Emma Goldman: Revolutionary Social Change

I am moved again and again to share the much needed wisdom of our ancestors and those who live today who model for us truth and integrity, courage and vision, discernment and awareness, and consciousness of and commitment to a higher good for us all. Emma Goldman is certainly among them. May we listen, learn, and act. — Molly

The most violent element in society is ignorance. 

Men and women ... do you not realize that the State is the worst enemy you have? It is a machine that crushes you in order to sustain the ruling class, your masters. Like naïve children you put your trust in your political leaders. You make it possible for them to creep into your confidence, only to have them betray you to the first bidder. But even where there is no direct betrayal, the labour politicians make common cause with your enemies to keep you in leash, to prevent your direct action. The State is the pillar of capitalism, and it is ridiculous to expect any redress from it.

Some people never seem to learn from experience. No matter how often they had seen the lion devour the lamb, they continued to cling to the hope that the nature of the beast might change. If only the lion could get to know the lamb better, they argued, or talk matters over.

The greatest bulwark of capitalism is militarism.

The spirit of militarism has already permeated all walks of life. Indeed, I am convinced that militarism is a greater danger here than anywhere else, because of the many bribes capitalism holds out to those whom it wishes to destroy. 

Patriotism ... is a superstition artificially created and maintained through a network of lies and falsehoods; a superstition that robs man of his self-respect and dignity, and increases his arrogance and conceit.

What a strange development of patriotism that turns a thinking being into a loyal machine!

Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think.

The most unpardonable sin in society is independence of thought. 

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"Rugged individualism" has meant all the"'individualism" for the masters, while the people are regimented into a slave caste to serve a handful of self-seeking "supermen." America is perhaps the best representative of this kind of individualism, in whose name political tyranny and social oppression are defended and held up as virtues; while every aspiration and attempt of man to gain freedom and social opportunity to live is denounced as "un-American" and evil in the name of that same individuality. 

Wealth means power: the power to subdue, to crush, to exploit, the power to enslave, to outrage, to degrade. 

The contention that a standing army and navy is the best security of peace is about as logical as the claim that the most peaceful citizen is he who goes about heavily armed. 

Conceit, arrogance and egotism are the essentials of patriotism... Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot consider themselves nobler, better, grander, more intelligent than those living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others.

How long would authority ... exist, if not for the willingness of the mass to become soldiers, policemen, jailers, and hangmen.

‎Civilization has been a continuous struggle of the individual or of groups of individuals against the State and even against "society," that is, against the majority subdued and hypnotized by the State and State worship. 

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.

Before we can forgive one another, we have to understand one another.

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People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take.

I may be arrested, I may be tried and thrown into jail, but I never will be silent.

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.

Life without an ideal is spiritual death.

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. 

What I believe is a process rather than a finality. Finalities are for gods and governments, not for the human intellect. 

No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution... revolution is but thought carried into action. 

A revolution without dancing is not a revolution worth having. 

I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.

Real wealth consists in things of utility and beauty, in things that help to create strong, beautiful bodies and surroundings inspiring to live in. 

I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody's right to beautiful, radiant things.

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.

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.

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. 

— Emma Goldman