Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Quotes on Knowledge
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a French political philosopher and the first thinker to call himself an anarchist. This page collects quotes attributed to Pierre-Joseph Proudhon on the topic of knowledge, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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“Idée générale de la revolution au XIXe siècle (1851), p. 235, as cited in Anarchism (1908) by Paul Eltzbacher, p. 76”
La République est l'organisation par laquelle toutes les opinions, toutes les activités demeurant libres, le Peuple, par la divergence même des opinions et des volontés, pense et agit comme un seul homme. Dans la République, tout citoyen, en faisant ce qu'il veut et rien que ce qu'il veut, participe directement à la législation et au gouvernement, comme il participe à la production et à la circula -
“Solution Du Problême Social , quoted by Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn in The Menace of the Herd (1943), p. 328”
Money, money, always money — that is the essence of democracy . Democracy is more expensive than monarchy; it is incompatible with liberty. -
“Idée Générale de la Révolution au XIXe Siècle [ The General Idea of the Revolution ] (1851); quoted in The Anarchists (1964) by James Joll, Ch. 3, p. 78”
To be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated at, regulated, docketed, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, assessed, weighed, censored, ordered about, by men who have neither the right , nor the knowledge , nor the virtue . ... To be governed is to be at every operation, at every transaction, noted, registered, enrolled, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, ass -
“Du principe Fédératif [ Principle of Federation ] (1863)”
All my economic ideas as developed over twenty-five years can be summed up in the words: agricultural-industrial federation. All my political ideas boil down to a similar formula: political federation or decentralization. -
“As quoted in Philosophy at Work : A Constructive Approach to Philosophy (1960) by Ralph Bubrich Winn”
All parties without exception, when they seek for power , are varieties of absolutism . -
“I stand ready to negotiate, but I want no part of laws: I acknowledge none; I protest against every order with which some authority may feel pleased on the basis of some alleged necessity to over-rule my free will. Laws: We know what they are, and what they are worth! They are spider webs for the rich and mighty, steel chains for the poor and weak, fishing nets in the hands of government .”
As quoted in "The Authority Principle" in No Gods, No Masters : An Anthology of Anarchism (1980) Daniel Guérin, as translated by Paul Sharkey (1998), p. 90 -
“As quoted in "The Authority Principle" in No Gods, No Masters : An Anthology of Anarchism (1980) Daniel Guérin, as translated by Paul Sharkey (1998), p. 90”
I stand ready to negotiate, but I want no part of laws: I acknowledge none; I protest against every order with which some authority may feel pleased on the basis of some alleged necessity to over-rule my free will. Laws: We know what they are, and what they are worth! They are spider webs for the rich and mighty, steel chains for the poor and weak, fishing nets in the hands of government .