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He who needs something to rebel against is less of a social anarchist than he who seeks to create something against which there is no need to rebel. There may be no end to the ugly, sordid, and horrifying things against which an honest man cannot help but revolt, but there are also things that are beautiful, joyful, and pure. If it were wrong to attend to the latter while the former still thrive, then a hopeless perpetual struggle would become the only meaning of life.

— Giovanni Baldelli Social Anarchism (1971)

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More quotes by Giovanni Baldelli

For the anarchist, rebellion is not only a statement of will but a statement of rightness and truth.

Social Anarchism (1971)

It is time to apply to the mystique of revolution the same critical intelligence that has been applied to the mystique of war.

Social Anarchism (1971)

Rebellion presupposes the existence of oppression and, on the psychological plane, deification of rebellion creates an affective compact with oppression.

Social Anarchism (1971)

Although many laws perpetuate advantages gained by antecendent violence and apply unequally to rich and poor, and although most are outwardly prohibitive and therefore negative, they rest on the positive basis of the will of most men to live peacefully together.

Social Anarchism (1971)

It is fashionable to present hate and contempt for humanity as the exasperation and despair of compassion, but in that case rebellion should be against existence itself. When a man who is horrified by the basic evil of the world and his own existence, and who sees no God to rebel against, takes revenge on his fellow beings, he is a coward and a hypocrite. Perhaps the ugly, sordid, and horrifying things of which there is no end have always been produced by hypocritical and cowardly rebellion against existence, but that is not the rebellion of the social anarchist.

Social Anarchism (1971)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Giovanni Baldelli (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.