Quotes from book
The Ego and Its Own
The Ego and Its Own is an 1844 work by German philosopher Max Stirner. It presents a radically nominalist and individualist critique of Christianity, nationalism, and traditional morality on one hand; and on the other, humanism, utilitarianism, liberalism, and much of the then-burgeoning socialist movement, advocating instead an amoral egoism. It is considered a major influence on the development of anarchism, existentialism, nihilism, and postmodernism.In 2010, John F. Welsh coined the term dialectical egoism for the thoughts of Stirner expressed in this work, in order to emphasize the distinction from the negative and pejorative connotations from the common everyday use of egoism in the sense of egotism.
Cambridge 1995, p. 108
The Ego and Its Own (1844)
Tucker 1907, p. 307
The Ego and Its Own (1844)
“The men of the future will yet fight their way to many a liberty that we do not even miss.”
Cambridge 1995, p. 114
The Ego and Its Own (1845)
S. Byington, trans. (1913), p. 383
The Ego and Its Own (1845)
Cambridge 1995, p. 6
The Ego and Its Own (1845)
S. Byington, trans. (1913), p. 191
The Ego and Its Own (1845)
Dover 2005, p. 184
The Ego and Its Own (1845)
“What is not supposed to be my concern!”
Cambridge 1995, p. 5
The Ego and Its Own (1844)
Context: What is not supposed to be my concern! First and foremost, the Good Cause, then God's cause, the cause of mankind, of truth, of freedom, of humanity, of justice; further, the cause of my people, my prince, my fatherland; finally, even the cause of Mind, and a thousand other causes. Only my cause is never to be my concern. "Shame on the egoist who thinks only of himself!"
“The divine is God's concern; the human, man's.”
Cambridge 1995, p. 7
The Ego and Its Own (1844)
Context: The divine is God's concern; the human, man's. My concern is neither the divine nor the human, not the true, good, just, free, etc., but solely what is mine, and it is not a general one, but is — unique, as I am unique. Nothing is more to me than myself!
“I am owner of my might, and I am so when I now myself as unique.”
In the unique one the owner himself returns into his creative nothing, of which he is born. Every higher essence above me, be it God, be it man, weakens the feeling of my uniqueness, and pales only before the sun of this consciousness. If I concern myself for myself, the unique one, then my concern rests on its transitory, mortal creator, who consumes himself, and I may say: All things are nothing to me.
Dover 2005, p. 366
The Ego and Its Own (1845)
