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 State is the altar of political freedom and, like the religious altar, it is maintained for the purpose of human sacrifice.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The state plays a pivotal role in maintaining freedom, but often at a great cost to individuals.
In this quote, Emma Goldman compares the state to a religious altar, suggesting that while it is essential for providing political freedom, it often demands human sacrifices in the form of obedience, lives, or personal liberties to uphold its authority. This metaphor highlights the complexities of governance and the often grim reality of how freedom can come at a significant price.
Themes
StateFreedomSacrificePoliticsHuman Rights
In practice
Example use cases
During a political debate discussing the role of government.
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.
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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