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With Puritanism as the constant check upon American life, neither truth nor sincerity is possible. Nothing but gloom and mediocrity to dictate human conduct, curtail natural expression, and stifle our best impulses.

— Emma Goldman Anarchism and Other Essays (1910)

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More quotes by Emma Goldman

The free expression of the hopes and aspirations of a people is the greatest and only safety in a sane society.

I do not believe in God, because I believe in man.

Responding to audience questions during a speech in Detroit (1898)

Every daring attempt to make a great change in existing conditions, every lofty vision of new possibilities for the human race, has been labelled Utopian.

The most unpardonable sin in society is independence of thought.

Anarchism and Other Essays (1910)

Thinking men and women the world over are beginning to realize that patriotism is too narrow and limited a conception to meet the necessities of our time.

Anarchism and Other Essays (1910)

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