France – Anarchist Quotes

"When society refuses you the right to exist, you have to take it and not help it along, which is cowardice."

— Clement Duval,
Serial Burglar (1850 ‐ 1935)
French anarchist and criminal.

"The best defense for the new society lies in it asserting its revolutionary character because this quickly creates conditions in which no attempt at a restoration of the bourgeoisie will find a solid base."

— Georges Fontenis,
Libertarian Revolutionary (1920 ‐ 2010)
French libertarian communist, revolutionary and syndicalist

"What consoles me is that there are combatants that remain, because despite all the persecution, the anarchist idea has germinated and the theoretical revolution is ending, being quickly replaced by the practice of action."

— Clement Duval,
Serial Burglar (1850 ‐ 1935)
French anarchist and criminal.

"In the midst of the unspeakable chaos of philosophies of all kinds and of various moralities we can cull out the constant and persistent tendency which pushes the individual towards life. Towards an ever better life, freer and more noble: that is, towards happiness."

— Andre Lorulot,
Provocative Anarchist (1885 ‐ 1963)
French Anarchist, pacifist and free-thinker.

"It is obvious that in order to act you need a body of coherent ideas. Contradictions and hesitations prevent ideas getting through."

— Georges Fontenis,
Libertarian Revolutionary (1920 ‐ 2010)
French libertarian communist, revolutionary and syndicalist

"The leaders of the "official" anarchist movement, still preoccupied with hiding the weaknesses and the inconsistencies, blurring the responsibility, avoiding the fundamental theoretical problems, avoid discussion or are satisfied with a few reluctant confessions and regrets."

— Georges Fontenis,
Libertarian Revolutionary (1920 ‐ 2010)
French libertarian communist, revolutionary and syndicalist

"Anarchy is the negation of all authority."

— Clement Duval,
Serial Burglar (1850 ‐ 1935)
French anarchist and criminal.

"The anarchist believes that the government is the limit of liberty. He hopes, by destroying government, to expand liberty. The true limit is not government, but society. Government is a social product like another. We don't destroy a tree by cutting one of its branches."

— Han Ryner,
Pacifist Philosopher (1861 ‐ 1938)
French individualist anarchist and pacifist

"There is nothing proletarian -- or revolutionary about immoralist cynicism."

— Georges Fontenis,
Libertarian Revolutionary (1920 ‐ 2010)
French libertarian communist, revolutionary and syndicalist

"The wise man knows that the words "The happiness of the people," have no meaning. Happiness is internal and individual. It can only be produced within oneself."

— Han Ryner,
Pacifist Philosopher (1861 ‐ 1938)
French individualist anarchist and pacifist

"The anarchists have but one party, and that is humanity."

— Clement Duval,
Serial Burglar (1850 ‐ 1935)
French anarchist and criminal.

"Ah well, this is the crime that I am here for: for not recognizing the right of these people to die of plenty while the producers, the creators of all social wealth, starve."

— Clement Duval,
Serial Burglar (1850 ‐ 1935)
French anarchist and criminal.

"The [specifically anarchist] organization is not a union or contractual understanding between individuals bringing their own artificial ideological convictions. It arises and develops as an organic, natural way because it corresponds to a real need."

— Georges Fontenis,
Libertarian Revolutionary (1920 ‐ 2010)
French libertarian communist, revolutionary and syndicalist

"The wise man notes that reforms change the names of things and not the things themselves. The slave became a serf, and then a salaried worker: nothing has been reformed but language. The wise man remains indifferent to these questions of philology."

— Han Ryner,
Pacifist Philosopher (1861 ‐ 1938)
French individualist anarchist and pacifist

"You have accused me of theft, as if a worker that has nothing could be a thief."

— Clement Duval,
Serial Burglar (1850 ‐ 1935)
French anarchist and criminal.

"I passionately love humanity, and have dedicated my best efforts to the fight for the oppressed. All tyrants disgust me -- and all those who put up with them, adulate them, support them. After having brought them down will I make myself a tyrant in their place? I would be disgusted with myself."

— Andre Lorulot,
Provocative Anarchist (1885 ‐ 1963)
French Anarchist, pacifist and free-thinker.

"People, beware of demagogues. They are your worst enemies. They caress you only so they can better shear you."

— Andre Lorulot,
Provocative Anarchist (1885 ‐ 1963)
French Anarchist, pacifist and free-thinker.

"I am not a robber but one who has been robbed, someone who brings justice, who says that everything belongs to everyone, and that it is this clear logic of the anarchist idea, which makes your legs tremble."

— Clement Duval,
Serial Burglar (1850 ‐ 1935)
French anarchist and criminal.

"Experience proves to the wise man that revolutions never have lasting results. Reason tells him that lies are not refuted by lies, and that violence isn't destroyed by violence."

— Han Ryner,
Pacifist Philosopher (1861 ‐ 1938)
French individualist anarchist and pacifist

"I am not a thief but a sincere revolutionary, who has the courage of his convictions and who is devoted to his cause."

— Clement Duval,
Serial Burglar (1850 ‐ 1935)
French anarchist and criminal.

"Man will only be able to act usefully when he will have managed to destroy all lies, freed himself from all the superstitions given birth to by error, sought the truth in the jumble of knowledge and observations."

— Andre Lorulot,
Provocative Anarchist (1885 ‐ 1963)
French Anarchist, pacifist and free-thinker.

"The act of revolution brings an immediate transformation in the sense that the foundations of society are radically changed, but a progressive transformation in the sense that communism is a constant development."

— Georges Fontenis,
Libertarian Revolutionary (1920 ‐ 2010)
French libertarian communist, revolutionary and syndicalist

"Is work a social or a natural law? Work is a natural law worsened by society."

— Han Ryner,
Pacifist Philosopher (1861 ‐ 1938)
French individualist anarchist and pacifist

"The individualist is like a wolf who prefers the dangers of liberty to the routine of domestication. Individualists compare themselves to the bird who would prefer to suffer and struggle on its branch than to die a slow death in the servitude of a gilded cage."

— Andre Lorulot,
Provocative Anarchist (1885 ‐ 1963)
French Anarchist, pacifist and free-thinker.

"In the face of dogmas, of despots, of the sentimental, of charlatans and regimenters, humanity's future belongs to reason."

— Andre Lorulot,
Provocative Anarchist (1885 ‐ 1963)
French Anarchist, pacifist and free-thinker.

"The wise man knows that the oppressed who complain aspire to be oppressors. He relieves them according to his means, but he doesn't believe in salvation through common action."

— Han Ryner,
Pacifist Philosopher (1861 ‐ 1938)
French individualist anarchist and pacifist

"We have been expropriated from our own language by television, from our songs by reality TV contests, from our flesh by mass pornography, from our city by the police and from our friends by wage-labor."

— The Invisible Committee,
Anarcho-Communist
An anarchist collective author

"Thirty years of crisis, mass unemployment, and flagging growth, and they still want us to believe in the economy. . . . We have to see that the economy is itself the crisis."

— The Invisible Committee,
Anarcho-Communist
An anarchist collective author

"We have to see that the economy is not in crisis, the economy is itself the crisis. It's not that there's not enough work, it's that there is too much of it."

— The Invisible Committee,
Anarcho-Communist
An anarchist collective author

"The situation is like this: they hired our parents to destroy this world, and now they'd like to put us to work rebuilding it, and -- to add insult to injury -- at a profit."

— The Invisible Committee,
Anarcho-Communist
An anarchist collective author

"Are not laws dangerous which inhibit the passions? Compare the centuries of anarchy with those of the strongest legalism in any country you like and you will see that it is only when the laws are silent that the greatest actions appear."

— Marquis De Sade,
Egoist anarchist (1740 ‐ 1814)
French philosopher and political activist

"We’re not depressed; we’re on strike. For those who refuse to manage themselves, “depression” is not a state but a passage, a bowing out, a sidestep towards a political disaffiliation."

— The Invisible Committee,
Anarcho-Communist
An anarchist collective author

"Whoever calls himself revolutionary and speaks of dictatorship is only an imbecile or a traitor."

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

"I regretted Mathillet's death because he was a prole like us, a slave of bourgeois society. It was his gesture that was fatal."

— Jules Bonnot,
Anarcho-nihilist (1876 ‐ 1912)
French illegalist and bank robber

"Thus, on the one hand, the "unionised" are today in a position to understand, study and receive libertarian teachings: on the other, anarchists need not fear that, in taking part in the corporative movement, they will be required to forswear their independence."

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

"If you wish to remain men, do not be soldiers; if you cannot stand humiliations do not don the uniform. If, however, you have already committed the imprudence of clothing yourselves therewith, and some day you find yourselves in the situation of being unable to control your indignation, then neither insult nor strike your superiors; LET DAYLIGHT THROUGH THEM! You will pay no more for it."

— Jean Grave,
Anarcho-communist (1854 ‐ 1939)
Influential French anarcho-communist writer

"In order to destroy an effect you must first destroy the cause. If there is theft it is only because there is abundance on one hand and famine on the other; because everything only belongs to some. The struggle will only disappear when men will put their joys and suffering in common, their labors and their riches, when all will belong to everyone."

— Marius Jacob,
Anarcho-Individualist (1879 ‐ 1954)
French anarchist and prolific burglar

"There is a conflict between the static and dynamic conceptions of anarchism, between those who want to gregarize and stabilize anarchism and those who want the revolutionary, individualist spirit to remain and simmer permanently within anarchism."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"As man seeks justice in equality, so society seeks order in anarchy."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"Intellectuals: put yourself at the service of the weak. Meditate upon this; this is the really urgent work."

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

"The word anarchist seems to me too restrictive and I don't use it unless it is joined by the word communist."

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

"It is not the product of their labors to which the workers have a right. It is the satisfaction of their needs, whatever the nature of those needs."

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

"I am a famous man. My name has been trumpeted to the four corners of the globe. All those people who go through so much trouble to get others to talk about them, yet don't succeed, must be very jealous about the publicity that the press has given my humble self."

— Jules Bonnot,
Anarcho-nihilist (1876 ‐ 1912)
French illegalist and bank robber

"The proprietor, producing neither by his own labor nor by his implement, and receiving products in exchange for nothing, is either a parasite or a thief."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"During humankind's long centuries societies have risen and fallen, all alike in this one fact which rules all history: the great are protected, the small are crushed."

— Octave Mirbeau,
Anarcho-syndicalist, Anarcho-pacifist (1848 ‐ 1917)
French novelist, playwright and anarchist

"The morality which is born out of the present conception of the state and social hierarchy is necessarily corrupt."

— Elisee Reclus,
Anarcho-Communist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French geographer, writer and anarchist

"Communism is inequality, but not as property is. Property is the exploitation of the weak by the strong. Communism is the exploitation of the strong by the weak."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"The anarchist individualists do not present themselves as proletarians, absorbed only in the search for material amelioration, tied to a class determined to transform the world and to substitute a new society for the actual one."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"Do not quarrel or deal in personalities. Listen to opposing arguments after you have presented your own. Learn how to remain silent and reflect. Do not try to get the better in an argument at the expense of your own sincerity."

— Elisee Reclus,
Anarcho-Communist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French geographer, writer and anarchist

"The most complete freedom for the individual, his right to full satisfaction of all his needs, are absolutely legitimate claims, and there was no need to go out to dig up Nietszche and Stirner to give them some consecration."

— Jean Grave,
Anarcho-communist (1854 ‐ 1939)
Influential French anarcho-communist writer

"Today, go blossom in the shadow of the dark and sad prisons. Go, bloom near the somber captive, and tell them truly that we love them. Tell them that through fleeting time, everything belongs to the future, that the livid conqueror can die more surely than the conquered."

— Louise Michel,
Anarcho-communist, Feminist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French anarchist and feminist revolutionary

"Although a firm friend of order, I am (in the full force of the term) an anarchist."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"Property is impossible."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"To be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated at, regulated, docketed, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, assessed, weighed, censored, ordered about, by men who have neither the right, nor the knowledge, nor the virtue."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"While we do preach perfect communism, it is not in the certainty or expectation of communism's being the social form of the future: it is in order to further men's education, and round it off as completely as possible, so that, by the time that the day of conflagration comes, they will have attained maximum emancipation."

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

"Louis Blanc has gone so far as to reverse the republic motto, as if he wanted to revolutionize the revolution. He no longer says, as everybody else says, and according to tradition, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity; he says Equality, Fraternity, Liberty!"

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"These revolutionaries, bare-necked politickers, have preserved with the imprint of the collar, the moral stain of servitude, the stiff neck of despotism."

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

"Those who produce everything have nothing, and those who produce nothing have everything. Such a state of affairs can only produce antagonism between the laboring class and the owning, i.e., do-nothing, class. The fight breaks out and hatred delivers its blows."

— Marius Jacob,
Anarcho-Individualist (1879 ‐ 1954)
French anarchist and prolific burglar

"In anarchy, there are as many "moralities" as there are anarchists, taken individually, or groups or associations of anarchists. Thus, in anarchy, one is amoral."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"Theft is the restitution, the regaining of possession. Instead of being cloistered in a factory, like in a penal colony; instead of begging for what I had a right to, I preferred to rebel and fight my enemy face to face by making war on the rich, by attacking their goods."

— Marius Jacob,
Anarcho-Individualist (1879 ‐ 1954)
French anarchist and prolific burglar

"The man who would completely isolate himself from his fellow men, would return to the state of a brute animal, if the better armed species had not killed him before."

— Jean Grave,
Anarcho-communist (1854 ‐ 1939)
Influential French anarcho-communist writer

"Libertarian communism is as yet only an approximation, and not a dogma of absolute truth."

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

"The only generals that we should follow are the generals of the little tin soldiers."

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

"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

"All of the exploited, legal or illegal, cooperate in the state of domination."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"The government of man by man (under whatever name it be disguised) is oppression."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

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

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

"To take something from a person and keep it for oneself: that is robbery. To take something from one person and then turn it over to another in exchange for as much money as you can get: that is business."

— Octave Mirbeau,
Anarcho-syndicalist, Anarcho-pacifist (1848 ‐ 1917)
French novelist, playwright and anarchist

"I am sorry to see friends impelled by passion drifting to the idea of vengeance, which is so little scientific, so sterile. But armed defense of a right is not violence."

— Elisee Reclus,
Anarcho-Communist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French geographer, writer and anarchist

"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

"As man grows refined, he comes also to live not only for himself and in himself."

— Jean Grave,
Anarcho-communist (1854 ‐ 1939)
Influential French anarcho-communist writer

"Power is cursed, that is why I am an anarchist."

— Louise Michel,
Anarcho-communist, Feminist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French anarchist and feminist revolutionary

"No, it is not life that is bad, but the conditions in which we live. Therefore we shall address ourselves not to life, but to these conditions: let us change them."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"Anarchists no more want to be masters than they want to be servants - they no more want to exercise violence than to submit to it. They expose, they propose, but they do not impose."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"I stand ready to negotiate, but I want no part of laws: I acknowledge none."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"We had never understood the meaning of these words, so common and yet so sacred: Justice, equity, liberty."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"Liberty is not daughter of order but mother of order."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"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.

"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

"It is not a crumb of bread, but the harvest of the entire world that the human race needs, without exploiters and without exploited."

— Louise Michel,
Anarcho-communist, Feminist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French anarchist and feminist revolutionary

"They will die of hunger at the proprietor's door, on the edge of that property which was their birthright; and the proprietor, watching them die, will exclaim, "So perish idlers and vagrants!""

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"Resignation is death. Revolt is life."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"We must tear down the pyramids, the tumuli, the tombs. We must bring the wheelbarrows into the cemeteries so as to rid humanity of what they call respect for the dead, but which is the cult of carrion."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"You who are resigned, look: I spit on your idols. I spit on God, the Fatherland, I spit on Christ, I spit on the flag, I spit on capital and the golden calf; I spit on laws and Codes, on the symbols of religion; they are baubles, I could not care less about them, I laugh at them..."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and 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

"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

"Those that envision the goal from the first steps, those that want the certitude of reaching it before walking never arrive."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"Instead of entrusting the defence of your interests to others, see to the matter by yourselves. Instead of trying to choose advisers that will guide you in future actions, do the thing yourselves, and do it now! Men of good will shall not have to look long in vain for the opportunity. To put on others' shoulders the responsibility of one's actions is cowardice."

— Elisee Reclus,
Anarcho-Communist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French geographer, writer and anarchist

"You complain, but you want to maintain the system where you vegetate. Occasionally you rebel, but it's only ever just to start doing the same thing again from scratch."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"Libertarians make a dogma of liberty; anarchists make it an end."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"I am absolutely convinced that only a small minority, a very small minority, among men, are seriously reached and profoundly moved by our propaganda of criticism, of doubt, of rebellion, of free investigation, of independent research. On the other hand, it is clear that our first interest lies always in seeking to increase this minority; to keep it, under all circumstances alive, active, refreshed. Our own happiness depends on it."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"All my political ideas boil down to this formula: political federation or decentralization."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"What do I, a proletarian, care for the tranquility and security of the rich? I care as little for public order as for the proprietor's safety. I ask to live a laborer; otherwise I will die a warrior."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"Once the individual owns his own tools and his product, capitalism ceases to exist."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"Not to speak of war and its crimes, from the guilt of which no civilized state is free, can it be denied that chief among the consequences of the existing social system are murder, maladies, and death."

— Elisee Reclus,
Anarcho-Communist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French geographer, writer and anarchist

"Yes: all men believe and repeat that equality of conditions is identical with equality of rights; that property and robbery are synonymous terms; that every social advantage accorded, or rather usurped, in the name of superior talent or service, is iniquity and extortion. All men in their hearts, I say, bear witness to these truths; they need only to be made to understand it."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"You should reject every authority, but also commit yourself to a deep respect for all sincere convictions. Live your own life, but also allow others the complete freedom to live theirs."

— Elisee Reclus,
Anarcho-Communist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French geographer, writer and anarchist

"I am not appreciated in this society. I have the right to live, and while your imbecilic criminal society tries to stop me, well too bad for it, too bad for you!"

— Jules Bonnot,
Anarcho-nihilist (1876 ‐ 1912)
French illegalist and bank robber

"Whosoever lays a hand on me in order to govern me is a usurper and a tyrant; I declare him my enemy."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"All laws are wicked, all judgments are unfair, all judges are wrong, all prisoners are innocent."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"The work of the anarchist is above all a work of critique. The anarchist goes, sowing revolt against that which oppresses, obstructs, opposes itself to the free expansion of the individual being."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"Our destiny is to reach that state of ideal perfection in which nations will no longer need to be under the tutelage of a government or of another nation; it is the absence of government, it is anarchy, the highest expression of order."

— Elisee Reclus,
Anarcho-Communist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French geographer, writer and anarchist

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

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

"What I want is the revolution, which will cause poverty to disappear. I hail the revolution, which is inevitable, and I hope that it will come soon to bring liberty and equality to the suffering."

— Louise Michel,
Anarcho-communist, Feminist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French anarchist and feminist revolutionary

"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

"Children, by nature, are keen, passionate and curious. What was referred to as laziness is often merely an awakening of sensitivity, a psychological inability to submit to certain absurd duties, and a natural result of the distorted, unbalanced education given to them. This laziness, which leads to an insuperable reluctance to learn, is, contrary to appearances, sometimes proof of intellectual superiority and a condemnation of the teacher."

— Octave Mirbeau,
Anarcho-syndicalist, Anarcho-pacifist (1848 ‐ 1917)
French novelist, playwright and anarchist

"The greatest danger of bombs is in the explosion of stupidity that they provoke."

— Octave Mirbeau,
Anarcho-syndicalist, Anarcho-pacifist (1848 ‐ 1917)
French novelist, playwright and anarchist

"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.

"What is property? It is robbery!"

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"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

"Each seeks his way, we seek ours and think the day that freedom and equality reign, mankind will be happy."

— Louise Michel,
Anarcho-communist, Feminist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French anarchist and feminist revolutionary

"Very young, the virus of justice was inoculated to me and it earned me many a trouble."

— Marius Jacob,
Anarcho-Individualist (1879 ‐ 1954)
French anarchist and prolific burglar

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

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

"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

"All parties without exception, when they seek for power, are varieties of absolutism."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"Philosophy will not change the course of events: destiny will fulfill itself regardless of prophecy. Besides, must not justice be done and our education be finished?"

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"Laws: We know what they are, and what they are worth!"

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"The individualist anarchist critiques to free themselves and others."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"We'll burn off our last round against the cops, and if they don't care to come, we'll certainly know how to find them."

— Jules Bonnot,
Anarcho-nihilist (1876 ‐ 1912)
French illegalist and bank robber

"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

"We should not put forward revolutionary action as a means of social reform, because that pretended means would simply be an appeal to force, to arbitrariness, in brief, a contradiction."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"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

"The task of teachers, those obscure soldiers of civilization, is to give to the people the intellectual means to revolt."

— Louise Michel,
Anarcho-communist, Feminist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French anarchist and feminist revolutionary

"Anarchy is the obliteration of property."

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

"As you have undertaken to destroy these races, not inferior, but merely latecomer, you tend in like manner to destroy the working class, which you also qualify as inferior."

— Jean Grave,
Anarcho-communist (1854 ‐ 1939)
Influential French anarcho-communist writer

"Without the rule of one, there would be light, there would be truth, there would be justice. The rule of one is a crime."

— Louise Michel,
Anarcho-communist, Feminist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French anarchist and feminist revolutionary

"Those who would like to see society transformed without shocks must make up their minds to surrender the hope; it is impossible. Ideas in the course of evolving lead to revolution."

— Jean Grave,
Anarcho-communist (1854 ‐ 1939)
Influential French anarcho-communist writer

"We are apolitical and take no part in party quarrels. In all spheres we are for the voluntary against the obligatory; for consent against imposition; for reason against violence; for free examination against dogmatism."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"No one who knew that the flag consisted of a bit of black stuff on the end of a broomstick would believe it, and no more do you, sir. I wished to show that the laborers were dying of hunger and in need of work. It is the flag of strikes and famines."

— Louise Michel,
Anarcho-communist, Feminist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French anarchist and feminist revolutionary

"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

"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.

"To go towards freedom, it becomes necessary to develop our individuality."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"To truly know freedom, one must develop the human being until one makes sure that no authority has the possibility of existing."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"But though egoism or altruism, separately, each pushed to its extreme, is pernicious to the individual and society, united they are resolved into a third term, which is the law of future societies. This law is solidarity."

— Jean Grave,
Anarcho-communist (1854 ‐ 1939)
Influential French anarcho-communist 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

"The revolution will be the flowering of humanity as love is the flowering of the heart."

— Louise Michel,
Anarcho-communist, Feminist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French anarchist and feminist revolutionary

"Fear of the people is the defect of all those who belong to authority. The people, as concerns power, is the enemy."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"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.

"I repeat that I am a political prisoner. The prosecution, whatever the attorney general may say, is political and nothing else."

— Louise Michel,
Anarcho-communist, Feminist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French anarchist and feminist revolutionary

"Side neither with nations nor with parties. Be neither Russians, Poles nor Slavs. Rather, be men who hunger for truth, free from any thoughts of particular interests, and from speculative ideas concerning the Chinese, Africans or Europeans. The patriot always ends up hating the foreigner, and loses the sense of justice that once kindled his enthusiasm."

— Elisee Reclus,
Anarcho-Communist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French geographer, writer and anarchist

"Since it seems that every heart that beats for freedom has no right to anything but a little slug of lead, I demand my share. If you let me live, I shall never cease to cry for vengeance."

— Louise Michel,
Anarcho-communist, Feminist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French anarchist and feminist revolutionary

"We love to have agents provocateurs in the party, because they always propose the most revolutionary motions."

— Louise Michel,
Anarcho-communist, Feminist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French anarchist and feminist revolutionary

"We don't have faith; we have absolutely no confidence in our success."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"When "voluntary association" is spoken of, voluntary adhesion to a plan, a project, a given action, this implies the possibility of refusing the association, adhesion or action."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"The individualist anarchist is never accountable to anyone but himself for his acts and gestures."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"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

"Equality! I had always thought that it was the natural fruit of Liberty, which has no need of theory nor of constraint."

— Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
Mutualist (1809 ‐ 1865)
French anarchist and political philosopher

"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

"Nor does [our kind of individualist] wish to have anything in common with those armchair Nietzcheans or weekend Stirnerites who imagine, poor wretches, that they are "affirming their individuality" by petty dishonesty in money matters, or by forcing themselves upon the companion of a friend in prison."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"Do something right for once: throw off the straitjacket of legislation; wash yourself off, and clean your body, the social body, of all the parasites and vermin that are devouring you. And then - only then - will you be able to fully come to life."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"Go ahead, vote! Have faith in your delegates, believe in those you have voted for. But if you voted, don't complain."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"Today the anarchists are numerous enough to overthrow the current state of things, and if that hasn't yet happened, it's because we must complete the education of the followers, give birth in them to the energy and the firm will to assist in the realization of their projects."

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

"As moderate as they were, as sensible as they proved themselves to be, the founders of the Circle turned out to be too advanced in the judgment of the guardians of moral order."

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