--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I do not see how a barbarous community…" description: "\"I do not see how a barbarous community and a civilized community can constitute a state. I think we must get rid of slavery or we must get rid of freed..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d07/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_civilized_i-do-not-see-how-a-barbarous-community-a_1505065.png" --- # I do not see how a barbarous community and a civilized… ![“I do not see how a barbarous community and a civilized community can constitute a state. I think we must get rid of slavery or we must get rid of freedom.” quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d07/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_civilized_i-do-not-see-how-a-barbarous-community-a_1505065.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d07/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_civilized_i-do-not-see-how-a-barbarous-community-a_1505065.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d07/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_civilized_i-do-not-see-how-a-barbarous-community-a_1505065.png) > “I do not see how a barbarous community and a civilized community can constitute a state. I think we must get rid of slavery or we must get rid of freedom.” [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A state cannot contain both barbarism and civilization; freedom and slavery are mutually exclusive. **In simple terms:** A state must choose between freedom and oppression. Key Takeaway Advocate for liberty and reject oppression. Themes politics ethics freedom Mood thoughtful serious Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - policy drafting - activism - education programs Key Concepts state theory human rights Questions to Reflect On - What defines a civilized society? - Can freedom exist without some constraints? A Different Perspective Balancing security and liberty is complex. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Civilized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized/) [Civilized Community](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-community-2642169/) [Community](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community/) [Community Constitute](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community-constitute-5526990/) [Constitute State](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/constitute-state-5526991/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Rid Slavery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rid-slavery-732459/) [Slavery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slavery/) [Slavery freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slavery-freedom/) [Slavery Rid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slavery-rid-732460/) [States](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/states/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [I think we must get rid of slavery or we must get rid of freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/i-think-we-must-get-rid-of-slavery-or-we-must-get-rid-of-freedom/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Slavery it is that makes slavery; freedom, freedom. The slavery of women happened when the men were slaves of kings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/slavery-it-is-that-makes-slavery-freedom-freedom-the-slavery-of-women/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Slavery is no scholar, no improver; it does not love the whistle of the railroad; it does not love the newspaper, the mailbag, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/slavery-is-no-scholar-no-improver-it-does-not-love-the-whistle-of-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [We got rid of colonialism, we got rid of slavery, and we got rid of apartheid everyone thought each one of them was impossible.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muhammad-yunus/we-got-rid-of-colonialism-we-got-rid-of-slavery-and-we-got-rid-of/) [Muhammad Yunus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muhammad-yunus/) > [Slavery, you know, is nothing else than the unwilling labor of many. Therefore to get rid of slavery it is necessary that people should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/slavery-you-know-is-nothing-else-than-the-unwilling-labor-of-many/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [It would be well for those interested to reflect whether there now exists, or ever has existed, a wealthy and civilized community in which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-c-calhoun/it-would-be-well-for-those-interested-to-reflect-whether-there-now/) [John C. Calhoun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-c-calhoun/) > [“For its own sake, a civilized community could no more disregard equity than it dare tolerate an imperfect drainage system.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerome-k-jerome/for-its-own-sake-a-civilized-community-could-no-more-disregard-equity/) [Jerome K. Jerome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerome-k-jerome/) > [The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-stuart-mill/the-only-purpose-for-which-power-can-be-rightfully-exercised-over-any-2/) [John Stuart Mill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-stuart-mill/) > [The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community against his will is to prevent harm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-stuart-mill/the-only-purpose-for-which-power-can-be-rightfully-exercised-over-any/) [John Stuart Mill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-stuart-mill/) > [“We went down into the dungeons where the captives were held. There was a church above one of the dungeons -- which tells you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-h-obama/we-went-down-into-the-dungeons-where-the-captives-were-held-there-was/) [Barack H. Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-h-obama/) > [Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs Receive our air, that moment they are free; They touch our country, and their shackles fall.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-cowper/slaves-cannot-breathe-in-england-if-their-lungs-receive-our-air-that/) [William Cowper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-cowper/) > [The artist must elect to fight for Freedom or for Slavery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-robeson/the-artist-must-elect-to-fight-for-freedom-or-for-slavery/) [Paul Robeson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-robeson/) > [In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/in-giving-freedom-to-the-slave-we-assure-freedom-to-the-free/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [“Work or die’—this is the essence of slavery, of compulsion. And yet this is our world. Most of our world is enslaved but does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-peate/work-or-die-this-is-the-essence-of-slavery-of-compulsion-and-yet-this/) [Robert Peate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-peate/) > [Frederick Douglas taught that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/frederick-douglas-taught-that-literacy-is-the-path-from-slavery-to/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) ## More by Ralph Waldo Emerson > [The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-history-of-mankind-interests-us-only-as-it-exhibits-a-steady-gain/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [If we will not interfere with our thought, but will act entirely, or see how the thing stands in God, we know the particular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-we-will-not-interfere-with-our-thought-but-will-act-entirely-or/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-there-is-any-period-one-would-desire-to-be-born-in-is-it-not-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [A man cannot speak but he judges himself. With his will or against his will he draws his portrait to the eye of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-man-cannot-speak-but-he-judges-himself-with-his-will-or-against-his/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Consideration is the soil in which wisdom may be expected to grow, and strength be given to every up-springing plant of duty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/consideration-is-the-soil-in-which-wisdom-may-be-expected-to-grow-and/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“There is then creative reading as well as creative writing. When the mind is braced by labor and invention, the page of whatever book…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/there-is-then-creative-reading-as-well-as-creative-writing-when-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The order of things consents to virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-order-of-things-consents-to-virtue/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Life only avails, not the having lived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/life-only-avails-not-the-having-lived/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Another success is the post-office, with its educating energy augmented by cheapness and guarded by a certain religious sentimentin mankind; so that the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/another-success-is-the-post-office-with-its-educating-energy/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [A child reminds us that playtime is an essential part of our daily routine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-child-reminds-us-that-playtime-is-an-essential-part-of-our-daily/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [No man can be criticised but by a greater than he. Do not, then, read the reviews.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/no-man-can-be-criticised-but-by-a-greater-than-he-do-not-then-read/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Coal lay in ledges under the ground since the Flood, until a laborer with pick and windlass brings it to the surface. We may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/coal-lay-in-ledges-under-the-ground-since-the-flood-until-a-laborer/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [I am; therefore, I had nothing better to do than to think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/i-am-therefore-i-had-nothing-better-to-do-than-to-think/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [In a library we are surrounded by many hundreds of dear friends, but they are imprisoned by an enchanter in these paper and leathern…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/in-a-library-we-are-surrounded-by-many-hundreds-of-dear-friends-but/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The compensations of calamity are made apparent to the understanding also, after long intervals of time. A fever, a mutilation, a cruel disappointment, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-compensations-of-calamity-are-made-apparent-to-the-understanding/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Explore all 4,802 Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) ## More Civilized quotes > [ That country \[Carthage\] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws;… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/that-country-carthage-was-rapidly-sinking-into-the-state-of-barbarism/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [Be neither too early in the fashion, nor too long out of it, nor too precisely in it; what custom hath civilized is become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-quarles/be-neither-too-early-in-the-fashion-nor-too-long-out-of-it-nor-too/) [Francis Quarles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-quarles/) > [Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/wine-is-one-of-the-most-civilized-things-in-the-world-and-one-of-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Civilized nations are ones that simply can't endure wrongs or injustice except at home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-anderson/civilized-nations-are-ones-that-simply-can-t-endure-wrongs-or/) [Joseph Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-anderson/) > [Our guiding principle was that design is neither an intellectual nor a material affair, but simply an integral part of the stuff of life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-gropius/our-guiding-principle-was-that-design-is-neither-an-intellectual-nor/) [Walter Gropius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-gropius/) > [War is not civilized.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/talib-kweli/war-is-not-civilized/) [Talib Kweli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/talib-kweli/) > [For it is an absurdity to call a country civilized in which a decent and industrious man, laboriously mastering a trade which is valuble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/for-it-is-an-absurdity-to-call-a-country-civilized-in-which-a-decent/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [No people is wholly civilized where a distinction is drawn between stealing an office and stealing a purse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roosevelt/no-people-is-wholly-civilized-where-a-distinction-is-drawn-between/) [Theodore Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roosevelt/) > [Mine was, as it were, the connecting link between wild and cultivated fields; as some states are civilized, and others half-civilized, and others savage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/mine-was-as-it-were-the-connecting-link-between-wild-and-cultivated/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [The military mind is indeed a menace. 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When the Earth joins together and uses the Earth intelligently, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacque-fresco/as-long-as-there-are-prisons-police-armies-navies-we-are-not/) [Jacque Fresco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacque-fresco/) > [We're all intrigued, in our civilized world that we live in, and curious about how we would get on, on an undiscovered island that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hiddleston/we-re-all-intrigued-in-our-civilized-world-that-we-live-in-and/) [Tom Hiddleston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hiddleston/) > [When passions and appetites are stronger than the intellect, men are savages; when the intellect governs the passions, when the passions are servants, men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/when-passions-and-appetites-are-stronger-than-the-intellect-men-are/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [The malady of civilized man is his knowledge of death. The good artist, like the wise man, addresses himself to life and invests with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-malady-of-civilized-man-is-his-knowledge-of-death-the-good-artist/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [Savage peoples are ruled by passion, civilized peoples by the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-von-clausewitz/savage-peoples-are-ruled-by-passion-civilized-peoples-by-the-mind/) [Carl von Clausewitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-von-clausewitz/) [Browse all 1,043 Civilized quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I do not see how a barbarous community and a civilized community can constitute a state. 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