Quotes about men
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“She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

Smile, Time

“Men have feelings too, you know. You bruise the petals of my manflower.”

Libba Bray (1964) American teen writer

Source: Beauty Queens

Feeling

“Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.”

Ayn Rand book The Fountainhead

Source: The Fountainhead

“men i swear."
-jacky faber”

L.A. Meyer Bloody Jack

Source: Bloody Jack

“I have no interest at all in food and drink, but only in slaughter and blood and the agonized groans of mangled men”

Homér Ancient Greek epic poet, author of the Iliad and the Odyssey

Food, Drink

“A love that does not discriminate seems to me to forfeit a part of its own value, by doing an injustice to its object; and secondly, not all men are worthy of love.”

Sigmund Freud book Civilization and Its Discontents

Source: Civilization and Its Discontents

Love, Parting

“There is something at work in my soul which I do not understand. I am practically industrious — painstaking, a workman to execute with perseverance and labour — but besides this there is a love for the marvellous, a belief in the marvellous, intertwined in all my projects, which hurries me out of the common pathways of men, even to the wild sea and unvisited regions I am about to explore.”

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus

Robert Walton in "Letter 2"
Source: Frankenstein (1818)

Love, Soul, Understanding, Sea

“Evil men often easy to mislead, because they have spent so long deceiving that they no longer recognise the truth and mistake deseption for it.”

Dean Koontz book Odd Hours

Source: Odd Hours

Truth, Evil

“If men only felt about death as they do about sleep, all terrors would cease… Men sleep contentedly, assured that they will wake the following morning. They should feel the same about their lives.”

Richard Matheson book What Dreams May Come

Source: What Dreams May Come

Death, Feeling, Sleep

“Let men tremble to win the hand of woman, unless they win along with it the utmost passion of her heart.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne book The Scarlet Letter

Source: The Scarlet Letter (1850), Chapter XV: Hester and Pearl

Passion, Heart

“Good and bad men are each less so than they seem.”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English poet, literary critic and philosopher

“… the greatest weapon against big stupid men was a sharp mind.”

Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer

Source: Froi of the Exiles

Stupidity

“Women fall in love when they get to know you. Men are just the opposite. When they finally know you they're ready to leave”

James Salter (1925–2015) American novelist and short-story writer

Source: Dusk and Other Stories

Love, Women

“The history of progress is written in the blood of men and women who have dared to espouse an unpopular cause, as, for instance, the black man's right to his body, or woman's right to her soul.”

Emma Goldman (1868–1940) anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches

Women, Soul, History

“Most men seem to live according to sense rather than reason.”

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican scholastic philosopher of the Roman Catholic Church

Sense

“What difference does it make after all? — anonymity in the world of men is better than fame in heaven, for what's heaven? what's earth? All in the mind.”

Jack Kerouac book On the Road

Part Three, Ch. 11
Source: On the Road (1957)
Context: In 1942 I was the star in one of the filthiest dramas of all time. I was a seaman, and went to the Imperial Café on Scollay Square in Boston to drink; I drank sixty glasses of beer and retired to the toilet, where I wrapped myself around the toilet bowl and went to sleep. During the night at least a hundred seamen and assorted civilians came in and cast their sentient debouchements on me till I was unrecognizably caked. What difference does it make after all? — anonymity in the world of men is better than fame in heaven, for what's heaven? what's earth? All in the mind.

World

“I wasn't sure exactly how prostitutes determined price, but if men bought hookers by the pound, these two would be doing okay.”

Janet Evanovich book One for the Money

Source: One for the Money

“In my youth, it was my good luck to have a few good teachers, men and women, who came into my head and lit a match.”

Yann Martel (1963) Canadian author best known for the book Life of Pi

Women, Youth, Teachers

“The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.”

Niccolo Machiavelli book The Prince

Source: The Prince

Intelligence

“Equality before the law is probably forever inattainable. It is a noble ideal, but it can never be realized, for what men value in this world is not rights but privileges.”

H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer

36
1940s–present, Minority Report : H.L. Mencken's Notebooks (1956)

World, Law

“There is nothing revolutionary whatsoever about the control of women's bodies by men. The woman's body is the terrain on which patriarchy is erected.”

Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) American poet, essayist and feminist

Source: Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution

Women

“No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.”

John Steinbeck book The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), Part One, Chapter III

“There could be few men whose love for a woman had been written on his face with a knife.”

Cornelia Funke Inkheart trilogy

Source: Inkspell

Love

“You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.”

Robert A. Heinlein book The Past Through Tomorrow

“If This Goes On—” Chapter 10, p. 426
The Past Through Tomorrow (1967)
Source: Revolt in 2100/Methuselah's Children
Context: “Do you seriously expect to start a rebellion with picayune stuff like that?”
“It’s not picayune stuff, because it acts directly on their emotions, below the logical level. You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic. It doesn’t have to be a prejudice about an important matter either.

“Aren't we living in a world where heedless men only desire decapitated women?”

Milan Kundera (1929–2023) Czech author of Czech and French literature

Source: Life is Elsewhere

Women, World

“Only stupid men trying to seem smart need to be with dumb women. Only weak men trying to look strong are attracted to compliant women.”

Orson Scott Card Ender's Game hexalogy

Page 96
Ender's Game series, First Meetings in the Enderverse (2003), Teacher's Pest
Source: First Meetings in Ender's Universe

Women, Stupidity, Strong

“Dead men are heavier than broken hearts.”

Raymond Chandler book The Big Sleep

Source: The Big Sleep

Heart, Dead

“The wisest and the best of men, nay, the wisest and best of their actions, may be rendered ridiculous by a person whose first object in life is a joke.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

Life, Personality

“Men seem to be born with a debt they can never pay no matter how hard they try.”

John Steinbeck book Sweet Thursday

Source: Sweet Thursday

“I tell you in truth: all men are Prophets or else God does not exist.”

Jean Paul Sartre book The Devil and the Good Lord

Act 1
The Devil and the Good Lord (1951)

God, Truth

“Men who reject the responsibility of thought and reason can only exist as parasites on the thinking of others.”

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher

Source: The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism

Thinking

“I am convinced that if all men were to live as simply as I then did, thieving and robbery would be unknown. These take place only in communities where some have got more than is sufficient while others have not enough.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist

Source: Walden & Civil Disobedience

Communication

“When I go around and speak on campuses,
I still don't get young men standing up and saying,
How can I combine career and family?”

Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American art collector and experimental writer of novels, poetry and plays

Family

“There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear (2011), Chapter 43, “The Flickering Way” (p. 318)

Wise, Fear, Sea, Anger

“The average man is hooked to his fellow men, while the warrior is hooked only to infinity.”

Carlos Castaneda (1925–1998) Peruvian-American author

“Most men have no purpose but to exist, Abraham; to pass quietly through history as minor characters upon a stage they cannot even see”

Seth Grahame-Smith (1976) US fiction author

Source: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

History

“The true joy of a moonlit night is something we no longer understand. Only the men of old, when there were no lights, could understand the true joy of a moonlit night.”

Yasunari Kawabata book Palm-of-the-Hand Stories

Source: Palm-of-the-Hand Stories

Understanding, Light, Joy, Night

“Men exist because a vibrator can't fix a flat tire. On second thought, I should just buy a AAA card…”

Jill Shalvis (1963) American writer

Source: Get A Clue

“I'm not short," Daisy muttered. "Short women are never mysterious, or elegant, or pursued by handsome men. And they're always treated like children. I refuse to be short.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Secrets of a Summer Night

Women, Children

“Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resigns his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist

Civil Disobedience (1849)
Source: Civil Disobedience and Other Essays
Context: Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.
Context: To speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it. After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule, is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest. But a government in which the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice, even as far as men understand it. Can there not be a government in which majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience? — in which majorities decide only those questions to which the rule of expediency is applicable? Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right. It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience; but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience. Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice.

Thinking

“Experience can dull. With most men experience is a series of mistakes; the more experience you have the less you know.”

Charles Bukowski book Notes of a Dirty Old Man

Source: Notes of a Dirty Old Man

“In a kinder world," he whispered, "one I promise you I've seen, men and women flirt and dance and love with only the fear of what it would mean without the other in their lives.”

Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer

Source: Froi of the Exiles

Love, Women, World, Fear

“Hey,” the cabbie yelled. “How’s about a tip?”

“You bet-ski,” Evie said, heading toward the old Victorian mansion, her long silk scarf trailing behind her. “Don’t kiss strange men in Penn Station.”

Libba Bray book The Diviners

Source: The Diviners

Kiss

“Men. The day they learned to admit to a mistake was the day they became women.”

Julia Quinn (1970) American novelist

Source: To Sir Phillip, With Love

Women, Learning

“You're sexist. I'm so sick of liberal lefty men practicing sexual discrimination under the guise of protecting women against sexual discrimination.”

Gillian Flynn book Sharp Objects

Source: Sharp Objects

Women

“He took one look at me and said, ‘Damn, you cleaned up better than I thought you would.’ (Grace)
I worry about the men of your time, Grace. They all seem to be great fools. (Julian)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon Fantasy Lover

Source: Fantasy Lover

Fools, Time

“Our duty, as men and women, is to proceed as if limits to our ability did not exist. We are collaborators in creation.”

Pierre Teilhard De Chardin (1881–1955) French philosopher and Jesuit priest

Women

“Men like women who write, even though they don't say so. A writer is a foreign country.”

Marguerite Duras (1914–1996) French writer and film director

Women, Country

“Friends help each other when they are… you know… going up international hit men and stuff.”

Ally Carter book All Fall Down

Source: All Fall Down

Help

“People don't have fortunes left them in that style nowadays; men have to work and women to marry for money. It's a dreadfully unjust world.”

Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) American novelist

Women, Money, People, World

“There is no such thing as a lousy job - only lousy men who don't care to do it.”

Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged

Source: Atlas Shrugged

“Men. You can't live with them, you can't… no. That's about it.”

Regina King (1971) actress

“You can't hide the thunderbolt. When it hits you, everybody can see it. Christ, man, don't be ashamed of it, some men pray for the thunderbolt. You're a very lucky fellow. - Calo”

Mario Puzo The Godfather

Source: The Godfather

Christ

“Besides we are men, and after all it is our business to risk our lives.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Three Musketeers

Source: The Three Musketeers

Business

“Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many.”

Niccolo Machiavelli book The Prince

Source: The Prince

Nature, Training

“All men are a disappointment. No matter what anyone says.”

Candace Bushnell book Summer and the City

Source: Summer and the City

Disappointment

“There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

For Men

“The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.”

H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer

People, Truth

“Men go where they will, they do as they must; it is not a woman's part to bid them to stay, nor yet to reproach them for being what they are-or for not coming back.”

Diana Gabaldon book The Fiery Cross

Source: The Fiery Cross

Parting

“What are men? Children who doubt.”

Derek Walcott (1930–2017) Saint Lucian–Trinidadian poet and playwright

Source: The Odyssey

Children

“It is better to believe in men too rashly, and regret, than believe too meanly. Men could be more than they are, if they would try for it. He has shown them that.”

Mary Renault book The Persian Boy

On Alexander the Great, p. 312
Source: The Persian Boy (1972)
Context: It is better to believe in men too rashly, and regret, than believe too meanly. Men could be more than they are, if they would try for it. He has shown them that. How many have tried, because of him? Not only those I have seen; there will be men to come. Those who look in mankind only for their own littleness, and make them believe in that, kill more than he ever will in all his wars.

“You look hot. The straight men will want you, the gay men will want beauty tips, and the women will want to scratch your eyes out. If that isn't the stuff of fairy tales, I don't know what is.”

Zoey Dean (1950) American writer

Source: How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls

Women, Beauty

“Remember that rights are moral principles which define and protect a man's freedom of action, but impose no obligations on other men.”

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher

Source: The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism

Freedom

“It is a wretched thing that the young men of today are so contriving and so proud of their material posessions. Men with contriving hearts are lacking in duty. Lacking in duty, they will have no self-respect.”

Tsunetomo Yamamoto book Hagakure

Source: Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

Heart

“Some men die for lack of love…some die because of it. Think about it." - Daemon”

Anne Bishop (1955) American fiction writer

Source: Daughter of the Blood

Love, Thinking

“Men of learning are those who have read the contents of books. Thinkers, geniuses, and those who have enlightened the world and furthered the race of men, are those who have made direct use of the book of the world.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

"Thinking for Oneself" http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/essays/chapter8.html <br class="br">Essays

Books, World, Learning, Reading

“Men are wise in proportion, not to their experience, but to their capacity for experience. If we could learn from mere experience, the stones of London would be wiser than its wisest men.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

#127-128
1900s, Maxims for Revolutionists (1903)

Learning

“I believe in our side and theirs, with the good and evil decided after the fact, by those who survive. Among men you seldom find the good with one standard and the shadow with another.”

Glen Cook book Shadows Linger

Source: Shadows Linger (1984), Chapter 33, “Juniper: The Encounter” (p. 367)
Context: I do not believe in evil absolute. I have recounted that philosophy in specific in the Annals, and it affects my every observation throughout my tenure as Annalist. I believe in our side and theirs, with the good and evil decided after the fact, by those who survive. Among men you seldom find the good with one standard and the shadow with another.

Evil