Only the people are immortal, everything else is ephemeral. That is why it is necessary to appreciate the full value of the confidence of the people.

— Joseph Stalin on Ephemerality

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Only the people are immortal, everything else is ephemeral. That is why it is necessary to appreciate the full value of the confidence of the people." in the context of "Joseph Stalin, in The Anatomy of Terror: Political Violence under Stalin, p. 62" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Ephemerality" (S) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed February 05, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Joseph Stalin

About Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; 21 December {9 December Old Style} 1879 – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He served as both General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922–1952) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (1941–1953). Despite initially governing the country as part of a collective leadership, he ultimately consolidated power to become the Soviet Union's dictator by the 1930s. A communist ideologically committed to the Leninist interpretation of Marxism, Stalin formalised these ideas as Marxism–Leninism while his own policies are known as Stalinism. He was the father of Svetlana Alliluyeva.