Anarchism – Page 2 – Anarchist Quotes

"Socialism and communism both demand a degree of joint effort and administration which would beget more regulation than is wholly consistent with ideal anarchism."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"We do not fetishize organization, but in order to elaborate and defend this struggle, organization is a necessity."

— Daniel Guerin,
Anarcho-communist (1904 ‐ 1988)
French libertarian communist author

"Education is an admirable thing. But it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"We are not in the least afraid of ruins. We are going to inherit the earth; there is not the slightest doubt about that. The bourgeoisie might blast and ruin its own world before it leaves the stage of history. We carry a new world here, in our hearts. That world is growing this minute."

— Buenaventura Durruti,
anarcho-syndicalist (1896 ‐ 1936)
Influential Spanish anarchist and militant

"Good people don't much like those who tread a different path."

— Georges Brassens,
anarcho-individualist (1921 ‐ 1981)
Anarchist, French singer-songwriter and poet

"Emancipation or non-emancipation of woman, emancipation or non-emancipation of man - what does it mean? Is it that by nature one has rights and the other has no rights?"

— Joseph Dejacque,
Anarcho-Communist (1821 ‐ 1864)
French early anarchocommunist, poet and essayist

"Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"Organization is, after all, only a means to an end. When it becomes an end in itself, it kills the spirit and the vital initiative of its members and sets up that domination by mediocrity which is the characteristic of all bureaucracies."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

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

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"Conceit, arrogance and egotism are the essentials of patriotism."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"The one thing that the public dislike is novelty."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

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

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"Collective responsibility in revolutionary action... is a fundamental principle, which guides each one of us in our way of understanding the anarchist idea, in our determination that it should penetrate to the masses, in its spirit of sacrifice."

— Nestor Makhno,
Anarcho-communist (1888 ‐ 1934)
Anarchist Revolutionary and commander of an independent army in Ukraine

"The whole history of man is continuous proof of the maxim that to divest one's methods of ethical concepts means to sink into the depths of utter demoralization."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"It is immoral to use private property in order to alleviate the horrible evils that result from the institution of private property."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"The period of the actual revolution, the so-called transitory stage, must be the introduction, the prelude to the new social conditions."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"In the name of Purity what lies are told! What queer morality it has engendered. For fear of it you dare not tell your own children the truth about their birth; the most sacred of all functions, the creation of a human being, is a subject for the most miserable falsehood."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Ambition is the last refuge of the failure."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"I am but too conscious of the fact that we are born in an age when only the dull are treated seriously, and I live in terror of not being misunderstood."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"Oppressed brother, banish all power from within you and do not allow any to be established either over you or over your brother, be he near or far!"

— Nestor Makhno,
Anarcho-communist (1888 ‐ 1934)
Anarchist Revolutionary and commander of an independent army in Ukraine

"A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which humanity is always landing."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"This perversion of the ethical values soon crystallized into the all-dominating slogan of the Communist Party: THE END JUSTIFIES ALL MEANS."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"There are even moments when the authority of the socialists and communists is worse than the bourgeois, for they tear down their own ideas and trample on them."

— Nestor Makhno,
Anarcho-communist (1888 ‐ 1934)
Anarchist Revolutionary and commander of an independent army in Ukraine

"Government is as unreal, as intangible, as unapproachable as God."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Trades organization is still only in the embryonic stages. Once rid of politicians' tyranny, it can stride out freely and, like the child learning to take his first steps, toddle along the road of independence."

— Fernand Pelloutier,
anarcho-syndicalist (1867 ‐ 1901)
French syndicalist and anarchist theorist.

"For two decades the supporters of Bolshevism have been hammering it into the masses that dictatorship is a vital necessity for the defense of the so-called proletarian interests against the assaults of counter-revolution and for paving the way for socialism."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

"The inherent tendency of the state is to concentrate, to narrow, and monopolize all social activities."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"The strongest bulwark of authority is uniformity; the least divergence from it is the greatest crime."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"The really wholesome, joyous life of the individual or group is not built up with the aid of power and programs that seek to enclose it within artificial constructs and written laws."

— Nestor Makhno,
Anarcho-communist (1888 ‐ 1934)
Anarchist Revolutionary and commander of an independent army in Ukraine

"Without doubt, conventional right, contract and law, even universally and directly exercised, is not natural right, or justice. It is a compromise between anarchy and authority, and everything that is not completely just is injustice."

— Joseph Dejacque,
Anarcho-Communist (1821 ‐ 1864)
French early anarchocommunist, poet and essayist

"Whether individually or as a countless mass, man finds himself at the mercy of this band of drones going under the name of "governors and masters," when in reality they are nothing but straightforward exploiters and oppressors."

— Nestor Makhno,
Anarcho-communist (1888 ‐ 1934)
Anarchist Revolutionary and commander of an independent army in Ukraine

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

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"I do not expect any help for a libertarian revolution from any government in the world... we expect no help, not even from our own government, in the last analysis."

— Buenaventura Durruti,
anarcho-syndicalist (1896 ‐ 1936)
Influential Spanish anarchist and militant

"The reaction always begins where one tries to bring life to a certain norm. That is why yesterday's revolutionaries so often become today's reactionaries."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

"The CNT which is the most powerful organisation in Spain must take up its rightful place in the collective order. Its battles must be in tune with its greatness."

— Buenaventura Durruti,
anarcho-syndicalist (1896 ‐ 1936)
Influential Spanish anarchist and militant

"No one wants a boss, to be a boss, to work under a boss. The people you like working with are the people you respect as individuals."

— Alan Moore,
individualist anarchist
English writer known for graphic novels.

"No, there is no need to fear life without government; we long for it with all of our hearts."

— Ricardo Flores Magon,
Anarcho-communist (1874 ‐ 1922)
Mexican anarchist and revolutionary journalist

"There is no hope even that woman, with her right to vote, will ever purify politics."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"A dictatorial committee composed of workers is certainly the thing one could find most inflated with self-importance and nullity and, consequently, the most anti-revolutionary."

— Joseph Dejacque,
Anarcho-Communist (1821 ‐ 1864)
French early anarchocommunist, poet and essayist

"The liberal government of Spain could have rendered the fascist elements powerless long ago. Instead it compromised and dallied."

— Buenaventura Durruti,
anarcho-syndicalist (1896 ‐ 1936)
Influential Spanish anarchist and militant

"Charity creates a multitude of sins."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Private capitalism, condemned by history, only survives today thanks to the arms race on the one hand, and the comparative failure of state communism on the other."

— Daniel Guerin,
Anarcho-communist (1904 ‐ 1988)
French libertarian communist author

"Dictatorship, whether it is a hydra with a hundred heads or a hundred tails, whether they are autocratic or demagogic, can certainly do nothing for liberty: it can only perpetuate slavery, morally and physically."

— Joseph Dejacque,
Anarcho-Communist (1821 ‐ 1864)
French early anarchocommunist, poet and essayist

"In creating the articles of the Criminal Code, the legislators forgot that they didn't attack the causes, but only the effects, and so they don't in any way destroy crime. In truth, the causes continuing to exist, the effects will necessarily flow from them. There will always be criminals, for today you destroy one, but tomorrow ten will be born."

— Ravachol,
Anarcho-communist (1859 ‐ 1892)
French anarchist and symbol of revolt

"Being an anarchist does not mean one has reached a certainty or said once and for all, "There, from now on I hold the truth and as such, at least from the point of view of the idea, I am a privileged person." Anyone who thinks like this is an anarchist in word alone."

— Alfredo Bonanno,
Political Activist
Italian anarchist and writer

"There is one common struggle against those who have appropriated the earth, the money, and the machines."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"The sworn enemy of your emancipation is the state: it is best embodied by the union of these five stereotypes: the property-owner, the soldier, the judge, the priest and the one who serves them all, the intellectual."

— Nestor Makhno,
Anarcho-communist (1888 ‐ 1934)
Anarchist Revolutionary and commander of an independent army in Ukraine

"Did the seed of tyranny ever bear good fruit? And can you expect liberty to undo in a moment what oppression has been doing for ages?"

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Anarchism... teaches the possibility of a society in which the needs of life may be fully supplied for all, and in which the opportunities for complete development of mind and body shall be the heritage of all."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Workers, the most absolutely necessary part of the whole social structure, without whose services none can either eat, or clothe, or shelter himself, are just the ones who get the least to eat, to wear, and to be housed withal."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Do not preach the straight and narrow way while going joyously upon the wide one. Preach the wide one, or do not preach at all; but do not fool yourself by saying you would like to help usher in a free society, but you cannot sacrifice an armchair for it."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Admittedly, I do have several bones - whole war fields full of bones, in fact - to pick with organised religion of whatever stripe."

— Alan Moore,
individualist anarchist
English writer known for graphic novels.

"Let every dirty, lousy tramp arm himself with a revolver or a knife, and lay in wait on the steps of the palaces of the rich and stab or shoot the owners as they come out. Let us kill them without mercy, and let it be a war of extermination."

— Lucy Parsons,
Anarcho-communist (1853 ‐ 1942)
Influential American labor organizer and radical socialist

"We cannot help but believe that were every law, every title deed, every court, and every police officer or soldier abolished tomorrow with one sweep, we would be better off than now."

— Lucy Parsons,
Anarcho-communist (1853 ‐ 1942)
Influential American labor organizer and radical socialist

"The growth of technology at the expense of human personality, and especially the fatalistic submission with which the great majority surrender to this condition, is the reason why the desire for freedom is less alive among men today and has with many of them given place completely to a desire for economic security."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

"The English are always degrading truths into facts. When a truth becomes a fact it loses all its intellectual value."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"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."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"I say, if death is the penalty for proclaiming truth, then I will proudly and defiantly pay the costly price! Truth crucified in Socrates, in Christ, in Giordano Bruno, in Huss, Galileo still lives - they and others whose number is legion have preceded us on this path. We are ready to follow!"

— August Spies,
Anarcho-syndicalist (1855 ‐ 1887)
Anarchist and labor activist, accused in Haymarket Riot

"There are some potentates I would kill by any and all means at my disposal. They are ignorance, superstition, and bigotry - the most sinister and tyrannical rulers on earth."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"What a strange development of patriotism that turns a thinking being into a loyal machine!"

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"It is the duty of us poor people to work and struggle to break the chains that make us slaves."

— Ricardo Flores Magon,
Anarcho-communist (1874 ‐ 1922)
Mexican anarchist and revolutionary journalist

"I am an anarchist not because I believe anarchism is the final goal, but because there is no such thing as a final goal."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

"It has come to pass in history that the workers have defeated capitalism, but the victory then slipped from their grasp, because some state power emerged, amalgamating the interests of private capitalism and those of state capitalism for the sake of success over the toilers."

— Nestor Makhno,
Anarcho-communist (1888 ‐ 1934)
Anarchist Revolutionary and commander of an independent army in Ukraine

"As for begging, it is safer to beg than to take, but it is finer to take than to beg."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"It is only fair to state, with regard to modern journalists, that they always apologize to one in private for what they have written against one in public."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"Now for the remedy. It is in one word, the only word that ever brought equity anywhere - LIBERTY!"

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"The spirit which animates Emma Goldman is the only one which will emancipate the slave from his slavery, the tyrant from his tyranny - the spirit which is willing to dare and suffer."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"There is an inverse relationship between imagination and money."

— Alan Moore,
individualist anarchist
English writer known for graphic novels.

"Never ever separate thought from action, the things we know, the things we understand, from the things we do, the things with which we carry out our actions."

— Alfredo Bonanno,
Political Activist
Italian anarchist and writer

"Anarchism is a part of human nature, communism its logical extension."

— Nestor Makhno,
Anarcho-communist (1888 ‐ 1934)
Anarchist Revolutionary and commander of an independent army in Ukraine

"We no longer like to think about bureaucracy, yet it informs every aspect of out existence. It's as if as a planetary civilization, we have decided to clap out hands over our ears and start humming whenever the topic comes up."

— David Graeber,
Anarcho-Communist (1961 ‐ 2020)
Anthropologist, anarchist activist and author

"What is a utopia? A dream unrealized, but not unrealizable."

— Joseph Dejacque,
Anarcho-Communist (1821 ‐ 1864)
French early anarchocommunist, poet and essayist

"Anarchism, to me, means not only the denial of authority, not only a new economy, but a revision of the principles of morality. It means the development of the individual as well as the assertion of the individual. It means self-responsibility, and not leader worship."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Crime is naught but misdirected energy."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"The critical human flaw is not that as a species we're particularly aggressive. It's that we tend to respond to aggression very poorly."

— David Graeber,
Anarcho-Communist (1961 ‐ 2020)
Anthropologist, anarchist activist and author

"Anarchism is not merely a doctrine that treats of man's social life, in the narrow meaning with which the term is invested in political dictionaries, and sometimes, at meetings, by our propagandist speakers. It is also a teaching that embraces the whole existence of man as a rounded individual."

— Nestor Makhno,
Anarcho-communist (1888 ‐ 1934)
Anarchist Revolutionary and commander of an independent army in Ukraine

"Private property has crushed true individualism, and set up an individualism that is false. It has debarred one part of the community from being individual by starving them. It has debarred the other part of the community from being individual by putting them on the wrong road and encumbering them."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"Conspiracy theorists actually believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting... the truth is more frightening, nobody is in control. The world is rudderless."

— Alan Moore,
individualist anarchist
English writer known for graphic novels.

"Truth, in the matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"Every anarchist, as an anarchist, would be perfectly willing to surrender his own scheme directly, if he saw that another worked better."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Man, according to the diverse conditions in which he moves, is more or less worthy or unworthy. The more he has a sense of his liberty, the more he also has a feeling of his dignity; the more respect he has for himself, and also for his fellows."

— Joseph Dejacque,
Anarcho-Communist (1821 ‐ 1864)
French early anarchocommunist, poet and essayist

"As far as the problem of the state goes, the lesson of the Russian revolution is written on the wall for all to see."

— Daniel Guerin,
Anarcho-communist (1904 ‐ 1988)
French libertarian communist author

"I think it can be clearly proven that the mental constitution of woman, like that of man, has never failed to rise where restrictions upon equal freedom have been torn down."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Just as the worst slave-owners were those who were kind to their slaves, and so prevented the horror of the system being realized by those who suffered from it, and understood by those who contemplated it, so, in the present state of things in England, the people who do most harm are the people who try to do most good."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"Painters: bring back to life, with your talent and your heart, the memory of the great revolts."

— Fernand Pelloutier,
anarcho-syndicalist (1867 ‐ 1901)
French syndicalist and anarchist theorist.

"I think it can be shown that the law makes ten criminals where it restrains one."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"The power of the state will never deliver joy, happiness and fulfillment to any society. Such power was created by drones for the sole purpose of pillage and indulgence of their often murderous violence against those who do produce, through their toil - whether through determination, intelligence or brawn - everything useful and good in man's life."

— Nestor Makhno,
Anarcho-communist (1888 ‐ 1934)
Anarchist Revolutionary and commander of an independent army in Ukraine

"It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"Ask a method? Do you ask Spring her method? Which is more necessary, the sunshine or the rain? They are contradictory - yes; they destroy each other - yes, but from this destruction the flowers result."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Majorities, as such, afford no guarantees for justice. They are men of the same nature as minorities. They have the same passions for fame, power, and money, as minorities; and are liable and likely to be equally - perhaps more than equally, because more boldly - rapacious, tyrannical and unprincipled, if intrusted with power. There is no more reason, then, why a man should either sustain, or submit to, the rule of the majority, than of a minority."

— Lysander Spooner,
Anarcho-Individualist (1808 ‐ 1887)
American political philosopher and abolitionist

"To weaken authority and criticize its acts is not enough. A negation, in order to be absolute, needs to complete itself with an affirmation. That is why I affirm liberty, why I deduce its consequences."

— Joseph Dejacque,
Anarcho-Communist (1821 ‐ 1864)
French early anarchocommunist, poet and essayist

"First, then, God, being all-just, wishes to do justice; being all-wise, knows what justice is; being all-powerful, can do justice. Why then injustice?"

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"It's one thing to say, "Another world is possible." It's another to experience it, however momentarily."

— David Graeber,
Anarcho-Communist (1961 ‐ 2020)
Anthropologist, anarchist activist and author

"Take the principle that two wrongs don't make a right. If you really took it seriously, that alone would knock away almost the entire basis for war and the criminal justice system."

— David Graeber,
Anarcho-Communist (1961 ‐ 2020)
Anthropologist, anarchist activist and author

"All the results of the mistakes of governments are quite admirable."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"There are three kinds of despots. There is the despot who tyrannizes over the body. There is the despot who tyrannizes over the soul. There is the despot who tyrannizes over the soul and body alike. The first is called the Prince. The second is called the Pope. The third is called the People."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"The most violent element in society is ignorance."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"The worst crime of any type of state is just that it always tries to force the rich diversity of social life into definite forms and adjust it to one particular form, which allows for no wider outlook and regards the previously exciting status as finished."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

"The criminalization of debt was the criminalization of the very basis of human society."

— David Graeber,
Anarcho-Communist (1961 ‐ 2020)
Anthropologist, anarchist activist and author

"Marxist schools have authors. Just as Marxism sprang from the mind of Marx, so we have Leninists, Maoists, Trotksyites, Gramscians, Althusserians... Now consider the different schools of anarchism. There are Anarcho-Syndicalists, Anarcho-Communists, Insurrectionists, Cooperativists, Individualists, Platformists... None are named after some great thinker; instead, they are invariably named either after some kind of practice, or most often, organizational principle."

— David Graeber,
Anarcho-Communist (1961 ‐ 2020)
Anthropologist, anarchist activist and author

"Anarchism does not depend on theory or programs, which try to grasp man's life in its entirety. It is a teaching, which is based on real life, which outgrows all artificial limitations, which cannot be constricted by any system."

— Nestor Makhno,
Anarcho-communist (1888 ‐ 1934)
Anarchist Revolutionary and commander of an independent army in Ukraine

"The CNT's prisoners will have to thank the politicians for their release, and that to me who am an anarchist, has enormous implications. I would like to walk free thanks to the efforts of my comrades and not due to the philanthropy of someone whom I have to fight tooth and nail as soon as I am out."

— Buenaventura Durruti,
anarcho-syndicalist (1896 ‐ 1936)
Influential Spanish anarchist and militant

"All that marching music doesn't concern me."

— Georges Brassens,
anarcho-individualist (1921 ‐ 1981)
Anarchist, French singer-songwriter and poet

"The work of art is to dominate the spectator: the spectator is not to dominate the work of art."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"What would have happened if one had really managed to enter the base and destroy it? I don't know. Probably nothing, possibly everything."

— Alfredo Bonanno,
Political Activist
Italian anarchist and writer

"Alone, without any reference to his neighbours, without any interference, the artist can fashion a beautiful thing; and if he does not do it solely for his own pleasure, he is not an artist at all."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"At their very simplest, anarchist beliefs turn on to two elementary assumptions. The first is that human beings are, under ordinary circumstances, about as reasonable and decent as they are allowed to be, and can organize themselves and their communities without needing to be told how. The second is that power corrupts."

— David Graeber,
Anarcho-Communist (1961 ‐ 2020)
Anthropologist, anarchist activist and author

"No government in the world fights fascism to the death. When the bourgeoisie sees power slipping from its grasp, it has recourse to fascism to maintain itself."

— Buenaventura Durruti,
anarcho-syndicalist (1896 ‐ 1936)
Influential Spanish anarchist and militant

"In the pettiest struggle, born of the needs of the moment, there must be mirrored the great goal of social liberation, and each such struggle must help to smooth the way and strengthen the spirit which transforms the inner longing of its bearers into will and deed."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

"The emancipation of woman is nothing else than the emancipation of humanity - both sexes."

— Joseph Dejacque,
Anarcho-Communist (1821 ‐ 1864)
French early anarchocommunist, poet and essayist

"Instead of taking aim at some vague enemy, it's better wait a moment for him to turn into a friend."

— Georges Brassens,
anarcho-individualist (1921 ‐ 1981)
Anarchist, French singer-songwriter and poet

"I die, as I have lived, a free spirit, an anarchist, owing no allegiance to rulers, heavenly or earthly."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Direct action is the insistence, when faced with structures of unjust authority, on acting as if one is already free."

— David Graeber,
Anarcho-Communist (1961 ‐ 2020)
Anthropologist, anarchist activist and author

"Governments never lead; they follow progress. When the prison, stake or scaffold can no longer silence the voice of the protesting minority, progress moves on a step, but not until then."

— Lucy Parsons,
Anarcho-communist (1853 ‐ 1942)
Influential American labor organizer and radical socialist

"We are certain that communities of joy will emerge from our struggle here and now. And for the first time life will triumph over death."

— Alfredo Bonanno,
Political Activist
Italian anarchist and writer

"If our fathers, in 1776, had acknowledged the principle that a majority had the right to rule the minority, we should never have become a nation; for they were in a small minority, as compared with those who claimed the right to rule over them."

— Lysander Spooner,
Anarcho-Individualist (1808 ‐ 1887)
American political philosopher and abolitionist

"The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"In Russia, the so-called dictatorship of the proletariat has not led to socialism, but to the domination of a new bureaucracy over the proletariat and the whole people."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

""Know thyself" was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, "Be thyself" shall be written."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"The sense of justice and equality, the love of liberty and of human brotherhood - these fundamentals of the real regeneration of society - the communist state suppressed to the point of extermination."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"For us, it is a matter of crushing fascism once and for all. Yes; and in spite of the government."

— Buenaventura Durruti,
anarcho-syndicalist (1896 ‐ 1936)
Influential Spanish anarchist and militant

"When we have undermined the patriotic lie, we shall have cleared the path for the great structure where all shall be united into a universal brotherhood - a truly free society."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"He who refuses to submit is at once labelled "queer," "different," and decried as a disturbing element in the comfortable stagnancy of modern life."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"An anarchist is a man who is careful to always use pedestrian crossings, because he utterly detests talking with policemen."

— Georges Brassens,
anarcho-individualist (1921 ‐ 1981)
Anarchist, French singer-songwriter and poet

"Then hang us! Here we will tread upon a spark, but there, and there, and behind you and in front of you, and everywhere, flames will blaze up."

— August Spies,
Anarcho-syndicalist (1855 ‐ 1887)
Anarchist and labor activist, accused in Haymarket Riot

"It is the secret scandal of capitalism that at no point has it been organized primarily around free labor."

— David Graeber,
Anarcho-Communist (1961 ‐ 2020)
Anthropologist, anarchist activist and author

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

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"The only revolution is to improve yourself, hoping that others follow. Then the world will improve."

— Georges Brassens,
anarcho-individualist (1921 ‐ 1981)
Anarchist, French singer-songwriter and poet

"Anarchy is the obliteration of property."

— Ravachol,
Anarcho-communist (1859 ‐ 1892)
French anarchist and symbol of revolt

"Our cause cannot expect me to become a nun and the movement will not be turned into a cloister."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"There is only one class in the community that thinks more about money than the rich, and that is the poor."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today."

— August Spies,
Anarcho-syndicalist (1855 ‐ 1887)
Anarchist and labor activist, accused in Haymarket Riot

"Man thought that the important thing was to have, and did not know that the important thing is to be. The true perfection of man lies, not in what man has, but in what man is."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"If revolution results only in a change of dictatorship, then it is hardly worth while."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"For the machine, because of the way it is built, can work only in a given direction, no matter who pulls its levers."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

"In fact, communism is the foundation of all human sociability. It is what makes society possible."

— David Graeber,
Anarcho-Communist (1961 ‐ 2020)
Anthropologist, anarchist activist and author

"We have said and we shall not stop repeating it: no intermediaries, no agents and obedient servants who always end by becoming the real masters!"

— Carlo Cafiero,
Anarcho-communist (1846 ‐ 1892)
Italian anarchist, champion of international socialism

"We must be communists because we are anarchists, because anarchy and communism are the two essential terms of the revolution."

— Carlo Cafiero,
Anarcho-communist (1846 ‐ 1892)
Italian anarchist, champion of international socialism

"Humanity can not be made equal by declarations on paper. Unless the material conditions for equality exist, it is worse than mockery to pronounce men equal."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"The Puritans had accused the Quakers of "troubling the world by preaching peace to it." They refused to pay church taxes; they refused to bear arms; they refused to swear allegiance to any government."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"All authority is quite degrading. It degrades those who exercize it, and degrades those over whom it is exercized."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"Now, in a situation where the working class has practically disintegrated, the possibility of an expropriation of the means of production no longer exists."

— Alfredo Bonanno,
Political Activist
Italian anarchist and writer

"Anarchism is the great liberator of man from the phantoms that have held him captive; it is the arbiter and pacifier of the two forces for individual and social harmony."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"Class is massively underrepresented in literature. Most books are written for the middle class, and generally they only have two modes of talking about the working class. The first is a kind of lofty contempt at the vulgarity, the stupidity of those people. The second is a kind of patronizing concern, which paints the working class as nothing but victims."

— Alan Moore,
individualist anarchist
English writer known for graphic novels.

"There is no such thing as harmless power."

— Nestor Makhno,
Anarcho-communist (1888 ‐ 1934)
Anarchist Revolutionary and commander of an independent army in Ukraine

"Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"The authoritarian principle has been proven bankrupt by the experience of the Russian Revolution."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"As regards the mestizo population [of mixed Indian and Spanish heritage], which is the majority of the people of Mexico - with the exception of those who inhabited the great cities and large towns - they held the forests, lands, and bodies of water in common, just as the indigenous peoples did."

— Ricardo Flores Magon,
Anarcho-communist (1874 ‐ 1922)
Mexican anarchist and revolutionary journalist

"Art is individualism, and individualism is a disturbing and disintegrating force. Therein lies its immense value."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"True, we have no conscription; that is, men are not usually forced to enlist in the army, but we have developed a far more exacting and rigid force - necessity."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"Today is the parent of tomorrow. The present casts its shadow far into the future."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"Masters aren't necessary, these people whose idleness is maintained by our labor; everyone must make himself useful to society, by which I mean work according to his ability and his aptitude."

— Ravachol,
Anarcho-communist (1859 ‐ 1892)
French anarchist and symbol of revolt

"Religions die when they are proved to be true. Science is the record of dead religions."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"Poets and musicians: launch your vibrant stanzas that awaken in the soul of the humble a sense of impatience with their servitude and, during those all-too-frequent moments of discouragement, refresh the ardor of the strong."

— Fernand Pelloutier,
anarcho-syndicalist (1867 ‐ 1901)
French syndicalist and anarchist theorist.

"Writers: express your rage against all iniquities during all your waking hours."

— Fernand Pelloutier,
anarcho-syndicalist (1867 ‐ 1901)
French syndicalist and anarchist theorist.

"In vices, the very essence of crime - that is, the design to injure the person or property of another - is wanting."

— Lysander Spooner,
Anarcho-Individualist (1808 ‐ 1887)
American political philosopher and abolitionist

"When [the synthesis anarchist organization] develops itself fully (as happened in Spain in '36) it begins to dangerously resemble a party. Synthesis becomes control."

— Alfredo Bonanno,
Political Activist
Italian anarchist and writer

"Patriotism is the vice of nations."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"Free love? As if love is anything but free! Yes, love is free; it can dwell in no other atmosphere."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"It is society that makes criminals and you, jury members, instead of striking you should use your intelligence and your strength to transform society. In one fell swoop you'll suppress all crime. And your work, in attacking causes, will be greater and more fruitful than your justice, which belittles itself in punishing its effects."

— Ravachol,
Anarcho-communist (1859 ‐ 1892)
French anarchist and symbol of revolt

"While judging me judge all the unfortunate who poverty, combined with natural pride, made criminals, and who wealth or ease would have made honest men. An intelligent society would have made of them men like any other!"

— Ravachol,
Anarcho-communist (1859 ‐ 1892)
French anarchist and symbol of revolt

"So that is why anarchists keep coming back to the question of what anarchism is. Because anarchism is not a political movement. Or rather it is, but only in a minor aspect."

— Alfredo Bonanno,
Political Activist
Italian anarchist and writer

"Revolution is indeed a violent process."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"Only the man who has successfully rid himself of the chains of oppression and seen all the horrors being perpetrated against the human race can be persuaded that his freedom and that of his neighbor are inviolable, as are their lives, and that his neighbor is his brother."

— Nestor Makhno,
Anarcho-communist (1888 ‐ 1934)
Anarchist Revolutionary and commander of an independent army in Ukraine

"In its mad passion for power, the communist state even sought to strengthen and deepen the very ideas and conceptions which the Revolution had come to destroy."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"Power makes you drunk, and the best, when invested with authority, become the worst."

— Carlo Cafiero,
Anarcho-communist (1846 ‐ 1892)
Italian anarchist, champion of international socialism

"Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"A man won't steal, ordinarily, unless that which he steals is something he cannot as easily get without stealing; in liberty the cost of stealing would involve greater difficulties than producing, and consequently he would not be apt to steal."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"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."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"The deeper we trace the political influences in history, the more are we convinced that the "will to power" has up to now been one of the strongest motives in the development of human social forms."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

"A man is none the less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years."

— Lysander Spooner,
Anarcho-Individualist (1808 ‐ 1887)
American political philosopher and abolitionist

"Nobody believes or expects that the coming revolution, however formidable it should be, will realize unadulterated anarchist communism."

— Fernand Pelloutier,
anarcho-syndicalist (1867 ‐ 1901)
French syndicalist and anarchist theorist.

"Our standard account of monetary history is precisely backwards. We did not begin with barter, discover money, and then eventually develop credit systems. It happened precisely the other way around."

— David Graeber,
Anarcho-Communist (1961 ‐ 2020)
Anthropologist, anarchist activist and author

"A government that shall punish all vices impartially is so obviously an impossibility, that nobody was ever found, or ever will be found, foolish enough to propose it."

— Lysander Spooner,
Anarcho-Individualist (1808 ‐ 1887)
American political philosopher and abolitionist

"Comrades, let us hurry on the revolution as quickly as we can, since, as you see, our enemies are letting us die like this - in prison or in exile, or crazed with sorrow."

— Carlo Cafiero,
Anarcho-communist (1846 ‐ 1892)
Italian anarchist, champion of international socialism

"Anarchism seeks to arouse the consciousness of oppression, the desire for a better society, and a sense of the necessity for unceasing warfare against capitalism and the State."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Anarchism does not mean bloodshed; it does not mean robbery, arson, etc. These monstrosities are, on the contrary, the characteristic features of capitalism. Anarchism, or socialism, means the reorganization of society upon scientific principles and the abolition of causes which produce vice and crime. Capitalism first produces these social diseases and then seeks to cure them by punishment."

— August Spies,
Anarcho-syndicalist (1855 ‐ 1887)
Anarchist and labor activist, accused in Haymarket Riot

"What is a debt, anyway? A debt is just the perversion of a promise. It is a promise corrupted by both math and violence."

— David Graeber,
Anarcho-Communist (1961 ‐ 2020)
Anthropologist, anarchist activist and author

"Anarchism is just the way people act when they are free to do as they choose, and when they deal with others who are equally free."

— David Graeber,
Anarcho-Communist (1961 ‐ 2020)
Anthropologist, anarchist activist and author

"The fact that Sacco and Vanzetti were murdered although obviously innocent proves only one thing: that the concept of innocence and guilt is not an objective fact but is a measure imposed by the class struggle."

— Alfredo Bonanno,
Political Activist
Italian anarchist and writer

"Our authority is our own conscience. She is the one that pushes us, she is our spur. We are slaves, but to our duty."

— Ricardo Flores Magon,
Anarcho-communist (1874 ‐ 1922)
Mexican anarchist and revolutionary journalist

"The only thing that can console one for being poor is extravagance. The only thing that can console one for being rich is economy."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"The Mexican people hate, by instinct, authority and the bourgeoisie."

— Ricardo Flores Magon,
Anarcho-communist (1874 ‐ 1922)
Mexican anarchist and revolutionary journalist

"If the existence of bullshit jobs seems to defy the logic of capitalism, one possible reason for their proliferation might be that the existing system isn't capitalism."

— David Graeber,
Anarcho-Communist (1961 ‐ 2020)
Anthropologist, anarchist activist and author

"Anarchism is the usher of science - the master of ceremonies to all forms of truth. It would remove all barriers between the human being and natural development."

— Lucy Parsons,
Anarcho-communist (1853 ‐ 1942)
Influential American labor organizer and radical socialist

"Modern anarcho-syndicalism is a direct continuation of those social aspirations which took shape in the bosom of the First International and which were best understood and most strongly held by the libertarian wing of the great workers' alliance."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

"Was traditional anarchism, idealistic and prone to splits, not destined to fail as soon as it found itself confronted by an implacable social struggle, for which it was not in the least way prepared?"

— Daniel Guerin,
Anarcho-communist (1904 ‐ 1988)
French libertarian communist author

"The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"As long as the working-people fold hands and pray the gods in Washington to give them work, so long they will not get it."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Consumer debt is the lifeblood of our economy. All modern nation states are built on deficit spending. Debt has come to be the central issue of international politics. But nobody seems to know exactly what it is, or how to think about it."

— David Graeber,
Anarcho-Communist (1961 ‐ 2020)
Anthropologist, anarchist activist and author

"Organised religion has corrupted one of the purest, most powerful and sustaining things in the human condition. It has imposed a middle management, not only in our politics and in our finances, but in our spirituality as well."

— Alan Moore,
individualist anarchist
English writer known for graphic novels.

"All that which is not liberty is against liberty. Liberty is not a thing that can be allocated."

— Joseph Dejacque,
Anarcho-Communist (1821 ‐ 1864)
French early anarchocommunist, poet and essayist

"The police are making more anarchists than I could do in ten years."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"In America, the president reigns for four years, and journalism governs for ever and ever."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"We need genuine democracy, the definition of which is "the people shall rule.""

— Alan Moore,
individualist anarchist
English writer known for graphic novels.

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