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Emma Goldman

Emma Goldman Quotes

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Famous Emma Goldman Quotes

“Men towering high above such political pygmies, men of refinement, of culture, of ability, are jeered into silence as mollycoddles. It is absurd to claim that ours is the era of individualism. Ours is merely a more poignant repetition of the phenomenon of all history: every effort for progress, for enlightenment, for science, for religious, political, and economic liberty, emanates from the minority, and not from the mass. Today, as ever, the few are misunderstood, hounded, imprisoned, tortured, and killed.”

MenTodayPoliticalCultureReligiousAbilityEffortSilenceLibertyProgressEconomicMassEnlightenmentClaimsAbsurdErasMinoritiesPhenomenonIndividualismRepetitionMisunderstoodRefinementPoignantEmanate
Book:Red Emma Speaks: An Emma Goldman Reader
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“I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody's right to beautiful, radiant things.' Anarchism meant that to me, and I would live it in spite of the whole world — prisons, persecution, everything. Yes, even in spite of the condemnation of my own closest comrades I would live my beautiful ideal.”

WorldWantSelfWholeBeautifulMy OwnExpressionIdealsPrisonWhole WorldSpiteClosestPersecutionAnarchismSelf ExpressionRadiantComradeCondemnation
Book:Living My Life (Two Volumes in One)
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“Crime is naught but misdirected energy. So long as every institution of today, economic, political, social, and moral, conspires to misdirect human energy into wrong channels; so long as most people are out of place doing the things they hate to do, living a life they loathe to live, crime will be inevitable, and all the laws on the statutes can only increase, but never do away with, crime.”

PeopleHumansLongTodayLawPoliticalHateEnergySocialMoralEconomicCrimeIncreaseInstitutionsInevitableLoatheStatutes
Book:Anarchism: Top Crime Collections
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“Sure, nothing succeeds like success. Fact is, dearest, we are fools. We cling to an ideal no one wants or cares about. I am the greater fool of the two of us. I go on eating out my heart and poisoning every moment of my life in the attempt to rouse people's sensibilities. At least if I could do it with closed eyes. The irony is I see the futility of my efforts and yet I can't let go.”

PeopleIfsWantHeartI CanTwoMomentsFactsEyeCareEffortGreaterFoolGoes OnMy HeartSucceedLetting GoEatingIdealsIronyIf I CouldSensibilityFutilityPoisoningTwo Of UsClosed EyesCan't Let GoEating Out
Author:Emma Goldman
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“We Americans claim to be a peace-loving people. We hate bloodshed; we are opposed to violence. Yet we go into spasms of joy over the possibility of projecting dynamite bombs from flying machines upon helpless citizens. We are ready to hang, electrocute, or lynch anyone, who, from economic necessity, will risk his own life in the attempt upon that of some industrial magnate. Yet our hearts swell with pride at the thought that America is becoming the most powerful nation on earth, and that she will eventually plant her iron foot on the necks of all other nations. Such is the logic of patriotism.”

PeopleHeartEarthAmericaJoyHateNationsPowerfulViolenceRiskFeetEconomicPossibilityReadyPrideBecomingCitizensLogicMachinesClaimsPlantFlyingBombsNecksPatriotismIronMost PowerfulHelplessBloodshedDynamiteFlying Machines
Book:Emma Goldman
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“I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from convention and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement would not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it.”

IfsWantShouldBelieveBeautifulJoyCausesMovementDemandIdealsPrejudiceReleaseDenialConventionsAnarchismNun
Author:Emma Goldman
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“The most absurd apology for authority and law is that they serve to diminish crime. Aside from the fact that the State is itself the greatest criminal, breaking every written and natural law, stealing in the form of taxes, killing in the form of war and capital punishment, it has come to an absolute standstill in coping with crime. It has failed utterly to destroy or even minimize the horrible scourge of its own creation.”

WarStatesFactsFormLawNaturalWrittenCrimeCreationTaxesAuthorityAbsolutesKillingCriminalsPunishmentStealingHorribleAbsurdAnarchyApologyDiminishAnarchismAnarchistCopingNatural LawCapital PunishmentScourgeStandstillCrime And Criminals
Book:Anarchism: Top Crime Collections
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“Jealousy is indeed a poor medium to secure love, but it is a secure medium to destroy one's self-respect. For jealous people, like dope-fiends, stoop to the lowest level and in the end inspire only disgust and loathing.”

PeopleLoveEndsSelfPoorLevelsInspireMediumsSecureJealousySelf RespectJealousDisgustingLowestDopeLoathingStoopsLove JealousyLove And JealousyJealous People
Book:Red Emma Speaks: An Emma Goldman Reader
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“Conceit, arrogance and egotism are the essentials of patriotism... Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot consider themselves nobler, better, grander, more intelligent than those living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others.”

LittlesDiesFightingBornParticularDutyEssentialsIntelligentAssumingFortuneChosenSpotsArrogancePatriotismIronGatesPatrioticDividedGlobesSuperiorityEgotismConceitLiving OnPatriotism And NationalismAnti Patriotism
Author:Emma Goldman
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“The conception of gods originated in fear and curiosity. Primitive man, unable to understand the phenomena of nature, and harassed by them, saw in every terrifying manifestation some sinister force expressly directed against him; and as ignorance and fear are the parents of all superstition, the troubled fancy of primitive man wove the God idea.”

MenIdeasReligionForceParentSawsIgnoranceCuriosityManifestationFancyConceptionSuperstitionsPrimitiveSinisterIgnorance And FearPrimitive Man
Book:Mother Earth, a Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Social Science and Literature
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“The philosophy of Atheism has its root in the earth, in this life; its aim is the emancipation of the human race from all God-heads, be they Judaic, Christian, Mohammedan, Buddhistic, Brahmanistic, or what not. Mankind has been punished long and heavily for having created its gods, nothing but pain and persecution, have been man's lot since gods began. There is but one way out of this blunder. Man must break his fetters which have chained him to the gates of heaven and hell, so that he can begin to fashion out of his reawakened and illumined consciousness a new world upon the earth.”

MenWorldWayHumansLongHas BeensPhilosophyEarthChristianPainReligionHeavenRaceConsciousnessBreakHellAtheismMankindFashionRootsAimOne WayThis LifeHuman RaceGatesNew WorldPersecutionHeaven And HellEmancipationBlundersChainedFettersGates Of Heaven
Author:Emma Goldman
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“When the child has reached manhood he is thoroughly saturated with the belief that he is chosen by the Lord himself to defend his country against the attack or invasion of any foreigner. It is for that purpose that we are clamoring for a greater army and navy, more battleships and ammunition.”

ChildrenCountryPurposeBeliefLordGreaterArmyChosenManhoodNavyInvasionForeignersSaturatedAmmunition
Book:Anarchism: Top Crime Collections
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“Rather would I have the love songs of romantic ages, rather Don Juan and Madame Venus, rather an elopement by ladder and rope on a moonlight night, followed by the father's curse, mother's moans, and the moral comments of neighbors, than correctness and propriety measured by yardsticks.”

LoveAgeMotherNightSongFatherMoralNeighborCurseCommentRopeLaddersMoonlightRomanticismCorrectnessVenusProprietyDon JuanJuanYardsticks
Book:Anarchism: Top Crime Collections
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