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O height and depth of purity, which fears so much that the children will not know who their fathers are, because, forsooth, they must rely upon their mother's word instead of the hired certification of some priest of the Church, or the Law! I wonder if the children would be improved to know what their fathers have done. I would rather, much rather, not know who my father was than know he had been a tyrant to my mother. I would rather, much rather, be illegitimate according to the statutes of men, than illegitimate according to the unchanging law of Nature.

Voltairine de Cleyre#14

LawNatureFamilyMorality

About this quote

What does it mean?
Knowing a tyrant father is worse than not knowing; natural law supersedes human statutes.
In plain terms
It is better not to know a tyrant father than to know.
What can you take from it?
Natural bonds matter more than legal ones.

Where it applies

  • family ethics

Putting it to work

  • reconsider legal family definitions

Questions to consider

  • What defines a legitimate parent?

Another view

Legal records help establish rights and inheritance.

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