30 Noteworthy Max Weber Quotes

Last updated on Jun 16th, 2023

30 Noteworthy Max Weber Quotes

Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (born April 21, 1864, in Erfurt, Germany – died June 14, 1920, in Munich, Germany) was a German sociologist and political economist regarded as one of the foremost social theorists of the twentieth century.

Weber is best known for his “Protestant Ethic” thesis and his ideas on bureaucracy.

During his lifetime, Weber wrote numerous essays and books. In 1905, he published his most famous work, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

Along with Émile Durkheim and Karl Marx, he is considered the founder of modern sociology.

The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and intellectualization and, above all, by the disenchantment of the world. - Max Weber (Science as A Vocation Quotes)
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The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and intellectualization and, above all, by the disenchantment of the world.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter V. Science as A Vocation, Page 154

The fully developed bureaucratic mechanism compares with other organizations exactly as does the machine with the non-mechanical modes of production. - Max Weber (Bureaucracy Quotes)
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The fully developed bureaucratic mechanism compares with other organizations exactly as does the machine with the non-mechanical modes of production.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part II, Chapter VIII. Bureaucracy, Page 214

Power is the probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his own will despite resistance, regardless of the basis on which this probability rests. - Max Weber (Economy and Society Quotes)
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Power is the probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his own will despite resistance, regardless of the basis on which this probability rests.Economy and Society (1922), (University of California Press, ed. 1978), Volume I, Part I, Chapter I, Section 16, Page 53

All knowledge of cultural reality, as may be seen, is always knowledge from particular points of view. - Max Weber (The Methodology of the Social Sciences Quotes)
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All knowledge of cultural reality, as may be seen, is always knowledge from particular points of view.The Methodology of the Social Sciences (The Free Press, ed. 1949), Chapter 2, Page 81

Politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards. It takes both passion and perspective. - Max Weber Quotes
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Politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards. It takes both passion and perspective.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter IV. Politics as A Vocation, Page 128

In a democracy the people choose a leader in whom they trust. Then the chosen leader says, 'Now shut up and obey me.' People and party are then no longer free to interfere in his business. - Max Weber (Political Concerns Quotes)
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In a democracy the people choose a leader in whom they trust. Then the chosen leader says, ‘Now shut up and obey me.’ People and party are then no longer free to interfere in his business.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Introduction, Chapter II. Political Concerns, Page 42

The state is an association that claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of violence. - Max Weber (Religious Rejections of the World and Their Directions Quotes)
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The state is an association that claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of violence.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part III, Chapter XIII. Religious Rejections of the World and Their Directions, Page 334

Every scientific 'fulfillment' raises new 'questions'; it asks to be 'surpassed' and outdated. - Max Weber (Science as A Vocation Quotes)
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Every scientific ‘fulfillment’ raises new ‘questions’; it asks to be ‘surpassed’ and outdated.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter V. Science as A Vocation, Page 138

Politics for us means striving to share power or striving to influence the distribution of power, either among states or among groups within a state. - Max Weber (Politics as A Vocation Quotes)
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Politics for us means striving to share power or striving to influence the distribution of power, either among states or among groups within a state.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter IV. Politics as A Vocation, Page 78

Either one lives for politics or one lives off politics. - Max Weber Quotes
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Either one lives for politics or one lives off politics.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter IV. Politics as A Vocation, Page 84

Nothing is worthy of man as man unless he can pursue it with passionate devotion. - Max Weber (Science as A Vocation Quotes)
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Nothing is worthy of man as man unless he can pursue it with passionate devotion.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter V. Science as A Vocation, Page 135

The organization of offices follows the principle of hierarchy; that is, each lower office is under the control and supervision of a higher one. - Max Weber (Economy and Society Quotes)
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The organization of offices follows the principle of hierarchy; that is, each lower office is under the control and supervision of a higher one.Economy and Society (1922), (University of California Press, ed. 1978), Volume I, Part I, Chapter III, Page 218

The primary task of a useful teacher is to teach his students to recognize 'inconvenient' facts. - Max Weber (Science as A Vocation Quotes)
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The primary task of a useful teacher is to teach his students to recognize ‘inconvenient’ facts.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter V. Science as A Vocation, Page 146

Not everybody realizes that a really good journalists accomplishment requires at least as much 'genius' as any scholarly accomplishment. - Max Weber (Politics as A Vocation Quotes)
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Not everybody realizes that a really good journalists accomplishment requires at least as much ‘genius’ as any scholarly accomplishment.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter IV. Politics as A Vocation, Page 96

It is not true that good can follow only from good and evil only from evil, but that often the opposite is true. - Max Weber Quotes
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It is not true that good can follow only from good and evil only from evil, but that often the opposite is true.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter IV. Politics as A Vocation, Page 123

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It is the intellectual who conceives of the "world" as a problem of meaning. - Max Weber (Economy and Society Quotes)
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It is the intellectual who transforms the concept of the world into the problem of meaning.Economy and Society (1922), (University of California Press, ed. 1978), Volume I, Part II, Chapter VI, Page 506

It is not accidental that our greatest art is intimate and not monumental. - Max Weber (Science as A Vocation Quotes)
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It is not accidental that our greatest art is intimate and not monumental.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter V. Science as A Vocation, Page 155

Laws are important and valuable in the exact natural sciences, in the measure that those sciences are universally valid. - Max Weber (The Methodology of the Social Sciences Quotes)
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Laws are important and valuable in the exact natural sciences, in the measure that those sciences are universally valid.The Methodology of the Social Sciences (The Free Press, ed. 1949), Chapter 2, Page 80

In the lecture-rooms of the university no other virtue holds but plain intellectual integrity. - Max Weber (Science as A Vocation Quotes)
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In the lecture-rooms of the university no other virtue holds but plain intellectual integrity.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter V. Science as A Vocation, Page 155

A man does not "by nature" wish to earn more and more money. - Max Weber Quotes
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A man does not “by nature” wish to earn more and more money.The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905), (Scribner, ed. 1950), Part I, Chapter II, Page 60

Beware of thinking all your own that you possess, and of living accordingly. It is a mistake that many people who have credit fall into. - Max Weber (The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Quotes)
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Beware of thinking all your own that you possess, and of living accordingly. It is a mistake that many people who have credit fall into.The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905), (Scribner, ed. 1950), Part I, Chapter II, Page 50

Whenever the man of science introduces his personal value judgment, a full understanding of the facts ceases. - Max Weber (Science as A Vocation Quotes)
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Whenever the man of science introduces his personal value judgment, a full understanding of the facts ceases.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter V. Science as A Vocation, Page 146

For the true mystic the principle continues to hold: the creature must be silent so that God may speak. - Max Weber (Religious Rejections of the World and Their Directions Quotes)
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For the true mystic the principle continues to hold: the creature must be silent so that God may speak.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part III, Chapter XIII. Religious Rejections of the World and Their Directions, Page 326

Ideas come when we do not expect them, and not when we are brooding and searching at our desks. Yet ideas would certainly not come to mind had we not brooded at our desks and searched for answers with passionate devotion. - Max Weber (Science as A Vocation Quotes)
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Ideas come when we do not expect them, and not when we are brooding and searching at our desks. Yet ideas would certainly not come to mind had we not brooded at our desks and searched for answers with passionate devotion.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter V. Science as A Vocation, Page 136

For those who most frequently think of themselves as leaders often qualify least as leaders. - Max Weber Quotes
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For those who most frequently think of themselves as leaders often qualify least as leaders.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter V. Science as A Vocation, Page 150

The intellect, like all cultural values, has created an aristocracy based on the possession of rational culture and independent of all personal ethical qualities of man. The aristocracy of intellect is hence an unbrotherly aristocracy. - Max Weber (Religious Rejections of the World and Their Directions Quotes)
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The intellect, like all cultural values, has created an aristocracy based on the possession of rational culture and independent of all personal ethical qualities of man. The aristocracy of intellect is hence an unbrotherly aristocracy.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part III, Chapter XIII. Religious Rejections of the World and Their Directions, Page 354

Charisma is a gift that inheres in an object or person simply by virtue of natural endowment. - Max Weber (Economy and Society Quotes)
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Charisma is a gift that inheres in an object or person simply by virtue of natural endowment.Economy and Society (1922), (University of California Press, ed. 1978), Volume I, Part II, Chapter VI, Page 400

An ethic of ultimate ends and an ethic of responsibility are not absolute contrasts but rather supplements, which only in unison constitute a genuine man - a man who can have the 'calling for politics.' - Max Weber (Politics as A Vocation Quotes)
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An ethic of ultimate ends and an ethic of responsibility are not absolute contrasts but rather supplements, which only in unison constitute a genuine man – a man who can have the ‘calling for politics.’From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter IV. Politics as A Vocation, Page 127

The decisive means for politics is violence. - Max Weber (Politics as A Vocation Quotes)
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The decisive means for politics is violence.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter IV. Politics as A Vocation, Page 121

All historical experience confirms the truth — that man would not have attained the possible unless time and again he had reached out for the impossible. - Max Weber Quotes
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All historical experience confirms the truth – that man would not have attained the possible unless time and again he had reached out for the impossible.From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Oxford University Press, ed. 1946), Part I, Chapter IV. Politics as A Vocation, Page 128