Quotes about women
page 42

“I brought up lonesomeness again, and not being understood at all except by some women everybody hated.”

Grace Paley (1922–2007) American writer and activist

"The Loudest Voice" (1959)

Robert Burton photo

“I may not here omit those two main plagues and common dotages of human kind, wine and women, which have infatuated and besotted myriads of people; they go commonly together.”

Section 2, member 3, subsection 13, Love of Gaming, &c. and pleasures immoderate; Causes.
The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), Part I

Robert G. Ingersoll photo
André Maurois photo

“Balzac says that many young husbands are so ignorant of women that they make him think of orang-outangs trying to play the violin.”

André Maurois (1885–1967) French writer

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Marriage

Karen Blixen photo
Richard Nixon photo

“I'm not for women, frankly, in any job. I don't want any of them around. Thank God we don't have any in the Cabinet.”

Richard Nixon (1913–1994) 37th President of the United States of America

As quoted in The Rehnquist Choice (2001) by John Dean; also in "Double Dipping at the Waffle House" by Dahlia Lithwick http://slate.msn.com/id/117140/ in Slate (11 October 2001)
2000s

Martin Amis photo
George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton photo

“Women, like princes, find few real friends.”

George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton (1709–1773) British politician

Advice to a Lady (1731)

“Pregnant women got someone else in there hangin' from their ribcage goin' "We got to go now."”

Mike Warnke (1946) Evangelical Christian minister

Stuff Happens (album) (1985)

Warren Farrell photo
Zainab Salbi photo
Charles Darwin photo
Bell Hooks photo
Warren Farrell photo
Sandra Fluke photo
Begum Aga Khan photo

“The most powerful tool to lift families out of extreme poverty is to grant micro-loans to women.”

Begum Aga Khan (1963) German philanthropist

International Business and Leadership Symposium address

Jonathan Franzen photo
Lucy Stone photo
George Macaulay Trevelyan photo
Samuel Butler photo

“And in spite of David and Jonathan, Hamlet and Horatio, Caesar and Antony, Bush and Blair, women have a greater gift, I think, for friendship.”

John Mortimer (1923–2009) English barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author

Source: Where There's a Will: Thoughts on the Good Life (2003), Ch. 12 : The Companionship of Women

Thomas Eakins photo

“My figures at least are not a bunch of clothes with a head and hands sticking out but more nearly resemble the strong living bodies that most pictures show. And in the latter end of a life so spent in study, you at least can imagine that painting is with me a very serious study. That I have but little patience with the false modesty which is the greatest enemy to all figure painting. I see no impropriety in looking at the most beautiful of Nature's works, the naked figure. If there is impropriety, then just where does such impropriety begin? Is it wrong to look at a picture of a naked figure or at a statue? English ladies of the last generation thought so and avoided the statue galleries, but do so no longer. Or is it a question of sex? Should men make only the statues of men to be looked at by men, while the statues of women should be made by women to be looked at by women only? Should the he-painters draw the horses and bulls, and the she-painters like Rosa Bonheur the mares and cows? Must the poor old male body in the dissecting room be mutilated before Miss Prudery can dabble in his guts?Such indignities anger me. Can not anyone see into what contemptible inconsistencies such follies all lead? And how dangerous they are? My conscience is clear, and my suffering is past.”

Thomas Eakins (1844–1916) American painter

Letter of resignation to Edward Hornor Coates, Chairman of the Committee on Instruction, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1886-02-15).

Warren Farrell photo
Simon Munnery photo

“It is said that behind every great man lies a great woman. This is because women lie.”

Simon Munnery (1967) British comedian

Attention Scum! (2001), Episode Two

Warren Farrell photo
Harriet Harman photo

“Hague: I'd like to congratulate the Leader of the House on being the first female Labour member ever to answer Prime Minister's Questions. She must be proud, three decades on, to be following in the footsteps of Margaret Thatcher, who we on this side of the House and the Prime Minister so admire.
Harman: Well I thank him for his congratulations but I would ask him, why is he asking the questions today? Because he is not the Shadow Leader of the House - the Shadow Leader of the House is sitting next to him! Is this the situation in the modern Conservative Party; that women should be seen but not heard? And if I may, perhaps I could offer the Shadow Leader of the House a bit of sisterly advice: she should not let him get away with it!
Hague: Turning to domestic issues, I was going to be nice to the Rt. Hon. Lady - she has had a difficult week and she had to explain yesterday that she dresses in accordance with wherever she goes; she wears a helmet to a building site; wears Indian clothes to Indian parts of her constituency; presumably, when she goes to a Cabinet meeting, she dresses as a clown.
Harman: Well I would just start by saying that if I'm looking for advice on what to wear and what not to wear, the very last man I would look to for advice would be the man in the baseball cap!”

Harriet Harman (1950) British politician

During Prime Minister's Questions, 2 April 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AsiKI7uCog&feature=related, with Deputy Conservative Party Leader, William Hague

Charles Edward Merriam photo
Jay Leno photo

“Welcome back! If you're wondering where our good friend -- Kevin Eubanks couldn't be here. Kevin is on tour. He's in France right now. He called me today and he's over there and he wouldn't be back until next week. So if you're wondering where Kevin Eubanks is, he's with us in spirit certainly.
Okay. Boy, this is the hard part. I want to thank you, the audience. You folks have been just incredibly loyal. (emotionally) This is tricky. (laughs) We wouldn't be on the air without you people. Secondly, this has been the greatest 22 years of my life. (applause)
I am the luckiest guy in the world. I got to meet presidents, astronauts, movie stars, it's just been incredible. I got to work with lighting people who made me look better than I really am. I got to work with audio people who made me sound better than I really do. (voice breaking) And I got to work with producers! And writers! (choked pause) And just all kinds of talented people who make me look a lot smarter than I really am.
I'll tell you something. First year of this show, I lost my mom. Second year, I lost my dad. Then my brother died. And after that, I was pretty much out of family. And the folks here became my family. Consequently, when they went through rough times, I tried to be there for them. The last time we left the show, you might remember we had the 64 children that were born among all our staffers that married. That was a great moment.
And when people say to me, hey why don't you go to ABC? Why don't you go to FOX? Why don't you go…? I didn't know anybody over there. These are the only people I have ever known. I'm also proud to say this is a a union show. And I have never worked (applause) -- I have never worked with a more professional group of people in my life. They get paid good money and they do a good job.
And when the guys and women on this show would show me the new car they bought or the house up the street here in Burbank that one of the guys got, I felt I played a bigger role in their success as they played in mine. That was just a great feeling.
And I'm really excited for Jimmy Fallon. You know, it's fun to kind of be the old guy and sit back here and see where the next generation takes this great institution, and it really is. It's been a great institution for 60 years. I am so glad I got to be a part of it, but it really is time to go, hand it off to the next guy; it really is.
And in closing, I want to quote Johnny Carson, who was the greatest guy to ever do this job. And he said, I bid you all a heartfelt good night. Now that I brought the room down, hey, Garth, have you got anything to liven this party up? Give it a shot! Garth Brooks!”

Jay Leno (1950) American comedian, actor, writer, producer, voice actor and television host

Farewell speech, February 6, 2014
The Tonight Show

Edwin Abbott Abbott photo
Stevie Nicks photo
Andrea Dworkin photo

“Can women make use of men's vulnerability not to marry but instead to destroy male power?”

Source: Scapegoat: The Jews, Israel, and Women's Liberation (2000), p. 248.

Gloria Allred photo
George Holyoake photo

“Yes, I noted that there were hardly any or no women in certain high level positions. But as time passed, I, along with others, did attain, and with pride for managing to do so, a series of positions in the ladder.”

Henriette Avram (1919–2006) American computer programmer and system analyst. She developed the MARC formatting used in libraries

Source: They Won! And did it ALA’s Way, 1997, p.75-76

Stephen Fry photo
Jane Espenson photo
Margaret Mead photo
Margaret Mead photo
Sandra Fluke photo
François de La Rochefoucauld photo

“There are few honest women who are not tired of what they do.”

Il y a peu d'honnêtes femmes qui ne soient lasses de leur métier.
Maxim 367.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

Coretta Scott King photo

“Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul.”

Coretta Scott King (1927–2006) American author, activist, and civil rights leader. Wife of Martin Luther King, Jr.

As quoted in Daughters of the Promised Land, Women in American History (1970) by Page Smith, p. 273

Sarah Silverman photo
John Hodgman photo
Warren Farrell photo
Helen Reddy photo
Arlo Guthrie photo
Sun Myung Moon photo
Michelle Obama photo

“Sometimes it makes your hips move. Sometimes it makes you rock your head. Sometimes it helps you just kick back and relax and soak it in. But no matter what form it comes in, you know this music always comes straight from the heart. You know you’re listening to someone who’s found her own unique voice, and isn’t afraid to show it to the world. And these women are perfect examples of just that.”

Michelle Obama (1964) lawyer, writer, wife of Barack Obama and former First Lady of the United States

Statements at "I'm every woman: The History of Women in Soul" event (06 March 2014) http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/03/michelle-obama-hangs-out-with-soul-sisters-melissa-etheridge-and-pattie-labelle/
2010s

Paulo Freire photo
Andrea Dworkin photo

“Most women you know are very much interested in the man who is reputed to be deeply admired by other women.”

Arthur Desmond (1859–1929) New Zealnd writer

Rival Caesars (1903)

Gene Simmons photo
Muhammad bin Qasim photo

“Muhammad took the fort [of Rawar] and stayed there for two or three days. He put six thousand fighting men, who were in the fort, to the sword, and shot some with arrows. The other dependents and servants were taken prisoners, with their wives and children… When the number of the prisoners was calculated, it was found to amount to thirty thousand persons, amongst whom thirty were the daughters of chiefs, and one of them was Rai Dahir's sister's daughter, whose name was Jaisiya. They were sent to Hajjaj. The head of Dahir and the fifth part of the prisoners were forwarded in charge of Ka'ab, son of Mharak. When the head of Dahir, the women, and the property all reached Hajjaj, he prostrated himself before Allah, offered thanksgivings and praises… Hajjaj then forwarded the head, the umbrellas, and wealth, and the prisoners to Walid the Khalifa. When the Khalifa of the time had read the letter, he praised Almighty Allah. He sold some of those daughters of the chiefs, and some he granted as rewards. When he saw the daughter of Rai Dahir’s sister he was much struck with her beauty and charms, and began to bite his finger with astonishment…. It is said that after the conquest was effected and the affairs of the country were settled and the report of the conquest had reached Hajjaj, he sent a reply to the following effect. 'O my cousin! I received your life-inspiring letter. I was much pleased and overjoyed when it reached me. The events were recounted in an excellent and beautiful style, and I learnt that the ways and rules you follow are conformable to the Law. Except that you give protection to all, great and small alike, and make no difference between enemy and friend. God says, - Give no quarter to Infidels, but cut their throats. Then know that this is the command of the great God [Allah]. You shall not be too ready to grant protection, because it will prolong your work. After this, give no quarter to any enemy except to those who are of rank.”

Muhammad bin Qasim (695–715) Umayyad general

The Chach Nama, in: Elliot and Dowson, History of India as told by its own Historians, Volume I, p. 172-173. Also partially quoted in B.R. Ambedkar, Pakistan or The Partition of India (1946)
Quotes from The Chach Nama

Bartolomé de las Casas photo
Donald J. Trump photo

“I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

2010s, 2016, October, Second presidential debate (October 9, 2016)

Warren Farrell photo
Lee Meriwether photo
Jessica Drake photo
Michael Chabon photo
Edouard Manet photo
Dylan Moran photo
Hillary Clinton photo
Revilo P. Oliver photo
Drashti Dhami photo

“I think women should know how to be cultured and traditional, yet independent. That balance is important. Every woman should have the strength to speak for herself.”

Drashti Dhami (1985) Indian television actress and model

Women's Day http://www.hindustantimes.com/tv/every-woman-should-have-the-power-to-dream-gauahar-khan/story-O0KPrnuUa4amy4qpAY1IBO.html

Tallulah Bankhead photo

“My father warned me about men and booze, but he never mentioned a word about women and cocaine.”

Tallulah Bankhead (1902–1968) American actress

Source: Tallulah, Darling: A Biography of Tallulah Bankhead (1980), p. 2

Laurell K. Hamilton photo
Germaine Greer photo
George H. W. Bush photo

“There is no higher honor than to serve free men and women, no greater privilege than to labor in government beneath the Great Seal of the United States and the American flag.”

George H. W. Bush (1924–2018) American politician, 41st President of the United States

George Bush: "Remarks to Members of the Senior Executive Service," January 26, 1989. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=16628&st
Address to the Senior Executive Service (1989)

Angela Davis photo
Melinda Gates photo

“Some of these big firms often believe in the white guy in a hoodie disrupting a whole industry. So we’re going to disrupt it by making sure we’re indexing for women and minorities because they’ve got great ideas.”

Melinda Gates (1964) American businesswoman, philanthropist and co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

mentioned 30 May 2018 by Fortune http://fortune.com/2018/05/30/melinda-gates-limited-partner-venture-capital/?utm_source=fortune.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=social-button-sharing then 31 May 2018 by Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/melinda-gates-has-sharp-words-for-the-vc-industry-2018-5 and 5 June 2018 by The Federalist http://thefederalist.com/2018/06/05/melinda-gates-bashes-white-guys-says-shell-discriminate/

Christian Dior photo

“My dream is to save women from nature.”

Christian Dior (1905–1957) French fashion designer

Source: Newsweek, Vol. 50, Nr 19-26, (1957), p. 44

Warren Farrell photo
Diana, Princess of Wales photo

“Each person is born with very individual qualities and potential. We as a society owe it to women to create a truly supportive environment in which they too can grow and move forward.”

Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997) First wife of Charles, Prince of Wales

[Speech given by The Princess of Wales on women and mental health (1 June 1993)]

“Section 497 is based on Old Testament values. It doesn't protect the rights of women, only protects the proprietorial rights of men over their wives' bodies.”

Flavia Agnes (1947) Indian activist and lawyer

On India's adultery law, as quoted in " What The Law Says http://www.outlookindia.com/article/what-the-law-says/220011" Outlook India (5 May 2003)

Niccolao Manucci photo
Donald J. Trump photo

“Today, I would like to provide the American people with an update on the White House transition and our policy plans for the first 100 days. Our transition team is working very smoothly, efficiently, and effectively. Truly great and talented men and women, patriots indeed are being brought in and many will soon be a part of our government, helping us to Make America Great Again. My agenda will be based on a simple core principle: putting America First. Whether it's producing steel, building cars, or curing disease, I want the next generation of production and innovation to happen right here, in our great homeland: America – creating wealth and jobs for American workers. As part of this plan, I've asked my transition team to develop a list of executive actions we can take on day one to restore our laws and bring back our jobs. It's about time. These include the following: On trade, I am going to issue our notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a potential disaster for our country. Instead, we will negotiate fair, bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back onto American shores. On energy, I will cancel job-killing restrictions on the production of American energy – including shale energy and clean coal – creating many millions of high-paying jobs. That's what we want, that's what we've been waiting for. On regulation, I will formulate a rule which says that for every one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated, it's so important. On national security, I will ask the Department of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop a comprehensive plan to protect America's vital infrastructure from cyber-attacks, and all other form of attacks. On immigration, I will direct the Department of Labor to investigate all abuses of visa programs that undercut the American worker. On ethics reform, as part of our plan to Drain the Swamp, we will impose a five-year ban on executive officials becoming lobbyists after they leave the Administration – and a lifetime ban on executive officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government. These are just a few of the steps we will take to reform Washington and rebuild our middle class. I will provide more updates in the coming days, as we work together to Make America Great Again for everyone.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

A Message from President-Elect Donald J. Trump https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xX_KaStFT8 (21 November 2016)
2010s, 2016, November

Susan Faludi photo
Robert E. Howard photo
Margaret Sanger photo

“[Charity] conceals a stupid cruelty, because it is not courageous enough to face unpleasant facts. Aside from the question of the unfitness of many women to become mothers, aside from the very definite deterioration in the human stock that such programs would inevitably hasten, we may question its value even to the normal though unfortunate mother. For it is never the intention of such philanthropy to give the poor over-burdened and often undernourished mother of the slum the opportunity to make the choice herself, to decide whether she wishes time after time to bring children into the world. It merely says 'Increase and multiply: We are prepared to help you do this.' Whereas the great majority of mothers realize the grave responsibility they face in keeping alive and rearing the children they have already brought into the world, the maternity center would teach them how to have more. The poor woman is taught how to have her seventh child, when what she wants to know is how to avoid bringing into the world her eighth. … Such philanthropy, as Dean Inge has so unanswerably pointed out, is kind only to be cruel, and unwittingly promotes precisely the results most deprecated. It encourages the healthier and more normal sections of the world to shoulder the burden of unthinking and indiscriminate fecundity of others; which brings with it, as I think the reader must agree, a dead weight of human waste. Instead of decreasing and aiming to eliminate the stocks that are most detrimental to the future of the race and the world, it tends to render them to a menacing degree dominant.”

Margaret Sanger (1879–1966) American birth control activist, educator and nurse

Source: The Pivot of Civilization, 1922, Chapter 5, "The Cruelty of Charity"

Naomi Wolf photo
James Anthony Froude photo
George W. Bush photo
Donald J. Trump photo
Warren Farrell photo
Florence Nightingale photo

“Instead of wishing to see more doctors made by women joining what there are, I wish to see as few doctors, either male or female, as possible. For, mark you, the women have made no improvement — they have only tried to be men and they have only succeeded in being third-rate men.”

Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing

Letter to John Stuart Mill (12 September 1860), published in Florence Nightingale on Society and Politics, Philosophy, Science, Education (2003) edited by Lynn McDonald

Sandra Fluke photo

“It can be overwhelming at times but what I am trying to focus on is my main goal in the situation, and that is continuing to advocate on behalf of women affected by the contraception regulation and making sure that policy is implemented in a strong way.”

Sandra Fluke (1981) American women's rights activist and lawyer

TIME, Sandra Fluke on Her Role in the Contraception Controversy: ‘I Would Do This Again’, Alex, Altman, March 8, 2012, March 8, 2012, Time Inc. http://swampland.time.com/2012/03/08/sandra-fluke-on-her-role-in-the-contraception-controversy-i-would-do-this-again/?iid=tl-main-mostpop2,
Media interviews

Robert A. Heinlein photo
Todd Akin photo

“You find that along with the culture of death go all kinds of other law-breaking: not following good sanitary procedure, giving abortions to women who are not actually pregnant, cheating on taxes, all these kinds of things, misuse of anesthetics so that people die or almost die. All of these things are common practice, and all of that information is available for America.”

Todd Akin (1947) American politician

House of Representatives session http://www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/4001030, , quoted in * 2012-10-02
New Todd Akin Videos Reveal His Dystopian Nightmare Vision of America
Amanda
Marcotte
XX Factor
Slate
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/10/02/todd_akin_videos_cspan_clips_reveal_the_missouri_candiate_s_paranoia_about_abortion_and_stem_cell_research_.html

Brian W. Aldiss photo

““Are you a religious man, Joe?”
Flitch pulled a face. “I leaves that sort of thing to women.””

Source: Greybeard (1964), Chapter 5 (p. 149)