Voltairine de Cleyre Quotes

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• 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.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Mean, Responsibility, Self

  Voltairine de Cleyre (2012). “Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius”, p.156, SUNY Press

  90 Copy quote

• There is no peace now, and there will never be peace, so long as one rules over another.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Long, Anarchy

  51 Copy quote

• This is what the government is, has always been, the creator and defender of privilege; the organization of oppression and revenge. To hope that it can ever become anything else is the vainest of delusions. They tell you that Anarchy, the dream of social order without government, is a wild fancy. The wildest dream that ever entered the heart of man is the dream that mankind can ever help itself through an appeal to law, or to come to any order that will not result in slavery wherein there is any excuse for government.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Dream, Revenge, Heart

  Eleventh of November 1887: Haymarket Memorial Speech by Voltairine de Cleyre, delivered in Chicago, contentdm.library.uvic.ca. 1901.

  50 Copy quote

• I never expect men to give us liberty. No, women, we are not worth it until we take it.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Men, Giving, Liberty

  Eugenia C. DeLamotte, Voltairine De Cleyre (2004). “Gates of Freedom: Voltairine de Cleyre and the Revolution of the Mind”, p.249, University of Michigan Press

  46 Copy quote

• 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.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Teaching, Government, People

  Voltairine de Cleyre (2012). “Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius”, p.96, SUNY Press

  35 Copy quote

• I die, as I have lived, a free spirit, an Anarchist, owing no allegiance to rulers, heavenly or earthly.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Atheist, Free Spirit, Atheism

  Voltairine de Cleyre (2012). “Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius”, p.36, SUNY Press

  49 Copy quote

• Speak, speak, speak, & remember that whenever anyone's liberty to speak is denied, your liberty is denied also, & your place is where the attack is.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Liberty, Remember, Speak

  31 Copy quote

• I think it can be shown that the law makes ten criminals where it restrains one.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Thinking, Law, Criminals

  Voltairine De Cleyre (2004). “The Voltairine de Cleyre Reader”, A K PressDistribution

  37 Copy quote

• There is one common struggle against those who have appropriated the earth, the money, and the machines.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Struggle, Machines, Earth

  Voltairine de Cleyre, Sharon Presley, Crispin Sartwell (2005). “Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius”, p.280, SUNY Press

  26 Copy quote

• 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.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Father, Believe, Rights

  Voltairine de Cleyre (2012). “Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius”, p.99, SUNY Press

  43 Copy quote

• The paramount question of the day is not political, is not religious, but is economic. The crying-out demand of today is for a circle of principles that shall forever make it impossible for one man to control another by controlling the means of his existence.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Religious, Mean, Men

  Voltairine de Cleyre (2012). “Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius”, p.169, SUNY Press

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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.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Mean, Law, Abuse

  Voltairine de Cleyre (2012). “Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius”, p.99, SUNY Press

  40 Copy quote

• There is no society for the prevention of cruelty to women.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Prevention, Cruelty

  Voltairine de Cleyre (2012). “Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius”, p.233, SUNY Press

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• What I say is, that the real non-resistants can believe in direct action only, never in political action. For the basis of all political action is coercion; even when the State does good things, it finally rests on a club, a gun, or a prison, for its power to carry them through.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Real, Believe, Gun

  Voltairine de Cleyre (2012). “Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius”, p.275, SUNY Press

  29 Copy quote

• Government is as unreal, as intangible, as unapproachable as God. Try it, if you don't believe it. Seek through the legislative halls of America and find, if you can, the Government. In the end you will be doomed to confer with the agent, as before.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Believe, America, Government

  Voltairine de Cleyre, Sharon Presley, Crispin Sartwell (2005). “Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius”, p.173, SUNY Press

  35 Copy quote

• Let every woman ask herself: "Why am I the slave of man? Why is my brain said not to be the equal of his brain? Why is my work notpaid equally with his? Why must my body be controlled by my husband? Why may he take my labor in the household, giving me in exchange what he deems fit? Why may he take my children from me? Will them away while yet unborn?" Let every woman ask.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Children, Husband, Men

  17 Copy quote

• A standing army is a standing menace to liberty.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Peace, War, Army

  Voltairine de Cleyre (2012). “Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius”, p.98, SUNY Press

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• The question of souls is old—we demand our bodies, now. We are tired of promises, god is deaf, and his church is our worst enemy.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Tired, Worst Enemy, Soul

  Voltairine de Cleyre (2012). “Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius”, p.232, SUNY Press

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• [The married woman is] is a bonded slave, who takes her master's name, her master's bread, and serves her master's passion; [and] who passes through the ordeal of pregnancy and the throes of travail at his dictation.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Pregnancy, Passion, Names

  30 Copy quote

• ... it is better to study how to live rather than how to die; ... it is better to have a religion of deeds rather than a religion of creeds; ... it is better to work for humanity than for God.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Humanity, Deeds, Study

  Voltairine de Cleyre (2012). “Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius”, p.181, SUNY Press

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• Miss Goldman is a Communist; I am an Individualist. She wishes to destroy the right of property, I wish to assert it. I make my war upon privilege and authority, whereby the right of property, the true right in that which is proper to the individual, is annihilated. She believes that co-operation would entirely supplant competition; I hold that competition in one form or another will always exist, and that it is highly desirable it should.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  War, Believe, Missing

  "In Defense of Emma Goldman and the Right of Expropriation". Voltairine de Cleyre's Address in Philadelphia, dwardmac.pitzer.edu. December 16, 1893.

  24 Copy quote

• And sometimes when I am weary,
  When the path is thorny and Wild,
  I'll look back to the Eyes in the twilight,
  Back to the eyes that smiled.
  And pray that a wreath like a rainbow
  May slip from the beautiful past,
  And Crown me again with the sweet, strong love
  And keep me, and hold me fast.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Life, Beautiful, Sweet

  Voltairine De Cleyre (2004). “The Voltairine de Cleyre Reader”, A K PressDistribution

  14 Copy quote

• Is it not enough that 'things are cruel and blind'? Must we also be cruel and blind?

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Blind, Enough

  Voltairine de Cleyre (2012). “Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius”, p.145, SUNY Press

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• Capitalistic Anarchism ? Oh, yes, if you choose to call it so. Names are indifferent to me; I am not afraid of bugaboos. Let it be so, then, capitalistic Anarchism.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Names, Indifferent, Not Afraid

  11 Copy quote

• As long as the working-people fold hands and pray the gods in Washington to give them work, so long they will not get it.

  Voltairine de Cleyre

  Hands, Giving, Long

  Voltairine de Cleyre (2012). “Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius”, p.152, SUNY Press

  17 Copy quote

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