No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution... revolution is but thought carried into action.

Goldman argues that entrenched social and political orders do not yield to gradual persuasion alone; meaningful transformation requires a decisive break—“revolution”—that converts critique into collective practice. The second clause reframes revolution not as blind violence but as the embodiment of ideas: a society’s new ethical and political vision made concrete through action. Implicitly, she challenges reformist politics that seeks minor adjustments while leaving underlying power relations intact, and she defends radical movements as the necessary vehicle for translating emancipatory thought into lived reality. The quote also suggests a continuity between intellectual work and direct struggle: ideas are not merely commentary but a blueprint for changing institutions and everyday life.