We’ve sourced some of the most interesting and thought-provoking Emma Goldman Quotes. Each of the following quotes is overflowing with creativity, and knowledge.
Crime is naught but misdirected energy.
The ultimate end of all revolutionary social change is to establish the sanctity of human life, the dignity of man, the right of every human being to liberty and well-being.
The State is the altar of political freedom and, like the religious altar, it is maintained for the purpose of human sacrifice.
One cannot be too extreme in dealing with social ills; the extreme thing is generally the true thing.
The State is the altar of political freedom and, like the religious altar, it is maintained for the purpose of human sacrifice.
Anarchism is the great liberator of man from the phantoms that have held him captive; it is the arbiter and pacifier of the two forces for individual and social harmony.
It is essential that we realize once and for all that man is much more of a sex creature than a moral creature. The former is inherent, the other is grafted on.
The individual whose vision encompasses the whole world often feels nowhere so hedged in and out of touch with his surroundings as in his native land.
Idealists are foolish enough to throw caution to the winds. They have advanced mankind and have enriched the world.
I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.
The most violent element in society is ignorance.
Idealists foolish enough to throw caution to the winds have advanced mankind and have enriched the world.
The most violent element in society is ignorance.
Politics is the reflex of the business and industrial world.
In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.
Since every effort in our educational life seems to be directed toward making of the child a being foreign to itself, it must of necessity produce individuals foreign to one another, and in everlasting antagonism with each other.
To the moralist prostitution does not consist so much in the fact that the woman sells her body, but rather that she sells it out of wedlock.
Only when human sorrows are turned into a toy with glaring colors will baby people become interested – for a while at least. The people are a very fickle baby that must have new toys every day.
It is essential that we realize once and for all that man is much more of a sex creature than a moral creature. The former is inherent, the other is grafted on.
The motto should not be: Forgive one another; rather understand one another.
No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution… revolution is but thought carried into action.
Puritanism, in whatever expression, is a poisonous germ. On the surface everything may look strong and vigorous; yet the poison works its way persistently, until the entire fabric is doomed.
The history of progress is written in the blood of men and women who have dared to espouse an unpopular cause, as, for instance, the black man’s right to his body, or woman’s right to her soul.
The motto should not be: Forgive one another; rather understand one another.
Free love? as if love is anything but free. Man has bought brains, but all the millions in the world have failed to buy love.
Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think.
Crime is naught but misdirected energy.
The most unpardonable sin in society is independence of thought.
Only when human sorrows are turned into a toy with glaring colors will baby people become interested – for a while at least. The people are a very fickle baby that must have new toys every day.
On rare occasions one does hear of a miraculous case of a married couple falling in love after marriage, but on close examination it will be found that it is a mere adjustment to the inevitable.
No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution… revolution is but thought carried into action.
Anarchism is the great liberator of man from the phantoms that have held him captive; it is the arbiter and pacifier of the two forces for individual and social harmony.
If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.
The political arena leaves one no alternative, one must either be a dunce or a rogue.
The political arena leaves one no alternative, one must either be a dunce or a rogue.
The demand for equal rights in every vocation of life is just and fair; but, after all, the most vital right is the right to love and be loved.
Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think.
Since every effort in our educational life seems to be directed toward making of the child a being foreign to itself, it must of necessity produce individuals foreign to one another, and in everlasting antagonism with each other.
Woman, essentially a purist, is naturally bigoted and relentless in her effort to make others as good as she thinks they ought to be.
Heaven must be an awfully dull place if the poor in spirit live there.
Morality and its victim, the mother – what a terrible picture! Is there indeed anything more terrible, more criminal, than our glorified sacred function of motherhood?
One cannot be too extreme in dealing with social ills; the extreme thing is generally the true thing.
Every daring attempt to make a great change in existing conditions, every lofty vision of new possibilities for the human race, has been labeled Utopian.
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.
No great idea in its beginning can ever be within the law. How can it be within the law? The law is stationary. The law is fixed. The law is a chariot wheel which binds us all regardless of conditions or place or time.
