Quotes about women

„… women who 'adjust' as housewives, who grow up wanting to be 'just a housewife,' are in as much danger as the millions who walked to their own death in the concentration camps… they ate suffering a slow death of mind and spirit.“

—  Betty Friedan, book The Feminine Mystique

Source: The Feminine Mystique

„What men and women need is encouragement. Their natural resisting powers should be strengthened, not weakened…. Instead of always harping on a man's faults, tell him of his virtues. Try to pull him out of his rut of bad habits. Hold up to him his better self, his REAL self that can dare and do and win out!… The influence of a beautiful, helpful, hopeful character is contagious, and may revolutionize a whole town…. People radiate what is in their minds and in their hearts. If a man feels kindly and obliging, his neighbors will feel that way, too, before long. But if he scolds and scowls and criticizes — his neighbors will return scowl for scowl, and add interest!… When you look for the bad, expecting it, you will get it. When you know you will find the good — you will get that…. Tell your son Tom you KNOW he'll be glad to fill that woodbox — then watch him start, alert and interested!“

—  Eleanor H. Porter American novelist 1868 - 1920

Works, Pollyanna (1913)

„All the men and women whom I have faced at that final moment, convince me that in what I have done, I have not prevented a single murder.“

—  Albert Pierrepoint English executioner 1905 - 1992

Executioner: Pierrepoint. Harrap 1974. p. 211.

„I… was not too happy to suddenly take on this public role thrust upon me. They just assumed I was the Joan of Arc of the women's movement. And I wasn't at all. It put a lot of unnecessary pressure on me.“

—  Bea Arthur actress, singer, comedian 1922 - 2009

Interview, Sun Sentenial, 1982

„Humankind is made up of two sexes, women and men. Is it possible for humankind to grow by the improvement of only one part while the other part is ignored?“

—  Мустафа Кемаль Ататюрк Turkish army officer, revolutionary, and the first President of Turkey 1881 - 1938

As quoted in "Atatürk" in Images of a Divided World (29 October 2006) http://jmilton6000.wordpress.com/2006/10/29/ataturk/
Variant translation: Humankind consists of two sexes, woman and man. Is it possible that a mass is improved by the improvement of only one part and the other ignored? Is it possible that if half of a mass is tied to earth with chains and the other half can soar into skies?
Context: Humankind is made up of two sexes, women and men. Is it possible for humankind to grow by the improvement of only one part while the other part is ignored? Is it possible that if half of a mass is tied to earth with chains that the other half can soar into skies?

„I shall work for the Republican party and call on all women to join me, precisely… for what that party has done and promises to do for women, nothing more, nothing less.“

—  Susan B. Anthony American women's rights activist 1820 - 1906

Letter to Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Autumn 1872)

„This generation has lost the true meaning of romance. There are so many songs that disrespect women. You can’t treat the woman you love as a piece of meat. You should treat your love like a princess. Give her love songs, something with real meaning. Maybe I’m old fashioned but to respect the woman you love should be a priority.“

—  Tom Hiddleston English actor, producer and musical performer 1981

„In my first video diary I explained my love for women who have a taste in carrots.“

—  Louis Tomlinson English pop singer 1991

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/5834782.Louis_Tomlinson

„For 2.000 years, you've had the nerve to tell women who we are.“

—  Kathy Acker, book Blood and Guts in High School

Blood and Guts in High School (1978)
Context: For 2.000 years, you've had the nerve to tell women who we are. We use your words; we eat your food. Every way we get money has to be a crime. We are plagiarists, liars and criminals.

„May God inspire these men sometime to come to their senses in regard to God again, so that they may repent, however latter day, of their grave crimes, namely homicide against the brothers of the Lord, and that they free these baptized women whom they have taken, so that then they may deserve to live to God and be made whole once more, here, now and for eternity.“

—  Saint Patrick 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland 385 - 461

Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus (c.450?)

„That's why there are so few women stars today. Pornography has taken away the mystery.“

—  Irene Dunne American actress 1898 - 1990

„At this point I have a request for our fans. If any of you in any way hate homosexuals, people of different color, or women, please do this one favor for us - leave us the fuck alone! Don't come to our shows and don't buy our records.“

—  Kurt Cobain American musician and artist 1967 - 1994

Incesticide liner notes (1992)

„Modern paintings are like women, you'll never enjoy them if you try to understand them. “

—  Freddie Mercury British singer, songwriter and record producer 1946 - 1991

„What women want is what men want. They want respect.“

—  Marilyn vos Savant US American magazine columnist, author and lecturer 1946

As quoted in Evergreen : A Guide to Writing with Readings (2003), by Susan Fawcett

„I compare my situation to a person on board a ship. When there is a shipwreck the passenger then falls in the ocean and has no choice but to keep swimming. What happened in our society was that the laws overturned every right that women had. I had no choice. I could not get tired, I could not lose hope. I cannot afford to do that.“

—  Shirin Ebadi Iranian lawyer, human rights activist, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient 1947

From 2006 interview with Ebadi by Harry Kreisler (translator, Banafsheh Keynoush) about her newly released book, Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope.
From May 10 2006 interview with Ebadi at Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley. http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people6/Ebadi/ebadi-con3.html (retrieved Oct. 15, 2008)

„I am so happy I want to be there. I know Saudi Arabia will never be the same again, women will have easy access to transportation and that means they will be more part of the workforce.“

—  Manal al-Sharif Saudi Arabian activist 1979

About lifting of the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia. As quoted in Saudi women 'still enslaved', says activist as driving ban ends http://news.trust.org/item/20180622172634-f882k/ (22 June 2018) by Heba Kanso, Thomson Reuters Foundation.

„This growing tendency of women to overshadow the masculine is a sign of a deteriorating civilization.“

—  Nikola Tesla Serbian American inventor 1856 - 1943

„Oh, it's — it's a sort of bloom on a woman. If you have it, you don't need to have anything else; and if you don't have it, it doesn't much matter what else you have. Some women, the few, have charm for all; and most have charm for one. But some have charm for none.“

—  J. M. Barrie, What Every Woman Knows

Act I
What Every Woman Knows (1908)

„No. We don't really do that. We feel that objectifies women and that's not really what we're about.“

—  Harry Styles English singer, songwriter, and actor 1994

When asked by a radio DJ if One Direction calls "dibs" on girls (26 June 2012) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV85tICyfEA&t=546