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
Religion is a superstition that originated in man`s mental inability to solve natural phenomena. The Church is an orgainized institution that has always been stumbling to block progress.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Emma Goldman critiques religion as a mental construct born from humanity's struggle to explain nature, suggesting that organized religion hinders progress.
This quote by Emma Goldman reflects her critical view of religion and organized institutions. She argues that religion is born from humanity's inability to comprehend natural phenomena, portraying it as a superstition rooted in fear and misunderstanding. Furthermore, she suggests that organized religious institutions have historically impeded social and intellectual progress, stifling innovation and development. Goldman's perspective emphasizes the need for rational thought and the potential for human advancement when liberated from outdated beliefs.
Themes
ReligionSuperstitionProgressInstitutionNatural Phenomena
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about the role of religion in education, one might cite this quote to argue for a more secular approach.
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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Truth is not something you can appropriate easily and quickly. You certainly cannot sleep or dream yourself to the truth. No, you must be tried, do battle, and suffer if you are to acquire the truth for yourself. It is a sheer illusion to think that in relation to the truth there is an abridgement, a short cut that dispenses with the necessity for struggling for it.
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Strange, isn't it, that no chemical will give a human being the iridescence that illusions have given them? Give me your hat.
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