"All that was an element of progress in the past or an instrument of moral and intellectual improvement of the human race is due to the practice of mutual aid, to the customs that recognized the equality of men and brought them to ally, to unite, to associate for the purpose of producing and consuming, to unite for purpose of defence to federate and to recognize no other judges in fighting out their differences than the arbitrators they took from their own midst. Each time these institutions, issued from popular genius, when it had reconquered its liberty for a moment, — each time these institutions developed in a new direction, the moral level of society, its material well-being, its liberty, its intellectual progress, and the affirmation of individual originality made a step in advance. And, on the contrary, each time that in the course of history, whether following upon a foreign conquest, or whether by developing authoritarian prejudices men become more and more divided into governors and governed, exploiters and exploited, the moral level fell, the well-being of the masses decreased in order to insure riches to a few, and the spirit of the age declined."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Peter Kropotkin
161 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Peter Kropotkin →
Related Quotes
"That we are Utopians is well known. So Utopian are we that we go the length of believing that the Revolution can and …"
"Oh, the beautiful utopia, the lovely Christmas dream we can make as soon as we admit that those who govern represent …"
"Have not prisons — which kill all will and force of character in man, which enclose within their walls more vices tha…"
"Once a German jurist of great renown, Ihering, wanted to sum up the scientific work of his life and write a treatise,…"
"It is often said that Anarchists live in a world of dreams to come, and do not see the things which happen today. We …"
"Ah, if men were those superior beings that the utopians of authority like to speak to us of, if we could close our ey…"
"What we do want is so to arrange things that every human being born into the world shall be ensured the opportunity i…"
"Has not experience demonstrated quite recently that Jack the Ripper performed his exploits under the eye of the Londo…"
"When we ask for the abolition of the State and its organs we are always told that we dream of a society composed of m…"
"When we ask ourselves by what means a certain moral level can be maintained in a human or animal society, we find onl…"