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.
Emma GoldmanRead
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?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of environment in shaping behavior and potential.
Emma Goldman's quote critiques the idea that we can understand the true nature of beings—whether animals or humans—when they are removed from their natural habitats. She argues that captivity alters their fundamental behaviors and that human potential cannot be fully realized in constrained circumstances, calling into question the validity of such studies.
Themes
EnvironmentFreedomPotentialBehaviorCaptivity
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on animal rights, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of natural habitats for understanding animal behavior.
More from Emma Goldman
All quotes →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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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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There is no hope even that woman, with her right to vote, will ever purify politics.
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