David Graeber Quotes

I think we need to think of capitalism as a very bad way of organizing communism. Much of what we do is already communism, so just expand it.

Once, right before a show, I realized I'd forgotten shoes. I didn't want to wear my flip-flops onstage because I could trip. I ended up going barefoot, which actually worked out because it became my 'thing.'

Ants have the most complicated social organization on earth next to humans.

The higher bodies must be familiar with the life of the masses and with the situation in the lower bodies so as to have an objective basis for correct guidance.

Goods which are not shared are not goods.

I consider the Birch Society futile, because they are not for capitalism but merely against communism ... I gather they believe that the disastrous state of today's world is caused by a communist conspiracy. This is childishly naive and superficial. No country can be destroyed by a mere conspiracy, it can be destroyed only by ideas.

There is no bridge, no way of gradual transition between the Communist and the Individualist points of view. These are two sets of mutually antagonistic and irreconcilable ideas.

Despite the miracles of capitalism, it doesn't do well in popularity polls. One of the reasons is that capitalism is always evaluated against the non-existent, non-realizable utopias of socialism or communism. Any earthly system, when compared to a Utopia will pale in comparison. But for the ordinary person, capitalism, with all of its warts, is superior to any system yet devised to deal with our everyday needs and desires.

We are living in a epoch where there is combat between commercialism, or the system of reckless waste, and communism, or the system of neighbourly common sense.

If you focus on what people care about, you have ideas. And people are looking for solutions.

Whoever's in the game has got to be ready to play, take the scout serious and understand what we're doing. If you don't know what to do, ask questions.

I've always got a couple of tricks up my sleeve.

When I talk about 'everyday communism', I am teasing a little. It is a provocative idea. But then we all do a lot of sharing a lot of the time. We don't draw up contracts for everything.

If my house is on fire, I don't need the fire chief telling me I should not have built the house out of wood. I need somebody to put the fire out.

Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb.

In a highly critical, scarcity-based world, everyone's afraid to fail. As long as we're afraid to fail, we'll never come up with the big, bold ideas we need to solve these problems.

We need to have a plan equal to the challenge.

On the 'X-Men' films, people are always throwing out ideas and trying to get the shot to look the best and make the most sense, and to get it done efficiently. Everybody collaborates and everybody is very open to new ideas.

If you don't have what you need, just rock with what you've got!

Directing is a reactionary job more than a creation job. The job is to react whether it's moment one, the first time you read the script or see an article or read a book or notice something happen on the street and have an idea for a movie, and it just continues from there on in. You're just reacting to dialogue, a performance, an audition, a headache, a piece of furniture, a piece of clothing.

Two heads are definitely better than one and by sourcing ideas from each other, you have a better chance of coming up with a strategy that will allow your business to overcome a setback or challenge.

A girl never knows when she might need a couple of diamonds at 10 o'clock in the morning.

If you are a cooperative animal you need to watch what you get. If you, or even a whole community, invest in something but then a few individuals receive a much larger return, it's not a good arrangement. If it happens consistently, it's time to look for an arrangement that is more beneficial. That's why we're so sensitive to how rewards are being divided.

All societies are based on a sort of minimum level of communism. Otherwise, you couldn't have any social relations at all.

Things own you. That's the trouble with capitalism. Things own you. With communism and fascism - ideas own you. One idea and you can't have any other.