Die Philosophen haben die Welt nur verschieden interpretiert; es kömmt drauf an, sie zu verändern.
The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.
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Die Religion ist der Seufzer der bedrängten Kreatur, das Gemüth einer herzlosen Welt, wie sie der Geist geistloser Zustände ist. Sie ist das Opium des Volks.
Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
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Die Geschichte aller bisherigen Gesellschaft ist die Geschichte von Klassenkämpfen.
The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. (Manifesto, co-written with Engels)
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Es ist nicht das Bewußtsein der Menschen, das ihr Sein, sondern umgekehrt ihr gesellschaftliches Sein, das ihr Bewußtsein bestimmt.
It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness.
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die freie Entwicklung eines Jeden, die Bedingung für die freie Entwicklung Aller ist.
The free development of each is the condition for the free development of all. (Manifesto, co-written with Engels)
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Misconceptions
Nuanced
For Marx, religion is just a poison that puts the people to sleep.
In the same paragraph, religion is also "the sigh of the oppressed creature", "the heart of a heartless world" and "a protest against real suffering". In 1844, opium was first of all a painkiller. The text targets not so much believers as the world that needs this consolation, even though Marx does want religion to end.
Nuanced
Marx wrote: "The philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point, however, is to change it."
In his notebook (1845), Marx only writes: "the point is to change it". The "however" (aber) was added by Engels in 1888, five years after Marx's death. The meaning is close, but the tone of opposition comes from Engels.
False
Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto alone.
The Manifesto is the work of Marx and Engels. Marx wrote the final text from Engels' drafts (the Principles of Communism), and the book appeared without an author's name in 1848. We do not always know who wrote which sentence.
Nuanced
Marx wanted to sacrifice the individual to the collective.
His texts set as the goal "the free development of each" and imagine "a community of free individuals". The debate is about the means (abolishing private ownership of the means of production) and about what the regimes that claimed him after his death made of it.