Skip to content

What I say is, that the real non-resistants can believe in direct action only, never in political action. For the basis of all political action is coercion; even when the State does good things, it finally rests on a club, a gun, or a prison, for its power to carry them through.

— Voltairine de Cleyre Direct Action (1912)

Another quote →

More quotes by Voltairine de Cleyre

As to the American tradition of non-meddling, Anarchism asks that it be carried down to the individual himself.

Anarchism & American Traditions (1908)

The love of material ease has been, in the mass of men and permanently speaking, always greater than the love of liberty.

Anarchism & American Traditions (1908)

Of the exercise of a right power may deprive me; of the right itself, never.

The Economic Tendency of Freethought (1890)

I would rather, much rather, be illegitimate according to the statutes of men, than illegitimate according to the unchanging law of Nature.

Sex Slavery (1890)

Let the guarantee of free speech be in every man's determination to use it, and we shall have no need of paper declarations.

Anarchism & American Traditions (1908)

All Voltairine de Cleyre quotes →

Attribution

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