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
Is it not enough that 'things are cruel and blind'? Must we also be cruel and blind?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote questions whether we should mirror the cruelty and blindness of the world around us.
Voltairine De Cleyre's quote challenges individuals to reflect on their own behavior in the face of a harsh world. It suggests that while the circumstances around us may be cruel and indifferent, we have the choice not to adopt those same traits, urging us to strive for compassion and awareness instead of succumbing to a negative mindset.
Themes
CrueltyBlindnessCompassionAwarenessChoice
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about ethical behavior in the face of social injustices.
More from Voltairine De Cleyre
All quotes βAnarchism, 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.
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I think it can be shown that the law makes ten criminals where it restrains one.
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The question of souls is oldβwe demand our bodies, now. We are tired of promises, god is deaf, and his church is our worst enemy.
Voltairine De CleyreRead
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 CleyreRead
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