Voltairine de Cleyre quotes - page 2

First, then, God, being all-just, wishes to do justice; being all-wise, knows what justice is; being all-powerful, can do justice. Why then injustice? (Voltairine de Cleyre)
Bear it aloft, O roaring flame! Skyward aloft, where all may see. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
And yet, gentlemen, you expect your wives, the creatures you say you respect and love, to wear the longest skirts and the highest necked clothing, in order to conceal the obscene human body. There is no society for the prevention of cruelty to women. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
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. But whether she or I be right, or both of us be wrong, of one thing I am sure; the spirit which animates Emma Goldman is the only one which will emancipate the slave from his slavery, the tyrant from his tyranny - the spirit which is willing to dare and suffer. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
Though largely unsuccessful, it is to the measure of success they did achieve that we are indebted for such liberties as we do retain, and not to the general government. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
But go not "back to the sediment" In the slime of the moaning sea, For a better world belongs to you, And a better friend to me. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
Miss Goldman is a communist; I am an individualist. She wishes to destroy the right of property, I wish to assert it. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
Hold unto the last: that is what it means to have a Dominant Idea, which Circumstance cannot break. And such men make and unmake Circumstance. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
The Puritans had accused the Quakers of "troubling the world by preaching peace to it." They refused to pay church taxes; they refused to bear arms; they refused to swear allegiance to any government. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
Among the fundamental likeness between the Revolutionary Republicans and the Anarchists is the recognition that the little must precede the great; that the local must be the basis of the general; that there can be a free federation only when there are free communities to federate. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
I am told this is farfetched idealism, to paint this happy, povertyless, crimeless, diseaseless world; I have been told I "ought to be behind the bars" for it. (Voltairine de Cleyre)
In everything that lives, if one looks searchingly, is limned the shadow line of an idea. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
Of the exercise of a right power may deprive me; of the right itself, never. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
There is naught can show A life so trustless! Proud be thy crown! Ruthless, like none, save the Sea, alone! View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
The Constitution was made chiefly because of the demands of Commerce. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
He gave a concrete example of the effect of sex slavery, and for it he is imprisoned. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
Fair, cold, and faithless wert thou, my own! For that I love Thy heart of stone! View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
It is not to be supposed that any one will attain to the full realization of what he purposes, even when those purposes do not involve united action with others. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
Not for you to say "in this way shall the race love." Let the race alone. Will there not be atrocious crimes? Certainly. He is a fool who says there will not be. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
Flame out the living words of the dead Written-in-red. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
Gods of the World! Their mouths are dumb! Your guns have spoken and they are dust. (Voltairine de Cleyre)
Do not preach the straight and narrow way while going joyously upon the wide one. Preach the wide one, or do not preach at all; but do not fool yourself by saying you would like to help usher in a free society, but you cannot sacrifice an armchair for it. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
Every person who ever thought he had a right to assert, and went boldly and asserted it, himself, or jointly with others that shared his convictions, was a direct actionist. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
Written in red their protest stands, For the Gods of the World to see. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre
Anarchism says, Make no laws whatever concerning speech, and speech will be free. View quote
Voltairine de Cleyre