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Emma Goldman

Emma Goldman Books

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Emma Goldman

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“The oft repeated slogan of our time is, among all politicians, the Socialists included, that ours is an era of individualism, of the minority. Only those who do not probe beneath the surface might be led to entertain this view. Have not the few accumulated the wealth of the world? Are they not the masters, the absolute kings of the situation? Their success, however, is due not to individualism, but to the inertia, the cravenness, the utter submission of the mass. The latter wants but to be dominated, to be led, to be coerced. As to individualism, at no time in human history did it have less chance of expression, less opportunity to assert itself in a normal, healthy manner.”

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Book:Anarchism and Other Essays
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“But what about human nature? Can it be changed? And if not, will it endure under Anarchism? Poor human nature, what horrible crimes have been committed in thy name! Every fool, from king to policeman, from the flatheaded parson to the visionless dabbler in science, presumes to speak authoritatively of human nature. The greater the mental charlatan, the more definite his insistence on the wickedness and weaknesses of human nature. Yet, how can any one speak of it today, with every soul in a prison, with every heart fettered, wounded, and maimed? John Burroughs has stated that experimental study of animals in captivity is absolutely useless. Their character, their habits, their appetites undergo a complete transformation when torn from their soil in field and forest. With human nature caged in a narrow space, whipped daily into submission, how can we speak of its potentialities? 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. Anarchism, then, really stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government. Anarchism stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals for the purpose of producing real social wealth; an order that will guarantee to every human being free access to the earth and full enjoyment of the necessities of life, according to individual desires, tastes, and inclinations. This is not a wild fancy or an aberration of the mind. It is the conclusion arrived at by hosts of intellectual men and women the world over; a conclusion resulting from the close and studious observation of the tendencies of modern society: individual liberty and economic equality, the twin forces for the birth of what is fine and true in man.”

Human NatureAnarchism
Book:Anarchism and Other Essays
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“The political superstition is still holding sway over the hearts and minds of the masses, but the true lovers of liberty will have no more to do with it. Instead, they believe with Stirner that man has as much liberty as he is willing to take. Anarchism therefore stands for direct action, the open defiance of, and resistance to, all laws and restrictions, economic, social, and moral. But defiance and resistance are illegal. Therein lies the salvation of man. Everything illegal necessitates integrity, self-reliance, and courage. In short, it calls for free, independent spirits, for "men who are men, and who have a bone in their backs which you cannot pass your hand through.”

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Author:Emma Goldman
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“Do not all theists insist that there can be no morality, no justice, honesty or fidelity without the belief in a Divine Power? Based upon fear and hope, such morality has always been a vile product, imbued partly with self-righteousness, partly with hypocrisy. As to truth, justice, and fidelity, who have been their brave exponents and daring proclaimers? Nearly always the godless ones: the Atheists; they lived, fought, and died for them. They knew that justice, truth, and fidelity are not conditioned in heaven, but that they are related to and interwoven with the tremendous changes going on in the social and material life of the human race; not fixed and eternal, but fluctuating, even as life itself.”

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Book:The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever
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“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.”

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Author:Emma Goldman
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“It has often been suggested to me that the Constitution of the United States is a sufficient safeguard for the freedom of its citizens. It is obvious that even the freedom it pretends to guarantee is very limited. I have not been impressed with the adequacy of the safeguard. The nations of the world, with centuries of international law behind them, have never hesitated to engage in mass destruction when solemnly pledged to keep the peace; and the legal documents in America have not prevented the United States from doing the same. Those in authority have and always will abuse their power. And the instances when they do not do so are as rare as roses growing on icebergs. Far from the Constitution playing any liberating part in the lives of the American people, it has robbed them of the capacity to rely on their own resources or do their own thinking. Americans are so easily hoodwinked by the sanctity of law and authority. In fact, the pattern of life has become standardized, routinized, and mechanized like canned food and Sunday sermons. The hundred-percenter easily swallows syndicated information and factory-made ideas and beliefs. He thrives on the wisdom given him over the radio and cheap magazines by corporations whose philanthropic aim is selling America out. He accepts the standards of conduct and art in the same breath with the advertising of chewing gum, toothpaste, and shoe polish. Even songs are turned out like buttons or automobile tires--all cast from the same mold.”

FreedomAuthorityLawsInternational LawAbuse Of Power
Book:Red Emma Speaks: An Emma Goldman Reader
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“There is no greater fallacy than the belief that aims and purposes are one thing, while methods and tactics are another. This conception is a potent menace to social regeneration. All human experience teaches that methods and means cannot be separated from the ultimate aim. The means employed become, through individual habit and social practice, part and parcel of the final purpose; they influence it, modify it, and presently the aims and means become identical.”

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Book:My Disillusionment in Russia
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“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. Man has chained and fettered the spirit, but he has been utterly helpless before love. Thus love has the magic power to make of a beggar a king.”

MenWorldHas BeensWholeBodyEarthSpiritNationsBrainMillionsMagicKingsArmyConquerHelplessBeggarChainedMagic Powers
Book:Anarchism and Other Essays
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“Nowhere is woman treated according to the merit of her work, but rather as a sex. It is therefore almost inevitable that she should pay for her right to exist, to keep a position in whatever line, with sex favors. Thus it is merely a question of degree whether she sells herself to one man, in or out of marriage, or to many men!... The economic and social inferiority of woman is responsible for prostitution.”

MenShouldSocialSexLinesPayEconomicPositionDegreesResponsibleSellsFavorsTreatedInevitableMeritOne ManProstitutionInferiority
Book:Anarchism: Top Crime Collections
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“Anarchism, the great leaven of thought, is today permeating every phase of human endeavor.... It is the philosophy of the sovereignty of the individual. It is the theory of social harmony. It is the great, surging, living truth that is reconstructing the world, and that will usher in the Dawn.”

WorldHumansPhilosophyTodayIndividualSocialTheoryHarmonyDawnEndeavorAnarchyPhasesSovereigntyAnarchismReconstructingSocial Harmony
Book:Anarchism: Top Crime Collections
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“Everywhere and always, since its very inception, Christianity has turned the earth into a vale of tears; always it has made of life a weak, diseased thing, always it has instilled fear in man, turning him into a dual being, whose life energies are spent in the struggle between body and soul. In decrying the body as something evil, the flesh as the tempter to everything that is sinful, man has mutilated his being in the vain attempt to keep his soul pure, while his body rotted away from the injuries and tortures inflicted upon it.”

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Author:Emma Goldman
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“In the struggle for supremacy the various political parties outdo each other in trickery, deceit, cunning, and shady machinations, confident that the one who succeeds is sure to be hailed by the majority as the victor. That is the only god--Success. As to what expense, what terrible cost to character, is of no moment.”

MomentsCharacterPoliticalPoliticsPartyStruggleTerribleCostSucceedMajorityVariousDeceitExpensesPolitical PartiesCunningSupremacyShadyTrickery
Book:Anarchism: Top Crime Collections
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“No revolution can ever succeed as a factor of liberation unless the MEANS used to further it be identical in spirit and tendency with the PURPOSES to be achieved. Revolution is the negation of the existing, a violent protest against man's inhumanity to man with all the thousand and one slaveries it involves. It is the destroyer of dominant values upon which a complex system of injustice, oppression, and wrong has been built up by ignorance and brutality. It is the herald of NEW VALUES, ushering in a transformation of the basic relations of man to man, and of man to society.”

MenMeanHas BeensUsedSpiritPurposeValuesIgnoranceRevolutionThousandSucceedBuiltRelationTransformationSlaveryComplexesInjusticeViolentTendenciesFactorsOppressionLiberationProtestDominantIdenticalBrutalityDestroyersInhumanityNegationComplex SystemsInhumanity To Man
Author:Emma Goldman
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“Men and women ... do you not realize that the State is the worst enemy you have? It is a machine that crushes you in order to sustain the ruling class, your masters. Like naïve children you put your trust in your political leaders. You make it possible for them to creep into your confidence, only to have them betray you to the first bidder. But even where there is no direct betrayal, the labour politicians make common cause with your enemies to keep you in leash, to prevent your direct action. The State is the pillar of capitalism, and it is ridiculous to expect any redress from it.”

MenFirstsChildrenStatesActionPoliticalOrderCausesRealizingCommonLeaderEnemyClassWorstMastersPoliticianMen And WomenCapitalismDirectMachinesBetrayalRidiculousCrushLabourBetrayRulingCreepsPillarsWorst EnemyPolitical LeadersLeashesRedressDirect Action
Author:Emma Goldman
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“If I were to give a summary of the tendency of our times, I would say, Quantity. The multitude, the mass spirit, dominates everywhere, destroying quality. Our entire life--production, politics, and education--rests on quantity, on numbers. The worker who once took pride in the thoroughness and quality of his work, has been replaced by brainless, incompetent automatons, who turn out enormous quantities of things, valueless to themselves, and generally injurious to the rest of mankind. Thus quantity, instead of adding to life's comforts and peace, has merely increased man's burden.”

IfsMenGivingHas BeensSpiritTurnsNumbersQualityMankindPrideComfortMassWorkersProductionsBurdenEnormousTendenciesOur TimeDestroyingQuantityReplacedMultitudesIncompetentSummaryValuelessThoroughnessBrainlessEnormous Quantities
Book:Anarchism and Other Essays
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“The average mind is slow in grasping a truth, but when the most thoroughly organized, centralized institution, maintained at an excessive national expense, has proven a complete social failure, the dullest must begin to question its right to exist. The time is past when we can be content with our social fabric merely because it is "ordained by divine right," or by the majesty of the law.”

MindPastLawSocialDivineInstitutionsAverageOrganizedExpensesFabricProvenMajestyGraspingDivine RightAverage Minds
Book:Anarchism: Top Crime Collections
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“Perhaps even more than constituted authority, it is social uniformity and sameness that harass the individual most. His very "uniqueness," "separateness" and "differentiation" make him an alien, not only in his native place, but even in his own home. Often more so than the foreign born who generally falls in with the established.”

HomeFallIndividualSocialBornAuthorityAliensNativeUniquenessUniformitySamenessSeparatenessDifferentiationNative Place
Book:Red Emma Speaks: An Emma Goldman Reader
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“Christianity is most admirably adapted to the training of slaves, to the perpetuation of a slave society; in short, to the very conditions confronting us today. The rulers of the earth have realized long ago what potent poison inheres in the Christian religion. That is the reason they foster it; that is why they leave nothing undone to instill it into the blood of the people. They know only too well that the subtleness of the Christian teachings is a more powerful protection against rebellion and discontent than the club or the gun.”

PeopleKnowsWellsLongReasonEarthChristianPowerfulChristianityBloodTeachingConditionsTrainingGunSlaveClubsProtectionPoisonRebellionRulersLong AgoDiscontentUndoneAdaptedConfrontingInstillChristian Teaching
Author:Emma Goldman
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“I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.”

LifeNatureWealthFlowerTablesRoseNecksDiamondJewelsValentine's DayJewelryPetalsBloomingBlossomingWildflowersFunny Valentines DayBlooming FlowerFlower GardenRomantic Valentines DayBeautiful FlowerFunny ValentineHappy ValentinesHappy Valentines DayRose GardenCute Valentines DayFlowers And GardensHappy Valentines Day FunnyBe My ValentineFlower BlossomRose PetalsRose FlowerShort Valentines DayShort ValentineRoses And Love
Author:Emma Goldman
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“No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure.”

ShouldChildrenSoulWealthEffortEducationKindnessTreasureGenerosityYour ChildrenSympathyChild AbuseGreat TeacherTeaching ChildrenTeachers And TeachingInspirational TeacherGoodness And KindnessGreat TeachingQuality EducationMy SympathyGenerosity And KindnessHappy ChildrenKindness GenerosityTrue WealthChildren EducationChildren And EducationEducation And LiteracyNo SympathyTrue EducationTraining And EducationWhat Is EducationSympathy For A FriendChild At Heart
Author:Emma Goldman
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