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
Prostitution, although hounded, imprisoned, and chained, is nevertheless the greatest triumph of Puritanism.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that despite society's efforts to suppress it, prostitution represents a perverse victory of strict moral judgment.
Emma Goldman's quote highlights the paradoxical nature of societal attitudes towards prostitution, indicating that even as it is demonized and oppressed, its existence reveals a triumph of the very moral framework that seeks to control it. This suggests that the struggle against repression ironically reinforces the validity of what is being suppressed, prompting reflection on the complexities of morality, freedom, and human nature.
Themes
ProstitutionPuritanismFreedomMoralitySociety
In practice
Example use cases
Discussing the topic of moral hypocrisy at a philosophy class.
More from Emma Goldman
All quotes βNo 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.
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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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