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They do not want to know that centralization is not only the death-knell of liberty, but also of health and beauty, of art and science, all these being impossible in a clock-like, mechanical atmosphere.
Emma Goldman
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Centralization stifles freedom and creativity, negatively impacting health, beauty, art, and science.

In this quote, Emma Goldman argues that centralization undermines not just individual freedom but also the essence of creativity and innovation found in health, beauty, art, and science. She warns that a society governed by rigid structures resembles a mechanical system devoid of the vibrancy that comes from diverse expressions of liberty and creativity. Goldman's perspective suggests that a free and decentralized environment fosters a more enriching and healthy society.

Themes

CentralizationLibertyHealthBeautyArtScienceFreedom

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a speech advocating for individual rights and freedoms.

More from Emma Goldman

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.
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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.
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To the indefinite, uncertain mind of the American radical the most contradictory ideas and methods are possible. The result is a sad chaos in the radical movement, a sort of intellectual hash, which has neither taste nor character.
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John Burroughs has stated that experimental study of animals in captivity is absolutely useless. Their character, their habits, their appetites undergo a complete transformation when torn from their soil in field and forest. With human nature caged in a narrow space, whipped daily into submission, how can we speak of its potentialities?
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Anarchism is the only philosophy which brings to man the consciousness of himself; which maintains that God, the State, and society are non-existent, that their promises are null and void, since they can be fulfilled only through man's subordination.
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If love does not know how to give and take without restrictions, it is not love, but a transaction that never fails to lay stress on a plus and a minus.
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