic unfreedom prevails in advanced ...” — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor offering bread for freedom and Marcuse's comfortable unfreedom both predict societies t...
- “Under conditions of tyranny it is far easier to act than to think.” — Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor passage perfectly illustrates Arendt's point by showing how people willingly surrender ...
- “Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves.” — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man Both reveal how apparent freedom masks willing servitude—Marcuse through democratic choice that preserves domination,...
- “The criterion for free choice can never be an absolute one, but neither is it...” — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man Both reveal how systems of control exploit human vulnerability by offering comfort in exchange for genuine freedom, w...
- “Believing and devouring — a peculiarly German process.” — Günter Grass, The Tin Drum Both diagnose the same psychological mechanism by which people consume totalitarian ideologies that promise sustenanc...
- “Ideology is a specious way of relating to the world. It offers human beings t...” — Václav Havel, The Power of the Powerless Both reveal the tragic irony of how humans surrender their freedom — Dostoevsky showing the desperate bargain for sec...