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 CleyreRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Liberty should not be taught by the government, as its nature is to preserve its own power over the people.
Voltairine De Cleyre emphasizes the danger of allowing government entities to educate about liberty. She argues that governments tend to prioritize their own preservation and power, often distorting the message of liberty to maintain control over the populace. Thus, if true liberty is to be imparted, it must come from independent sources, untainted by governmental influence.
Themes
LibertyGovernmentEducationFreedomPower
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech advocating for educational reforms, I will quote Voltairine De Cleyre to illustrate the dangers of government control over education.
More from Voltairine De Cleyre
All quotes →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 CleyreRead
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 CleyreRead
I think it can be shown that the law makes ten criminals where it restrains one.
Voltairine De CleyreRead
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 CleyreRead
Is it not enough that 'things are cruel and blind'? Must we also be cruel and blind?
Voltairine De CleyreRead
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