"The individual is the true reality of life. A cosmos in himself, he does not exist for the State, nor for that abstraction called 'society,' or the 'nation,' which is only a collection of individuals."
by:
Emma Goldman
(1869-1940) Russian-born anarchist revolutionary, political activist, writer
Source:
The Place of the Individual in Society
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Reader comments about this quote:
 -- Anonymous      
an astute in the obvious observation, we hold this truth to be self evident.
 -- Mike, Norwalk     
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    With Liberty and Justice for all?
     -- J Carlton, Calgary     
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    Okay but a little narcissistic, is it not? For where do we find this entity "the individual"? Is it I or is it you? If I am the individual does that mean that you are not. If we all are the individual then should not the quote say "the individuals" (that is pluarl) are the true reality of life. And does'nt the "S" make all of the difference in the world in this quote.
     -- Waffler, Smith     
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    Waffler, great question. Your quandary clearly demarcates the venue of a freeman's lawful administration from socialism, collectivism, democracy and all other freedom destroying communal dictum"S". Any system that is based on the forest (or any percentage thereof - "S") and not the individual sovereign tree, is despotic, tyrannous, and incapable of comprehending or recognizing the God of Nature's laws, justice, inalienable rights, freedom or liberty..
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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    If the individual does not exist for the state, would someone please tell that to Nancy, Ralph, and the gang.
     -- jim k, Austin, Tx     
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    The individual is a concept not a reality. No man is an island unto himself is a reality.
     -- Waffler, Smith     
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     -- Logan, Memphis, TN      
    The individual is the reality because the very first individual is God or the creator of us all.
     -- Anon     
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    Waffler perhaps you see yourself as an ant in a colony, I do not. Nor will I comply to the "borg" like mentality of ~ you will assimilate. Over my dead body...
     -- J Carlton, Calgary     
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    Waffler, OK ! ! I really can't quit laughing, really laughing out loud. Still laughing. I guess I always new Waffler wasn't real or any perceivable domain of reality. Waffler is just a concept, wow. I'm still laughing. I'm real, J Carlton, jim, Logan, and Anon here are all real. Reality is, that not one of the real people here have any more or less rights than any other single sovereign, and are subject equally to law and justice. In fact, the nation, state, and society are abstracts that don't exist if there is fewer than one of the individual sovereign - that's reality.
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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    I agree 100% with your assessment Mike.
     -- Anon     
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    Well, Waffler has succintly revealed his true mind -- Waffler as an individual does not exist -- he is but a concept, but in a group, then he exists, then he has rights. This is the double-think required to follow 'the world according to collectivism.' Even Liberals defend the rights of the individual -- Waffler is so far out of his mind that he dare not even admit that a living breathing human is not 'real' until he bows to the group. His words make sense now when he denies the idea of natural born rights. Talk about a sick and twisted mind -- no doubt the result of his government schooling and Funk & Wagnalls... the perfect stooge for statists and poster boy for fascism for which an individual is but a means for state control.
     -- E Archer, NYC     
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    The best thing for all is to be able to chose when to be there for society and when to be there for oneself. That is freedom.
     -- Elisabeth, Astoria, NY     
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    Good stuff you guys. So glad you started to relate to things and the world around us. Individual is a concept, a very good concept and one we should strive to use to create a better world. But I ask you to think further, in a can of worms do you see them as individuals or just a bunch of worms. In the universe at large do you think they see mother earth as a planet of individuals or just so to speak a "can of worms". We must strive for individuality it is not handed to us, we may be theoretically be born with it but we must exercise at and at the same time know the other concept which is equally true. No man is an island unto himself. An individual should truly be able to exist without parenting, teaching, and all of the other support we have had since birth. Name a person who has done so. So glad the somber Mike has been able to laugh today. Using my definition of individual I respectfully and humbly suggest that I am the only one on this site who consistenly strives to be one. I find most in lock step with an anti-Washington mentality, whose strings are constanly being pulled. One whose strings are so easily pulled as are Mikes et al are not individuals in my view just Pavlovian type knee jerk dogs.
     -- Waffler, Smith     
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    Mike think for a minute think, I know it is hard but do it. If you and all the guys you mentioned are part of the group called the individuals are then any one of you an individual, I suggest that you are not. You are just part of a group or gang called "The Individuals". Quit kidding yourself and jerking yourself around.
     -- Waffler, Smith     
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    You guys are right. Waffler is so completely programmed the concept of individualism has him utterly baffled. Poor guy can't even begin to get his head around the idea.
     -- J Carlton, Calgary     
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    If you go around yelling "I am an individual", you probably really are not a fully functioning independent person. That German phiolosopher who had "The Individual" engraved on his tombstone died half crazy. Tell me something if you protest loudly "I am an individual" what do you think of or call the other 6 or 7 billion human beings on earth "The non-individual". Or better yet if you believe in the Golden Rule "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" and you believe that you are an "individual" what do you think the next guy is and the next guy etcetera. And when these next guys join together into clubs, parties, organizations etcetera what do call them. Quit kidding yourselves and jerking yourselves around. Basically you guys are saying that you are stiving to be an individual only in relation to something else that you consider to be other than an individual. True individuals have the strength to join with others not sneer and abhor others and groups. The person who sneers at groups of others is a psychopath.
     -- Waffler, Smith     
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    Waffler, when I get up in the morning I am an indvidual. When I sit in a crowded room I am an individual amongst other individuals. So I lose my individuality to what, the conceptual idea that I'm a member of the crowd that's in the room? Now is when I become real? Individuality is a concept that becomes real only when I leave the room or go back to bed at night? You really ought to see a psychiatrist. You really need some help.
     -- Anon     
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    Jeez, Waffler, do you really think you are making sense? You are burying yourself. You have demonstrated the difficulty of a collectivist to discern the elements in a group. You see a herd of cows, the rancher sees Bertha, Ethel, Phyllis and that raging bull Duke. You fail to discern boundaries, jurisdictions, attitudes, directions, speeds, ANYTHING that makes a distinction between this and that. The 'democratic' idea that the most powerful group gets to 'rule' is the very anti-thesis of individual rights. In fact, it is the individual who rules himself, and a collectivist cannot accept that for it screws up the plans of the clubs, parties, organizations, etc. that have pooled their power together. I believe Waffler worships power, and he feels an individual is but a poor soul who has not yet submitted to the authority of the might of the group. This is collectivist conditioning, and Waffler got the full burn. "You will be assimilated."
     -- E Archer, NYC     
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    People who go around yelling or publishing "I am an Individual" are not independent persons but are crazy, just like Nietzche and that other guy the Dane who had it engraved on his tombstone. These guys all died nuts what does that tell you about guys who have to boast about being individuals, They are not. True indiviudals who have a sense of self and of who they are have no problem in joining with others, forming governments etcetera. The guys like Archer who yells in effect "I am an individual" is simply a sociopath.
     -- Waffler, Smith     
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    This discussion reminds me of another poet by the name of Emma... Emma Lazarus, who in 1883, wrote the original... The New Collossus... of which the main part of the poem is engraved on the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York City. The New Collossus Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame, "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips.... "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" by Emma Lazarus, New York City, 1883
     -- Jo Lockhart, Gainesville, Tx.     
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    It is upon the recognition of the singularity of the dignity of the individuality of the individual that Civilization, ultimately, is founded.
     -- Patrick Henry, Red Hill     
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    This quotation demonstrates the age old difficulty of moving or negotiating between the general and specific in philosophy, politics and social science in addressing the aggregated needs of groups of individuals in different circumstances and subject to the impact of different power structures. If individuality is a universal truism then how does my choice to own a mobile phone or drive a Tesla electric car impact on the individuality of a 6 year old living in the DRC who has to dig up the cobalt used to make batteries, in a highly toxic environment using hand tools? The quotation posits an extreme philosophical point of view that in many senses is socially and politically meaningless as it ignores the fact that individuals need to interact socially and often globally - individuality is not subsumed but it's impact on others has to be acknowledged. I think this the point that Waffler is making - if it is then I would tend agree with him.
     -- Mick, Manchester     
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    Waffler, it has been over a decade since you originally posted; AND, I'm still laughing. I never cease to be amazed at the woke "Progressives" that can only see themselves and others as a wheel's cog (and for you ole Trekkies) or a unit of the Borg — unable to even begin to fathom individuals may unite and remain individuals (rights and liberty ONLY pertain to the individual).

     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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    Compassion without focus, the double minded individual is soon tossed to and fro, seeking to cure the worlds ills through/by legalizing that which the individual cannot legally do/commit against another individual. Individual sovereigns knowingly exercise personal responsibility. And teach such doctrine. Fear is a driving force when lacking knowledge and understanding. How soon a herd is moved by one well trained dog. In a nation such as America, it is best to "know" the source of ones individual sovereignty. Then step lightly with respect. 
     -- Ronw13, ID     
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    If individuality is a concept, then there is no "I" or "you."  When asked 'where is Waffler?', we point to "you."  You DO exist whether alone or in a group.  The denial of individuality is the denial of oneself.  You are but a concept, and I suppose then so are we.  When do we become real, Waffler?  Who am I?  Is that question even mine to answer?  Or is it answered by 'society'?  This sort of thinking really is insane.
     -- E Archer, NYC     
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    Waffler, you once claimed to be Christian. The parable at Matthew 18:12-14 describes well the status and importance of the ONE. By your perspective here stated, only sociopaths have individual sovereignty as a faculty of birth (each progeny's Father being King) with each sovereign's eternal inheritance existing of inalienable rights and liberty. It is clear the Marxist dogma so intensely incorporated in to the occupying statist theocracy infesting this land is at war with man's nobility. No matter your ecclesiastical word salad, it does NOT change the reality of the "ONE". Please ! ! !, call me crazy, I will wear the nomenclature as a badge of honor.
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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     -- jim k, Austin      

    Waffler has provided a great service by putting himself out there and demonstrating the collectivist mind.  We really do appear insane to him — and Waffler is not alone!  I am inclined to believe that Waffler represents a huge percentage of the general populace, often referred to as 'progressive liberals.'  The 'concept' of individuality is really incomprehensible to them.

    It really comes down to the age old questions: "Who am I?  Why am I here?"  Free individuals answer those questions for themselves.  The collectivist answers them for everyone.  Since liberty requires responsibility, those that do not take responsibility cannot know freedom, and they can't even conceive of liberty for anyone else either.

    Those with designs to rule over others, cultivate blame in the 'useful idiots' in order to foment envy and hatred of the self-directed, pointing out the inequality of individuals in order to level all to an equal subservient field under their direction.  

    It really boggles my brain — how can an advocate of 'social justice' square being ruled by an elite?  How can the individual be merged with the group while being dictated to by individuals elevated within a group to do so?  Isn't 'democracy' then just a 'concept'?  In the end, someone is still elevated above the others to answer the questions — "you are who I say you are, you are here for the reasons I say you are." 

    Every utopian dream starts with an individual, all that is needed is compliance from everyone else to follow it.  Freedom lets every individual hold their own dreams and work towards their fulfilment — and as long as my dream doesn't require anyone else to bend to my will, and others' dreams don't require my involuntary compliance, all is for the best.  This is Liberty and the Responsibility that comes with it.


     -- E Archer, NYC     
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    Isn't it rather incomprehensible that for many this is NOT an astute in the obvious observation, nor self-evident? 🤦‍♂️
     -- E Archer, NYC     
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    Let me help with what should be obvious...

    Q: "a little narcissistic, is it not?" 
    A: Not.

    Q: "Is it I or is it you?" 
    A: We are both individuals.

    Q: "If I am the individual does that mean that you are not." 
    A: No.

    Q: "If we all are the individual then should not the quote say "the individuals" (that is pluarl) are the true reality of life."
    A: No, 'the individual' refers to the singular person, 'the individuals' refers to a group and completely changes the meaning of the point Emma Goldman is making.

    Q: "And does'nt the "S" make all of the difference in the world in this quote." 
    A: No.

    There, hope that helps anyone else that might be confused.



     -- E Archer, NYC     
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    Archer Yep 😁
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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