A specter is haunting Europe—the specter of Communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this specter; Pope and Czar, Metternich and Guizot, French radicals and German police spies.Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as Communistic by its opponents in power? Where the opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of Communism, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?Two things result from this fact.I. Communism is already acknowledged by all European powers to be in itself a power.II. It is high time that Communists should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the Specter of Communism with a Manifesto of the party itself.

~ Karl Marx

Karl Marx Communism Czar Europe Haunting Pope Power Specter

I wish I could see a cherry blossom or a lotus flower. Where could they be?

~ Susumu Katsumata

Susumu Katsumata Cherry Blossom Japan Loneliness Lotus Flower Manga Monk Patience Poetry Rainy Season Sakura Specter Susumu Katsumata Temperance

He remembered a version of himself untrammeled by expectation, unimpeded by Ego. He had suffered in the many years since then, seeking to return to that original self, if, in fact, it ever existed. And yet, he was helpless but to regard that unmistakable fear that gripped him in his dream as a sign that his unevenness lent him now to utter incongruity with this specter of past.

~ Ashim Shanker

Ashim Shanker Ego Emancipation Incongruity Liberation Loss Of Innocence Past And Present Purity Remembrance Of Things Past Specter Suffering Symmetry