It is essential that we realize once and for all that man is much more of a sex creature than a moral creature. The former is inherent, the other is grafted on.
The individual is the true reality of life. A cosmos in himself, he does not exist for the State, nor for that abstraction called “society,” or the “nation,” which is only a collection of individuals.
The contention that a standing army and navy is the best security of peace is about as logical as the claim that the most peaceful citizen is he who goes about heavily armed.
Social and economic well-being will become a reality only through the zeal, courage, the non-compromising determination of intelligent minorities, and not through the mass.
Conceit, arrogance, and egotism are the essentials of patriotism.
I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody’s right to beautiful, radiant things.
The most vital right is the right to love and be loved.
I may be arrested, I may be tried and thrown into jail, but I never will be silent.
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.
All claims of education notwithstanding, the pupil will accept only that which his mind craves.
The State is the altar of political freedom and, like the religious altar, it is maintained for the purpose of human sacrifice.
Give us what belongs to us in peace, and if you don’t give it to us in peace, we will take it by force.
Only when human sorrows are turned into a toy with glaring colors will baby people become interested – for a while at least. The people are a very fickle baby that must have new toys every day.
Religion, the dominion of the human mind; Property, the dominion of human needs; and Government, the dominion of human conduct, represent the stronghold of man’s enslavement and all the horrors it entails.
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.
Poor America, of what avail is all her wealth, if the individuals comprising the nation are wretchedly poor? If they live in squalor, in filth, in crime, with hope and joy gone, a homeless, soulless army of human prey.
When in the course of human development, existing institutions prove inadequate to the needs of man, when they serve merely to enslave, rob and oppress mankind, the people have the eternal right to rebel against, and overthrow, these institutions.
Militarism consumes the strongest and most productive elements of each nation. Militarism swallows the largest part of the national revenue.
What I believe is a process rather than a finality.
Love needs no protection; it is its own protection.