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
The people are urged to be patriotic ... by sacrificing their own children. Patriotism requires allegience to the flag, which means obedience and readiness to kill father, mother, brother, sister.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the notion of patriotism that demands personal sacrifice, even at the cost of familial bonds.
Emma Goldman's quote challenges the concept of patriotism that glorifies loyalty to one's country at the expense of personal relationships and moral judgment. It suggests that a blind allegiance to the flag may lead individuals to commit acts that betray their love for family and humanity, effectively highlighting the moral dilemmas associated with such nationalistic fervor.
Themes
PatriotismSacrificeFamilyLoyaltyMorality
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about the implications of nationalism, this quote could highlight the sacrifices demanded by patriotism.
More from Emma Goldman
All quotes βNo 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.
Emma GoldmanRead
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.
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?
Emma GoldmanRead
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.
Emma GoldmanRead
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.
Emma GoldmanRead
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