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Voltairine de Cleyre

Voltairine de Cleyre Quotes

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Famous Voltairine de Cleyre Quotes

“If you choose the liberty and pride and strength of the single soul, and the free fraternization of men, as the purpose which your life is to make manifest then do not sell it for tinsel. Think that your soul is strong and will hold its way; and slowly, through bitter struggle perhaps the strength will grow.”

IfsThinkingMenWaySoulLife IsPurposeStrongGrowsLibertyStrugglePrideSellsBitterYour SoulManifestYou ChooseTinsel
Book:Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius
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“But what the working-class can do, when once they grow into a solidified organization, is to show the possessing class, through a sudden cessation of all work, that the whole social structure rests on them; that the possessions of the others are absolutely worthless to them without the workers' activity; that such protests, such strikes, are inherent in the system of property and will continually recur until the whole thing is abolished - and having shown that effectively, proceed to expropriate.”

WholeShowsSocialGrowsCan DoClassActivityOrganizationStructurePropertyWorkersPossessionStrikesProtestInherentWorking ClassWorthlessPossessingSocial Structure
Author:Voltairine de Cleyre
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“Years! Years, ye shall mix with me! Ye shall grow a part Of the laughing Sea; Of the moaning heart Of the glittered wave Of the sun-gleam's dart In the ocean-grave. Fair, cold, and faithless wert thou, my own! For that I love Thy heart of stone! From the heights above To the depths below, Where dread things move, There is naught can show A life so trustless! Proud be thy crown! Ruthless, like none, save the Sea, alone!”

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Author:Voltairine de Cleyre
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“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.”

BelieveMadeWholeMomentsGovernmentEvilFatherGrowsSinLibertyRightsModernInstrumentsMonstersTyrannyCompromiseRuinsLatterEmpiresOur FatherAnarchismWhipsBankruptcyNecessary EvilRepublicanism
Book:Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius
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