Manifesto Quote
A quotation extracted from a public declaration of principles or aims.
A manifesto quote is a line taken from a manifesto — a public statement of intentions, beliefs, or demands. Manifestos are by nature quotable because they are written to be memorable, repeatable, and rallying.
Famous manifesto quotes include 'Workers of the world, unite!' from The Communist Manifesto and 'The personal is political' from feminist manifestos. These lines are designed to travel beyond the document, to become slogans and banners.
Manifesto quotes are powerful because they carry the urgency of the whole document. A single line can stand in for a whole political or artistic movement. But that same compression makes them easy to misread; the full manifesto usually contains qualifications that the quotation loses.
Common mistake: quoting a manifesto line as if it were a settled philosophical truth, without acknowledging the movement and the moment that produced it.
“Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!”
Keep reading the glossary
A short, catchy phrase designed to be remembered and repeated in the service of a cause, brand, or campaign.
A phrase built for chanting, placards, and collective repetition.
A short phrase strongly associated with one speaker, character, or campaign.
A short phrase adopted by a person, family, or institution as an expression of guiding principle.