WOMEN QUOTES XXII

quotations about women

While women once acquired relationship skills to "hook," "snare," or "catch" a husband who would provide access to economic security and social status, the position of contemporary women has not changed that radically. Much of our success still depends on our attunement to "male culture," our ability to please men, and our readiness to conform to the masculine values of our institutions.

HARRIET LERNER

The Dance of Intimacy: A Woman's Guide to Courageous Acts of Change in Key Relationships

Tags: Harriet Lerner


Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, "She doesn't have what it takes"; They will say, "Women don't have what it takes."

CLARE BOOTHE LUCE

attributed, On Being Blonde: Wit and Wisdom from the World's Most Infamous Blondes

Tags: Clare Booth Luce


There's a lot of pressure on women to fulfill certain fantasies. They expect you to be a little bit of a tart, to flirt with all the men. A lot of women do it. But I'm not doing that. I talk with these guys about their wives and kids right away. When they say inappropriate things, I let them, because boys will be boys, but I'm not looking to participate in their conversations.

JESSICA ALBA

Marie Claire Magazine, March 2008

Tags: Jessica Alba


A high degree of intellectual refinement in the female is the surest pledge society can have for the improvement of the male.

CHARLES CALEB COLTON

Lacon


Somehow, everyone hates to see an unusually pretty girl get married. It is like taking a bite out of a very fine-looking peach.

EDGAR WATSON HOWE

Country Town Sayings

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The societies to which I have been exposed seemed to me largely machines for the suppression of women.

CORMAC MCCARTHY

All the Pretty Horses


Man makes one journey all his living days,
Down through the realms of music and of art;
Down through the halls of fame and glorious praise;
Down through the tears and triumphs of the heart
To some sweet woman waiting some place there.
For her he builds his cities and makes war,
Seeks gold and glorious wealth to store.

EDWIN CURRAN

"The Eternal Quest"


When women let their hair down, it means either sexiness or craziness or death, the three by Victorian times having become virtually synonymous.

MARGARET ATWOOD

"Ophelia Has a Lot to Answer For"

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In the choice of a wife, we ought to make use of our ears, and not our eyes.

WELLINS CALCOTT

Thoughts Moral and Divine

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The woman is the man's glory, and she naturally delights in the praises which are assurances that she is fulfilling her function; and she gives herself to him who succeeds in convincing her that she, of all others, is best able to discharge it for him. A woman without this kind of "vanity" is a monster.

COVENTRY PATMORE

The Rod, the Root, and the Flower

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For women, forming close, cooperative relationships with other women at once poses important opportunities and possible threats--including to mate retention. To maximize the benefits and minimize the costs of same-sex social relationships, we propose that women's mate guarding is functionally flexible and that women are sensitive to both interpersonal and contextual cues indicating whether other women might be likely and effective mate poachers. Here, we assess one such cue: other women's fertility. Because ovulating (i.e., high-fertility) women are both more attractive to men and also more attracted to (desirable) men, ovulating women may be perceived to pose heightened threats to other women's romantic relationships.

JAIMIA ARONA KREMS & REBECCA NEEL

The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, January 14, 2016


You don't know a woman until you've met her in court.

NORMAN MAILER

attributed, The Book of Poisonous Quotes

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Women have now marvelous means of winning their way in the world, and mind without muscle has far greater force than muscle without mind.

WALTER BAGEHOT

Physics and Politics

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I have often felt that I would find it more complicated, troublesome and unpleasant to ascertain the feelings by which a woman lives than to plumb the innermost thoughts of an earthworm.

OSAMU DAZAI

No Longer Human

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A woman needn't be dragged down by her functions.

D. H. LAWRENCE

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Tags: D. H. Lawrence


But to proceed; as in order and place, so also in matter of her Creation, Woman far excells Man. things receive their value from the matter they are made of, and the excellent skill of their maker: Pots of common clay must not contend with China-dishes, nor pewter utensils vye dignity with those of silver.... Woman was not composed of any inanimate or vile dirt, but of a more refined and purified substance, enlivened and actuated by a Rational Soul, whose operations speak it a beam, or bright ray of Divinity.

HEINRICH CORNELIUS AGRIPPA

Female Pre-eminence, or, The Dignty and Excellency of that Sex above the Male

Tags: Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa


Woman is the heart of humanity ... its grace, ornament, and solace.

SAMUEL SMILES

Character


Woman! when I behold thee flippant, vain,
Inconstant, childish, proud, and full of fancies.

JOHN KEATS

"Woman! When I Behold Thee"


Women, you overheated dipsomaniacs, never passing up a chance to wangle a drink, a great boon to bartenders but a bane to us--not to mention our crockery and our woolens!

ARISTOPHANES

Women at the Thesmophoria

Tags: Aristophanes


For I cannot think that GOD Almighty ever made them [women] so delicate, so glorious creatures; and furnished them with such charms, so agreeable and so delightful to mankind; with souls capable of the same accomplishments with men: and all, to be only Stewards of our Houses, Cooks, and Slaves.

DANIEL DEFOE

The Education of Women

Tags: Daniel Defoe