Down with the schoolmasters and down with the priests, down with the redeemers and down with sterile icons! Down with the era of messiahs and saviors… - Federica Montseny

" "

Down with the schoolmasters and down with the priests, down with the redeemers and down with sterile icons! Down with the era of messiahs and saviors, of shepherds put at the head of human herds! Down with the icons, the personifications in wood or in flesh of human ignorance and powerlessness; down with the icons which, dead or alive, attempt to assume the role of the directors of our lives, the depositories of eternal verities, the representatives of absolute ideas, the holders of religious or moral power over men.

English
Collect this quote

About Federica Montseny

Frederica Montseny i Mañé (Catalan: [munˈsɛɲ]; 1905–1994) was an anarchist and intellectual from Spain who served as Minister of Health and Social Assistance in the government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Civil War. She is known for being the first woman in Spanish history to be a cabinet minister and one of the first female ministers in Western Europe.

Also Known As

Native Name: Frederica Montseny i Mañé
Alternative Names: Federica Montseny Mañé
Unlimited Quote Collections

Organize your favorite quotes without limits. Create themed collections for every occasion with Premium.

Related quotes. More quotes will automatically load as you scroll down, or you can use the load more buttons.

Additional quotes by Federica Montseny

it must not be forgotten that this is not only a civil war-a social war is also being waged. It is the war of the common people against the rich, against the militarists, against the politicians-all of whom were responsible for the misery and poverty of the proletariat. The political parties were incapable of creating a new moral value in Spain and were unable to oppose the military conspirators. They were mere accomplices of the traitor generals.

In Russia, Communist Party administration has succeeded in reconstructing economy-but at the cost of a dictatorship and the submission of a whole people to mere obedience. It is our idea to construct a society directed by the workers' organisations having the complete control of the economic wealth of the land.

Go Premium

Support Quotewise while enjoying an ad-free experience and premium features.

View Plans
The love of liberty and the sense of human dignity are the basic elements of the Anarchist creed. We need no messiah and no sterile conception of a god menacing us with hell and purgatory. Love, as the basis of life will bind us together. But we must create in each person a sense of responsibility in order that each one of us can have the right to enjoy all his rights. This is an unique movement for us all, because circumstances to-day in Spain have never before existed during any other revolution. Neither the French nor the Russian revolution. To-day, a sense of sacrifice impels us to renounce our aspirations and individual interests for the well-being of all. It is this sense of responsibility which shows us the path of duty and assists us in performing it. In this way, we will avoid the fatal mistake of dictatorship. In Spain, we should have enough intelligence, enough sense of individual and collective responsibility to do for ourselves that which would be imposed upon us by a dictatorship. Very soon we will give to the world the example of a free land, that stood up without arms opposed, as a single man, to fascism, to the mentality of capitalism. It will be an example, worthy of being followed by the rest of the world. We are proud of our responsibility. The greatest joy of our lives is a determination to sacrifice all-to give all-that this dream will be realised-the union of the proletariat to obtain our fundamental aims: BREAD AND FREEDOM FOR ALL!

Loading...