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
Crime is naught but misdirected energy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Crime arises when natural energy and potential are misused or poorly channeled.
Emma Goldman's quote suggests that crime is a result of misdirected human potential and passion. Rather than being inherently evil, criminal behavior may stem from a lack of constructive outlets for one's energy, creativity, or frustration, indicating a deeper societal issue that needs to be addressed to prevent such misdirection.
Themes
CrimeEnergySocietyPotentialMisdirection
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about criminal justice reform, this quote can emphasize the need to address societal issues.
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.
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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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