“Though largely unsuccessful, it is to the measure of success they did achieve that we are indebted for such liberties as we do retain, and not to the general government.”

— Voltairine de Cleyre

Anarchism & American Traditions (1908)
Context: Among the fundamental likeness between the Revolutionary Republicans and the Anarchists is the recognition that the little must precede the great; that the local must be the basis of the general; that there can be a free federation only when there are free communities to federate; that the spirit of the latter is carried into the councils of the former, and a local tyranny may thus become an instrument for general enslavement. Convinced of the supreme importance of ridding the municipalities of the institutions of tyranny, the most strenuous advocates of independence, instead of spending their efforts mainly in the general Congress, devoted themselves to their home localities, endeavoring to work out of the minds of their neighbors and fellow-colonists the institutions of entailed property, of a State-Church, of a class-divided people, even the institution of African slavery itself. Though largely unsuccessful, it is to the measure of success they did achieve that we are indebted for such liberties as we do retain, and not to the general government.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Though largely unsuccessful, it is to the measure of success they did achieve that we are indebted for such liberties a…" by Voltairine de Cleyre?

Voltairine de Cleyre 78

American anarchist writer and feminist 1866–1912

Related quotes

“God, what a ghastly enterprise to be in, though--and what an odd way to achieve success. I'm an exhibitionist who wants to hide, but is unsuccessful at hiding; therefore, somehow I succeed.”

David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) American fiction writer and essayist

“It is generally mentioned here, that Jews should be excluded from economic life as soon as possible. It seems that the Slovak government performs real and rapid measures to achieve this goal. Honorable Assembly! We are delighted to welcome it.”

János Esterházy (1901–1957) Czechoslovak member of Czechoslovak national parliament, russian nation politician and hungary nation polit…

About anti-Semitic measures to exclude Jews from economic and social life. Parliamentary speech on October 8, 1940.
Persecution of Jews

“To achieve victory at the cost of eroding civil liberties would not really be a victory. We cannot change the core identity of our Nation and claim success. And our identity has never been in doubt — we are a free people, dedicated to liberty for the popular and the unpopular, committed to the ideal that the People govern themselves, and determined to have a government that cannot extinguish or suppress the rights that make us Americans.”

Alberto Gonzales (1955) 80th United States Attorney General

Speech regarding Civil Liberties and the War on Terrorism (November 20, 2006)

“We need the strong support of the fans to continue to achieve success, and hopefully not only today, the first success we have achieved; I hope to achieve a championship, and we will …”

Cristhiam Lagos

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz7pTxwy1dI Interview on Youtube

“Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

“Our stubbornness is right, because we want to preserve the liberty which we have in Christ. Only by preserving our liberty shall we be able to retain the truth of the Gospel inviolate.”

Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation

Source: Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (1535), Chapter 2

“We must also remember that we did not win (2018 Malaysian general election) easily, and after becoming the government, we need to do what is best for the people. It is not impossible for us to lose the nation's leadership if we slack and repeat the mistakes of the past government.”

Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (1952) Malaysian politician

Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (2018) cited in " Wan Azizah reiterates plan to step down once Anwar becomes PM https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2018/09/412288/wan-azizah-reiterates-plan-step-down-once-anwar-becomes-pm" on New Straits Times, 17 September 2018

“When the government makes loans or subsidies to business, what it does is to tax successful private business in order to support unsuccessful private business.”

Henry Hazlitt (1894–1993) American journalist

“Money is a stupid measure of achievement, but unfortunately it is the only universal measure we have.”

Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865–1923) Mathematician and electrical engineer

citation needed
Attributed

“It is one of the great achievements of our rule in India that, even if they do not entirely carry them out, educated Indians do accept British principles of justice and liberty. We are condemned by Indians not by the measures of Indian ethical conceptions but by our own, which we have taught them to accept. It is precisely this acceptance by politically conscious Indians of the principles of democracy and liberty which puts us in the position of being able to appeal to them to take part with us in the common struggle; but the success of this appeal and India's response does put upon us the obligation of seeing that we, as far as we may, make them sharers in the things for which we and they are fighting.”

Clement Attlee (1883–1967) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Letter to the Cabinet (January 1942), quoted in Paul Addison, The Road to 1945 (London: Pimlico, 1994), pp. 202-203
1940s

“Though largely unsuccessful, it is to the measure of success they did achieve that we are indebted for such liberties as we do retain, and not to the general government.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Voltairine de Cleyre 78

Related quotes

Related topics