Emma Goldman Quotes

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Emma Goldman

Profession : Activist

Birth : June 27, 1869

Women need not always keep their mouths shut and their wombs open.

Emma Goldman

The history of progress is written in the blood of men and women who have dared to espouse an unpopular cause, as, for instance, the black man's right to his body, or woman's right to her soul.

Emma Goldman

The most violent element in society is ignorance.

Emma Goldman

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 Goldman

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 Goldman

Morality and its victim, the mother - what a terrible picture! Is there indeed anything more terrible, more criminal, than our glorified sacred function of motherhood?

Emma Goldman

No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution... revolution is but thought carried into action.

Emma Goldman

The ultimate end of all revolutionary social change is to establish the sanctity of human life, the dignity of man, the right of every human being to liberty and well-being.

Emma Goldman

If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution.

Emma Goldman

I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.

Emma Goldman

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 Goldman

The demand for equal rights in every vocation of life is just and fair; but, after all, the most vital right is the right to love and be loved.

Emma Goldman

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 Goldman

When we can't dream any longer we die.

Emma Goldman

Before we can forgive one another, we have to understand one another.

Emma Goldman

Idealists foolish enough to throw caution to the winds have advanced mankind and have enriched the world.

Emma Goldman

The State is the altar of political freedom and, like the religious altar, it is maintained for the purpose of human sacrifice.

Emma Goldman

Direct action is the logical, consistent method of Anarchism.

Emma Goldman

The political arena leaves one no alternative, one must either be a dunce or a rogue.

Emma Goldman

Heaven must be an awfully dull place if the poor in spirit live there.

Emma Goldman