List of Anarchy Quotes in English with Images

Anarchy quotes frequently embody the core philosophy of rejecting hierarchical authority, emphasizing the importance of self-governance as an alternative means of organizing society. These quotes encapsulate the fundamental ideals of freedom and individuality, promoting the notion that human societies are capable of self-organization without the need for imposed structures or rigid governance systems. The essence of these sentiments lies in a profound belief in the capacity of individuals and communities to collaborate and manage their affairs on their own terms.

Prominent thinkers such as Emma Goldman and Mikhail Bakunin have articulated particularly powerful and resonant quotes that emphasize both personal liberty and the importance of cooperative communal relationships. Goldman’s advocacy for the liberation of the individual and her critique of state power highlight the potential for societies to thrive through voluntary associations rather than enforced hierarchies. Similarly, Bakunin’s emphasis on the dignity of the individual alongside collective action champions the idea that true freedom must be collective in nature, resisting the tendencies of oppression that often accompany centralized authority.

These expressions and insights challenge conventional political paradigms by urging individuals and communities to critically examine the existing power dynamics that govern their lives. They provoke thought and discussion around societal organization and the legitimacy of authority, compelling people to reconsider the structures that are often taken for granted as essential for social order. The powerful nature of these quotes resonates deeply with those who feel disillusioned by the pervasive control exerted by state mechanisms, encouraging them to envision alternatives that prioritize decentralization and autonomy.

In essence, anarchy quotes serve not only as reflections of a philosophy that critiques current systems of power but also as an inspiration for movements advocating for a more liberated and self-directed society. They ignite a passion for change, fostering a belief that individuals and communities can unite for a common purpose, free from the constraints imposed by hierarchical governance. Through this lens, the discourse surrounding anarchy invites ongoing exploration into the possibilities of a society guided by mutual aid and respect, rather than one defined by oppression and dominance.

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned.

- Famous Anarchy Quotes by William Butler Yeats Download or Share

Anarchy is order, government is civil war.

- Anarchy Quotes by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Download or Share

Anarchy is a state of society where the only government is reason.

- Michael Schwab Quotes Download or Share

The anarchist and the Christian have a common origin.

- Anarchy Quote by Friedrich Nietzsche Download or Share

A culture without property, or in which creators can't get paid, is anarchy, not freedom.

- Anarchy Quotes by Lawrence Lessig Download or Share

Innocence is drowned in anarchy. The best lack conviction given time to think, and the worst are full of passion without mercy.

- Anarchy Quotes by Joni Mitchell Download or Share

Anarchy is merely the illusion of liberty.

- Anarchy Quotes by Stephan Attia Download or Share

Why anarchy? Because anything less would be uncivilized.

- Famous Anarchy Quotes by Jeffrey Tucker Download or Share

Anarchy is as detestable in grammar as it is in society.

- Maurice Druon Download or Share

Kids are anarchy writ large.

- Anarchy Quotes by Jeffrey Kluger Download or Share

Anarchy is the only slight glimmer of hope.

- Mick Jagger Download or Share

Whenever government abandons law, it proclaims anarchy. 

- Famous Anarchy Quotes by Edmund Burke

Whenever government abandons law, it proclaims anarchy.

- Famous Anarchy Quotes by Edmund Burke Download or Share

The ideally non-violent state will be an ordered anarchy. 

- Anarchy Quotes by Mahatma Gandhi

The ideally non-violent state will be an ordered anarchy.

- Anarchy Quotes by Mahatma Gandhi Download or Share

The anarchy that threatens a degrading society is not its punishment, but its remedy. 

- Anarchy Quotes by Nicolas Gomez Davila

The anarchy that threatens a degrading society is not its punishment, but its remedy.

- Anarchy Quotes by Nicolas Gomez Davila Download or Share

Without real nonviolence, there would be perfect anarchy.

- Mahatma Gandhi

Hunger is the mother of anarchy.

- Herbert Hoover

The media is the right arm of anarchy.

- Dan Brown

Democracy leads to anarchy, which is mob rule.

- Plato

Tyranny and anarchy are never far apart.

- Jeremy Bentham

Where there is authority, there is no freedom.

- Peter Kropotkin

In anarchy there is no automatic harmony.

- Kenneth Waltz

Without anarchy, there would be chaos.

- Jeffrey Tucker

Anarchy is the stepping stone to absolute power.

- Napoleon Bonaparte

In morals as in politics anarchy is not for the weak.

- Mary Mccarthy

In times of anarchy one may seem a despot in order to be a saviour.

- Victor de Riqueti

Anarchy doesn't mean out of control; it means out of their control.

- Jim Dodge

The mischiefs of anarchy have been equaled by the mischiefs of government.

- Henry Ward Beecher

When anarchy is declared, the first thing we do, let's kill all the anarchists.

- Craig Bruce

Anarchy raised its seductive head. He could do anything; there was nothing that was not allowed.

- Paul Russell

Anarchy could never get a man to the moon, but it may the only mode that can allow us to survive on earth.

- Sheldon B. Kopp

Tyranny and anarchy are alike incompatible with freedom, security, and the enjoyment of opportunity.

- Jeane Kirkpatrick

Anarchy is the sure consequence of tyranny; for no power that is not limited by laws can ever be protected by them.

- John Milton

Anarchy is no guarantee that some people won't kill, injure, kidnap, defraud, or steal from others. Government is a guarantee that some will.

- Gustave de Molinari

If anarchy is chaos, and chaos is war, why wasn't a single war started by anarchists?

- Jakub Bozydar Wisniewski

People, if given the choice between anarchy and dictatorship, will always choose dictatorship because anarchy is the worst dictatorship of all.

- Eric Sevareid

Lawlessness is lawlessness. Anarchy is anarchy is anarchy. Neither race nor color nor frustration is an excuse for either lawlessness or anarchy.

- Thurgood Marshall

Anarchy is a function, not of a society's simplicity and lack of social organization, but of it's complexity and multiplicity of social organizations.

- Colin Ward

Liberty begets anarchy, anarchy leads to despotism, and despotism brings about liberty once again. Millions of human beings have perished without being able to make any of these systems triumph.

- Honore de Balzac

We have to claim anarchy and realize that systems have a life of their own that is anti-humanist. There is definitely an anti-humanist tendency in all systems.

- Terence McKenna

It is not honest inquiry that makes anarchy; but it is error, insincerity, half belief and untruth that make it.

- Thomas Carlyle

Anarchy is law and freedom without force. Despotism is law and force without freedom. Barbarism force without freedom and law. Republicanism is force with freedom and law.

- Immanuel Kant

Anarchy is like custard cooking over a flame; it has to be constantly stirred or it sticks and gets heavy, like government.

- Tom Robbins

There are different forms of anarchy and different currents in it. I must, first say very simply what anarchy I have in view. By anarchy I mean first an absolute rejection of violence.

- Jacques Ellul

People sometimes inquire what form of government is most suitable for an artist to live under.  To this question there is only one answer.  The form government that is most suitable to the artist in no government at all.

- Oscar Wilde Quotes

Sadly, anarchy has gotten such a bad name. We don't really see much evidence of it because people associate it with reckless abandon.

- Bell Hooks

The ordinary man is an anarchist.  He wants to do as he likes.  He may want his neighbor to be governed, but he himself doesn't want to be governed. He is mortally afraid of government officials and policemen.

- George Bernard Shaw Quotes

My thinking tends to be libertarian.  That is, I oppose intrusions of the state into the private realm - as in abortion, sodomy, prostitution, pornography, drug use, or suicide,  all of which I would strongly defend as matters of free choice in a representative democracy.

- Camille Paglia Quotes

Anarchism is the only philosophy which brings to man the consciousness of himself; which maintains that God, the State, and society are non-existent, than their promises are null and void, since they can be fulfilled only through man's subordination.  Anarchism is therefore the teacher of the unity of life; not merely in nature, but in man.

- Emma Goldman Quotes

The consistent anarchist should be a socialist, but a socialist of a particular sort.  He will not only oppose alienated and specialized labor and look forward to the appropriation of capital by the whole body of workers, but he will also insist that this appropriation be direct, not exercised by some elite force acting in the name of the proletariat. Some sort of council communism is the natural form of revolutionary socialism in an industrial society.  It reflects the intuitive understanding that democracy is largely a sham when the industrial system is controlled by any form of autocratic elite, whether of owners, managers, and technocrats, a "Vanguard" party, or a State bureaucracy.

- Quote by Noam Chomsky

Still, instead of trusting what their own minds tell them, men have as a rule a weakness for trusting others who pretend to supernatural sources of knowledge.

- Arthur Schopenhauer