QuoteProject
A man is either free or he is not. There cannot be any apprenticeship for freedom.
Amiri Baraka
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Freedom is an absolute state; one cannot partially be free.

This quote by Amiri Baraka asserts the notion that freedom is a definitive condition that cannot exist in degrees or stages. It emphasizes that a person is either entirely free or not at all, highlighting the importance of total autonomy and the rejection of any form of subjugation or limitation on one's freedom.

Themes

FreedomAutonomyPhilosophyLibertyTruth

In practice

Example use cases

During a discussion about civil rights, you might use this quote to emphasize the absolute nature of freedom.

More from Amiri Baraka

what is lost because it is most precious what is most precious because it is lost
Amiri BarakaRead
I am inside someone who hates me. I look out from his eyes.
Amiri BarakaRead
And now each night, I count the stars. And each night I get the same number. And when the stars won't come to be counted, I count the holes they leave.
Amiri BarakaRead
The attempt to divide art and politics is a bourgeois which says good poetry, art, cannot be political, but since everything is … political, even an artist or work that claims not to have any politics is making a political statement by that act.
Amiri BarakaRead
I am inside someone_x000D_ who hates me. I look_x000D_ out from his eyes. Smell_x000D_ what fouled tunes come in_x000D_ to his breath. Love his_x000D_ wretched women.
Amiri BarakaRead
Poetry is music, and nothing but music. Words with musical emphasis.
Amiri BarakaRead

Similar quotes

In our memories, there is a graveyard where we bury our dead. They all lie there together, the loved ones and the ones we hated, friends and foes and kin, with no distinction among them. We have to mourn every one of them, because our memories have made them as much a part of us as our bones or our skin. If we don't, we've no right to remember anything at all.
Steven BrustRead
In all our associations; in all our agreements let us never lose sight of this fundamental maxim - that all power was originally lodged in, and consequently is derived from, the people.
George MasonRead
I was not sure I wanted to issue orders to life; I rather liked the Greek notion of allowing Chance to take a formative hand in my affairs.
Robertson DaviesRead
Modes are infinite, and laws are infinite.
MahaviraRead
Factual truth is always related to other people: it concerns events and circumstances in which many are involved; it is established by witnesses and depends upon testimony; it exists only to the extent that it is spoken about, even if it occurs in the domain of privacy. It is political by nature.
Hannah ArendtRead
Those who have a why to live for can bear almost any how. The necessary premise is that a person is somehow more than his or her "characteristics," all the emotions, strivings, tastes, and constructions which it pleases us to call "My Life." We have grounds to hope that a Life is something more than a cloud of particles, mere facticity. Go through what is comprehensible and you conclude that only the incomprehensible gives any light.
Saul BellowRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Amiri Baraka | QuoteProject