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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
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Love is about selfless giving and mutual understanding, not transactional exchanges.

Emma Goldman's quote emphasizes that true love involves an unconditional flow of giving and receiving, devoid of the expectations and calculations typical of transactions. If love is based on a tally of what one gives or receives, it loses its essence and becomes merely a business exchange rather than a deep emotional connection.

Themes

LoveGivingTransactionRelationshipsEmotional Connection

In practice

Example use cases

During a wedding speech, to emphasize the importance of selfless love.

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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.
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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.
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There is no hope even that woman, with her right to vote, will ever purify politics.
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Quote by Emma Goldman | QuoteProject