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
Political violence is organized violence on the top which creates individual violence at the bottom.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Political violence is initiated by those in power, leading to violence among individuals in society.
Emma Goldman's quote highlights the relationship between systemic political violence and the resultant chaos that it fosters within society. It suggests that when those in positions of authority employ violence as a means of control or oppression, it inevitably influences the behavior of individuals, leading to a culture of violence that permeates the lower strata of society, where individuals may emulate or react to the violence they see from those above them.
Themes
Political ViolenceOrganized ViolenceIndividual ViolenceOppressionAuthority
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a lecture discussing the impacts of political regimes on societal behavior.
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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