“What I had to achieve was my own freedom, my own satisfaction.”

— Kaneko Fumiko, The Prison Memoirs of a Japanese Woman (1991), p. 236

About Kaneko Fumiko

1903 – 1926

Japanese anarchist and writer whose prison memoirs were published after her death.

“Let your children play as they please! To play freely on this earth is the one privilege nature has given to children.”

“By nature human beings should be equal.”

“The virtue and beauty of human beings is to live naturally, ungoverned by external forces.”

“Prosperity is the best protector of principle.”

“Do not try to live for ever. You will not succeed.”

“Fortune leaves always some door open to come at a remedy.”

“The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement!”

“Let none falter, who thinks he is right, and we may succeed.”

“Some virtues are only seen in affliction and some in prosperity.”