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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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“Make no laws whatever concerning speech, and speech will be free; so soon as you make a declaration on paper that speech shall be free, you will have a hundred lawyers proving that "freedom does not mean abuse, nor liberty license," and they will define freedom out of existence.”

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Book:Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius
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“If the believers in liberty wish the principles of liberty taught, let them never intrust that instruction to any government; for the nature of government is to become a thing apart, an institution existing for its own sake, preying upon the people, and teaching whatever will tend to keep it secure in its seat.”

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