Leon Trotsky/exile 1929%e2%80%931940

Famous quotes containing the words leon trotsky, trotsky and/or exile:

    Ideas that enter the mind under fire remain there securely and for ever.
    Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)

    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 tyres. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect.
    —Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)

    The exile is a singular, whereas refugees tend to be thought of in the mass. Armenian refugees, Jewish refugees, refugees from Franco Spain. But a political leader or artistic figure is an exile. Thomas Mann yesterday, Theodorakis today. Exile is the noble and dignified term, while a refugee is more hapless.... What is implied in these nuances of social standing is the respect we pay to choice. The exile appears to have made a decision, while the refugee is the very image of helplessness.
    Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)