Enemy of Entropy

Archive for 8 July 2008

TotD: Emma Goldman on Love

8 July 2008, 3:48 am. 3 Comments. Filed under Love, Relationships, Thought of the Day.

Love, the strongest and deep­est ele­ment in all life, the har­bin­ger of hope, of joy, of ecstasy; love, the defier of all laws, of all con­ven­tions; love, the freest, the most pow­er­ful molder of human des­tiny; how can such an all-​​compelling force be syn­ony­mous with that poor lit­tle State and Church-​​begotten weed, marriage?

Free love? As if love is any­thing but free! Man has bought brains, but all the mil­lions in the world have failed to buy love. Man has sub­dued bod­ies, but all the power on earth has been unable to sub­due love. Man has con­quered whole nations, but all his armies could not con­quer love. Man has chained and fet­tered the spirit, but he has been utterly help­less before love. High on a throne, with all the splen­dor and pomp his gold can com­mand, man is yet poor and des­o­late, if love passes him by. And if it stays, the poor­est hovel is radi­ant with warmth, with life and color. Thus love has the magic power to make of a beg­gar a king. Yes, love is free; it can dwell in no other atmosphere.

Anarchism and Other EssaysEmma Gold­man, “Mar­riage and Love,” Anar­chism and Other Essays (1911)

 

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