Quotessence
Home / Books / Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius

Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius

Book by Voltairine de Cleyre · 4 quotes · Liberty, Anarchism, Mean

Filter quotes by topic

Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius Quotes

“Anarchism, to me, means not only the denial of authority, not only a new economy, but a revision of the principles of morality. It means the development of the individual as well as the assertion of the individual. It means self-responsibility, and not leader worship.”

“Socialism and Communism both demand a degree of joint effort and administration which would beget more regulation than is wholly consistent with ideal Anarchism; Individualism and Mutualism, resting upon property, involve a development of the private policeman not at all compatible with my notion of freedom.”

“And now, what has Anarchism to say to all this, this bankruptcy of republicanism, this modern empire that has grown up on the ruins of our early freedom? We say this, that the sin our fathers sinned was that they did not trust liberty wholly. They thought it possible to compromise between liberty and government, believing the latter to be 'a necessary evil,' and the moment the compromise was made, the whole misbegotten monster of our present tyranny began to grow. Instruments which are set up to safeguard rights become the very whip with which the free are struck.”