Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
The existence of States prevents the arrival of true liberty.
In plain terms
You cannot have true freedom if a state exists.
What can you take from it?
States and liberty are incompatible.

Where it applies

  • political theory
  • revolutionary planning
  • government analysis

Putting it to work

  • dismantle state structures
  • study stateless societies
  • advocate decentralization

Questions to consider

  • Is the state always an obstacle to freedom?
  • Can states be reformed rather than abolished?

Another view

Many democracies allow significant liberty within a state.

More from Mikhail Bakunin

  1. No theory, no ready-made system, no book that has ever been written will save the world. I cleave to no system. I am a true seeker.

    Permalink to quote #45

  2. The free human society may arise at last, no longer organised ... from the top down... but rather starting from the free individual and the free association an…

    Permalink to quote #47

  3. Liberty means that a man is recognized as free and treated as free by those who surround him.

    Permalink to quote #44

Related quotes

  1. This distinction between invasion and resistance, between government and defence, is vital. Without it there can be no valid philosophy of politics. Upon this …

    Benjamin TuckerBenjamin Tucker quote #16

  2. The State is the altar of political freedom and, like the religious altar, it is maintained for the purpose of human sacrifice.

    Emma GoldmanEmma Goldman quote #96

  3. Diejenige Regierung ist die beste, die sich uberflussing macht.

    Wilhelm von HumboldtWilhelm von Humboldt quote #1