Quotes from Emma Goldman

The motto should not be: Forgive one another; rather: Understand one another.

Thus Blackstone is right when he says, Human laws are invalid, because they are contrary to the laws of nature.

For a number of years acts of violence had been committed in Spain, for which the Anarchists were held responsible, hounded like wild beasts, and thrown into prison. Later it was disclosed that the perpetrators of these acts were not Anarchists, but members of the police department. The scandal became so widespread that the conservative Spanish papers demanded the apprehension and punishment of the gang-leader, Juan Rull, who was subsequently condemned to death and executed.

Anarchism does not stand for military drill and uniformity; it does, however, stand for the spirit of revolt, in whatever form, against everything that hinders human growth. All Anarchists agree in that, as they also agree in their opposition to the political machinery as a means of bringing about the great social change.

Anarchism urges man to think, to investigate, to analyze every proposition; but that the brain capacity of the average reader be not taxed too much, I also shall begin with a definition, and then elaborate on the latter. ANARCHISM:—The philosophy of a new social order based on liberty unrestricted by man-made law; the theory that all forms of government rest on violence, and are therefore wrong and harmful, as well as unnecessary.

La politique [de la dictature bolchévik] n'est qu'une variante du communisme de guerre de 1920-1921 - avec de plus en plus de guerre (de répression armée) et de moins en moins de communisme. Son égalité est celle d'un pénitencier, sa liberté celle d'un groupe de forçats enchaînés. Pas étonnant que les bolcheviks affirment que la liberté est un préjugé bourgeois.

La raison d'Etat (...) a toujours servi à masquer la tyrannie, l'exploitation et la détermination des dirigeants à prolonger et perpétuer leur domination Emma Goldman, 1935, le communisme n'existe pas en Russie

Ben inan?yorum, hatta asl?nda biliyorum ki, insan?n düÅŸündükleri ve yapt?klar? iyi ve güzel olan ne varsa, bunlar?n hepsi hükümetlere raÄŸmen vard?r, onlar sayesinde deÄŸil.

Freedom, expansion, opportunity, and, above all, peace and repose, alone can teach us the real dominant factors of human nature and all its wonderful possibilities.

the political criminal is the victim of an attempt of a more or less despotic government to preserve its own stability. He is not necessarily guilty of an unsocial offense; he simply tries to overturn a certain political order which may itself be anti-social.

It is a tragedy, I feel, that people of a different sexual type are caught in a world which shows so little understanding for homosexuals and is so crassly indifferent to the various gradations and variations of gender and their great significance in life.

Among my male and female friends, there are a few who are of either a completely Uranian[1] or a bisexual[2] disposition. I have found these individuals far above average in terms of intelligence, ability, sensitivity, and personal charm. I empathize deeply with them, for I know that their sufferings are of a larger and more complex sort than those of ordinary people. [1] probably called transgender now [2] probably called genderqueer now

Suurin osa ihmisistä on pakotettu tekemään asioita joita he vihaavat sekä elämään elämää jota halveksivat. Niin kauan kuin tällainen jatkuu, rikollisuus on välttämätön paha.

A la mayoría le importan poco los ideales o la integridad. Lo que anhela es exhibirse. Cuanto más horribles son las contorsiones mentales, mayor es el deleite y los bravos de la masa.

Indeed, the keynote of government is injustice. With the arrogance and self-sufficiency of the King who could do no wrong, governments ordain, judge, condemn, and punish the most insignificant offenses, while maintaining themselves by the greatest of all offenses, the annihilation of individual liberty.

We, who pay dearly for every breath of pure, fresh air, must guard against the tendency to fetter the future. If we succeed in clearing the soil from the rubbish of the past and present, we will leave to posterity the greatest and safest heritage of all ages.

El anarquismo [...] defiende la acción directa, el rechazo y la resistencia frente a las leyes y las restricciones económicas, sociales y morales. Aunque el rechazo y la resistencia sean ilegales. En ello descansa la salvación del ser humano. Todo lo ilegal necesita de la integridad, de la independencia y el coraje.

What, then, is patriotism? Patriotism, sir, is the last resort of scoundrels, said Dr. Johnson. Leo Tolstoy, the greatest anti-patriot of our times, defines patriotism as the principle that will justify the training of wholesale murderers; a trade that requires better equipment for the exercise of man-killing than the making of such necessities of life as shoes, clothing, and houses; a trade that guarantees better returns and greater glory than that of the average working man.

Propagandism is not, as some suppose, a trade, because nobody will follow a trade at which you may work with the industry of a slave and die with the reputation of a mendicant. The motives of any persons to pursue such a profession must be different from those of trade, deeper than pride, and stronger than interest.

I demand the independence of woman, her right to support herself; to live for herself; to love whomever she pleases, or as many as she pleases. I demand freedom for both sexes, freedom of action, freedom in love and freedom in motherhood.

The governments of the world, knowing each other's interests, do not invade each other.

Man has bought brains, but all the millions in the world have failed to buy love. Man has subdued bodies, but all the power on earth has been unable to subdue love. Man has conquered whole nations, but all his armies could not conquer love. …Love has the magic power to make of a beggar a king. Yes, love is free; it can dwell in no other atmosphere. In freedom it gives itself unreservedly, abundantly, completely.

Puritanism in this the twentieth century is as much the enemy of freedom and beauty as it was when it landed on Plymouth Rock. It repudiates, as something vile and sinful, our deepest feelings; but being absolutely ignorant as to the real functions of human emotions, Puritanism is itself the creator of the most unspeakable vices.

Consciously or unconsciously, most theists see in gods and devils, heaven and hell, reward and punishment, a whip to lash the people into obedience, meekness and contentment.... The philosophy of atheism expresses the expansion and growth of the human mind. The philosophy of theism, if we can call it a philosophy, is static and fixed.