Quotes about women (4887 quotes, page 49)

“When a woman can be empowered she can, they are very important people in our society, I call on women to enroll in large numbers in the colleges and Universities so that they can be the catalyst for development in our region.”

Irene Tarimo (1964) Tanzanian scientist, biologist and educator

Source: Speech at the Regional Event to the Farewell position of Vice Chancellor Professor Mbwette in Lindi, (21 December 2014)

People , Universe

“When I was 13, I told my parents I didn’t believe in God any more. I wanted to be an atheist because I believed that religion should be about community and having a place to go in prayer, not something that should determine women’s freedoms.”

Elizabeth Olsen (1989) American actress

Source: Ryder, Caroline. "Elizabeth Olsen cover interview for Dazed&Confused" https://www.carolineryder.com/carolineryder/2013/09/elizabeth-olsen-cover-interview-for.html. (September 2, 2013).

God , Freedom , Communication , Religion

“Prudishness is pretense of innocence without innocence. Women have to remain prudish as long as men are sentimental, dense, and evil enough to demand of them eternal innocence and lack of education. For innocence is the only thing which can ennoble lack of education.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829) German poet, critic and scholar

Athenäum (1798 - 1800)
Source: “Selected Aphorisms from the Athenaeum (1798)”, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, trans. (Pennsylvania University Press:1968) #31

Evil , Education , Men

“Where there’s a will there’s a way. We have the will to world revolution, therefore we must find the way to reach the masses of the exploited and the enslaved women, whether the historical conditions make it easy or difficult.”

Clara Zetkin (1857–1933) German politician

Source: As quoted in Fourth Congress of the Communist International https://www.marxists.org/archive/zetkin/1922/ci/women.htm, marxists.org, November 1922.

World , Way

“Women should empower themselves while still remaining true to their marriage and husbands. If a marriage is stressful, emotionally destructive, I think we should be strong enough to walk away from such damaging unions.”

Omotola Jalade Ekeinde (1978) Nigerian actress and singer

https://naijagists.com/omotola-jalade-ekeinde-wisdom-quotes-top-20-motivational-quotes-sayings-omosexy/ Omotola Jalade Ekehinde speaking on Career.

Marriage , Strong , Thinking

“Women should empower themselves while staying true to their marriages and husbands”

Omotola Jalade Ekeinde (1978) Nigerian actress and singer

https://fabwoman.ng/omotola-jalade-inspirational-quotes-for-women-fabwoman/ Omotola Jalade Ekehinde speaking at FIDWOMEN.

Marriage

“I work toward the liberation of women but I'm not a feminist. I'm just a woman.”

Buchi Emecheta (1944–2017) author

Source: On rejecting being called a feminist (as quoted in “Buchi Emecheta: Nigerian author who championed girls dies aged 72” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-38757048 in BBC News; 2017 Jan 26)

“Women tend to be less corrupt and more focused. There are many more great women leaders out there who need to be given a chance.”

Dora Akunyili (1954–2014) Pharmacist and Government Official

Source: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/private-luncheon-conversation-dr-dora-akunyili-fighting-corruption-drug-markets-and-advancing Dora at a private meeting at the Wilson Centre in 2006.

Chance

“As long as we are celebrating a woman vice chancellor because she is the first or a woman chief judge because she is the first, then we have not arrived. We look forward to the time when we will have many women in such positions and we will be celebrating so many of them.”

Grace Alele-Williams (1932–2022) mathematician

Source: https://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/williams.html Prof. Grace in an interview in THISDAY Online, November 16, 2004.

Time

“Once we begin to see women as humans with as much right to occupy spaces as men. We would have removed the foundation upon which gender-based violence thrives.”

Kiki Mordi (1991) Nkiru "Kiki" Mordi is a Nigerian investigative journalist, media personality, filmmaker,writer and entrepreneur.

Source: https://quotes.ng/mobile/author.php?title=kiki-mordi&id=1159 Kiki Mordi speaking on gender equality

Men

“If speaking is still difficult to negotiate, then writing has created a free space for most women -much freer than speech. The book is bound, circulated, read. It retains its autonomy much more than a woman is allowed in the oral situation”

Yvonne Vera (1964–2005) Zimbabwean writer

Opening Spaces: An Anthology of Contemporary African Women's Writing, August 11, 2008 https://www.amazon.com/Opening-Spaces-Anthology-Contemporary-African/dp/0435910108

Books , Reading

“I often think my life has been a failure. But whenever I drop into a theater and hear women laugh at one of my films, I think, well, if I brightened their day before they went home and did the dishes, maybe my life wasn't wasted, after all.”

Cary Grant (1904–1986) British-American film and stage actor

Source: As quoted in "They Changed Their Careers and Became Famous; Cary a Failure?" https://www.newspapers.com/clip/87358421/the-boston-globe/ by Jack Harrison Pollack, Parade (November 16, 1969), p. 7; and The Filmgoer's Book of Quotes (1978) by Leslie Halliwell, p.229

Home , Failure , Thinking , Life

“Children should above all be taught self-reliance, love for all men, altruism, mutual charity, and more than anything else, to think and reason for themselves... Aim at creating free men and women, free intellectually, free morally, unprejudiced in all respects, and above all things, unselfish.”

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky book The Key to Theosophy

Source: The Key to Theosophy (1889)

Children , Thinking , Love , Men

“I believe that women in rural India needs right tools on the right time for accelerating the growth of economy.”

Namita Priya

[imdb.com, Namita Priya: I am an entertainer, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12364555/, 1 June, 2020]
[goodreads.com, Namita Priya: goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/namitapriya, 15 August, 2020]
Famous Quotes

Time

“Don’t you think that the irresponsible behavior of men is caused by women?”

Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) 264th Pope of the Catholic Church, saint

Other Quotes by Pope John Paul II, Attributed
Source: John Paul II, as quoted by Nafis Sadik as quoted in Steve Bradshaw, "SEX and the HOLY CITY" http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/programmes/panorama/transcripts/sexandtheholycity.txt, “Panorama”, BBC News. (12-10-03).

Thinking , Behavior , Men

“I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!”

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

2021, January 2021
Source: 12:13pm tweet https://archive.is/IvpaU on 6 January 2021

Peace , Law , Men

“Women are full of themselves, they always say men are frightened or intimidated by their financial success but the issue is COMPATIBILITY.”

Tosin Ajibade (1987) Nigerian writer and blogger

Source: https://www.nairaland.com/4671710/tosin-ajibade-olorisupergal-men-say/2 Tosin Ajibade Speaking on her Entertaiment Website Titled:OLORISUPERGAL.

Success , Men

“Feminism is not that men and women are the same. If men and women are the same, we won't have sexism. We are just stating the differences and people should stop giving negative value to all the attributes that women have. It's not that men and women are the same but they've equally human.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (1977) Nigerian writer

Source: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ‘I want to say what I think’ https://www.bbc.com/news/av/entertainment-arts-59568638 chimamanda ngozi adichie speaking on her speech of 2012 on feminism on (9th December 2021)

People , Men

“I feel really proud being the first female in the field. It shows that if given a chance, women can equally shine in any field.”

Elizabeth Itotia (1992) Kenyan nuclear pharmacist (born 1992)

Source: As quoted in an article titled Kenya's First Female Radiopharmaceutical Scientist https://allafrica.com/stories/202107250142.html by Magdalene Wanja published on 25th July, 2021.

Chance , Feeling

“Black women all over the world should re-unite and re-examine the way history has portrayed us.”

Buchi Emecheta (1944–2017) author

Source: On how Black women should challenge historical representations (as quoted in “Buchi Emecheta: Nigerian author who championed girls dies aged 72” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-38757048 in BBC News in BBC News; 2017 Jan 26)

History , Way , World

“I was writing to my wife when your letter arrived, and now I want to look at her portrait myself, seeing the great beauty it contains. I am such a devoted husband that other beautiful women now do nothing for me.”

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) Holy Roman Emperor

Beauty

“Everyone with different beliefs, with different backgrounds, with different cultures, they all come together and when you are in there (at the Miss Universe pageant), you forget about politics, about your religion. It's just about embracing other women.”

Andrea Meza (1994) Miss Universe 2020

Source: Andrea Meza (2021) cited in: " In Israel, Miss Universe says pageant no place for politics https://www.arabnews.com/node/1970011/offbeat" in Arab News, 17 November 2021.

Religion , Forgetting , Universe

“Those men and women are fortunate who are born at a time when a great struggle for human freedom is in progress. It is an added good fortune to have parents who take a personal part in the great movements of their time. I am glad and thankful that this was my case.”

Emmeline Pankhurst book My Own Story

My Own Story (1914), Ch 1

Freedom , Personality , Time , Parent

“Speaking of women's favours, M. de ... used to say: It is an auction room business, and neither feeling nor merit are ever successful bidders.”

Nicolas Chamfort (1741–1794) French writer

Maxims and Considerations, #362
Original: (fr) Il me semble, disait M. de…, à propos des faveurs des femmes, qu'à la vérité, cela se dispute au concours, mais que cela ne se donne ni au sentiment, ni au mérite.
Original: (fr) Maximes et Pensées, #362

Success , Business , Feeling

“Many girls are studying just for earning and employment, although the work of a woman is not Employment. This trend of employment of women is one reminiscence from the cursed reminiscences of western culture. Islam has placed the responsibility of providing income on men.”

Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad (1889–1965) Caliph of the Messiah

Source: Anwarul Ulum, vol. 13, p. 94, Meri Sarah, p. 23

Study , Girl , Men

“We are approaching a solemn anniversary this week
It is an anniversary of a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol where we saw the men and women of law enforcement demonstrate incredible courage, incredible bravery, risk their lives to defend the men and women who serve in this Capitol.”

Ted Cruz (1970) American politician

5 January 2022 https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/ted-cruz-pathetic-tucker-carlson-jan-6-apology-1280783/

Courage , Law , Men

“The Bible, the Holy Scriptures, will never henceforward to any generation, in any part of the globe, be, or stand for, to individuals or groups of men and women, what is was to the early English Puritans.”

George Edward Ellis (1814–1894) American Unitarian clergyman and historian (1814-1894)

[Narrative and Critical History of America: English explorations and settlements in North America, 1497-1689, edited by Justin Winsor, 1889, vol. III, The Religious Element in the Settlemen of New England.—Puritans and Separatists in England by George E. Ellis, 219–243, https://books.google.com/books?id=NhBkAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA229, 1884, Houghton, Mifflin and Company] (quote from p. 229)

Parting , Men

“Men don't have to assess women, that's why we can objectify them so quickly. On some level, we don't really give a fuck. A man can see a woman with a heavy cold and all he'd think would be "I would rattle that fucking phlegm loose."”

Frankie Boyle (1972) Scottish comedian

Stand-up, Excited for You to See and Hate This (2020)

Thinking , Men

“Men can frighten us, other women can frighten us, and sometimes we worry so much about what frightens us that we wait to have an orgasm until we are alone. We pretend to want things we don’t want so nobody can see us not getting what we need.”

Lisa Taddeo (1980) American writer and journalist

Source: On women being told to control their own impulses in “Lisa Taddeo on her bestseller Three Women: 'I thought I was writing a quiet little book'” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/06/lisa-taddeo-interview-three-women in The Guardian (2019 Dec 6)

Waiting , Men

“With his heart, he sees what happens thousands of kilometers away and is invisible to most eyes. This Co-Cathedral—which was built by 200 poor stonemasons, both men and women—will allow the people to feel closer to God.”

Marie Fabien Raharilamboniaina (1968)

Source: Pope sends message as new Cathedral blessed in Madagascar https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-05/pope-francis-blesses-new-cathedral-saint-joseph-madagascar.html (1 May 2021)

God , Heart , People , Feeling

“Last night I deleted a tweet because it was widely misinterpreted and distorted by conservative media. "Back of the hand" is an idiom for rebuke. I wholeheartedly condemn violence against women.”

Robert B. Reich (1946) American political economist

21 January 2022 https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1484223895297089539

Night

“In the Middle East and other parts of the world so many innocent people are still convicted. Justice is trampled, and men and women are killed for their faith. We entrust their lives to Jesus Christ.”

Filipe Neri Ferrão (1953) seventh Roman Catholic Patriarch of the East Indies

Source: Prayer vigil for the release of the Salesian kidnapped in Yemen http://fides.org/en/news/59700-ASIA_INDIA_Prayer_vigil_for_the_release_of_the_Salesian_kidnapped_in_Yemen (23 March 2016)

People , World , Faith , Justice

“As a black woman I feel a responsibility to black people and to women. My responsibility is not to be compromising. Even if the content is not positively biased or doesn’t fall in line with an agenda or ideology, I want people to be satisfied by the honesty.”

Theresa Ikoko English psychologist, playwright

Source: quoted in Award winning and unapologetic playwright Theresa Ikoko brings Girls to Soho Theatre, Mattie Lacey-Davidson, 29th September 2016, 2016, en, 25 January 2022, 2022 https://www.guardian-series.co.uk/leisure/latest/14770119.award-winning-and-unapologetic-playwright-theresa-ikoko-brings-girls-to-soho-theatre/,

People , Feeling

“Men preach Philosophy, women practise it.”

Alfred Austin (1835–1913) British writer and poet

Source: Lamia's Winter-Quarters (1898), Lamia on p. 66.

Men

“Our economy cannot fully recover unless women can participate fully. I believe, I think we all believe, this is a national emergency — women leaving the workforce in these numbers is a national emergency, which demands a national solution.”

Kamala Harris (1964) United States Senator from California

Source: " Kamala Harris: Women Are Facing A National Emergency https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/kamala-harris-women-national-emergency_n_602ec604c5b66da5dba0101a?ri18n=true" (February 18, 2021)

Thinking

“The heart has a resiliency. Strained to breaking, it can contract again. Even the waiting women, Iseult and Penelope, learned, as they sat sorrowing and watching, to sing to the swing of the sea.”

Fannie Hurst (1889–1968) novelist

Gaslight Sonatas (1918)

Singing , Waiting , Learning , Heart

“I want the money, the women, the fortune and fame
That means I end up burnin' in Hell, scorchin' in flame
That means I'm stealin' your checkbook and forgin' your name
This lifetime bliss for eternal torture and pain”

Eminem (1972) American rapper and actor

"Rock Bottom"
1990s, The Slim Shady LP (1999)

Money , Pain , Hell

“Houston women I wine-and-dine and take to the house
My moral compass is janky, it breaks in the South”

Drake (1986) Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor

"Is There More," Scorpion (2018)

Housing , Wine

“My advice to women all the time is: If you want a certain future, go out and create it. Conquer your fears as that is what enslaves most women. Opportunities are now galore. We just need to roll up our sleeves, lift our feet, and walk through the door as no one will carry us.”

Divine Ndhlukula (1960) Zimbabwean businesswoman and farmer

Source: Lioness of Africa, 19 October 2017https://www.lionessesofafrica.com/blog/2017/10/19/quote-of-the-day-by-divine-ndhlukula

Fear , Time , Future

“Women entrepreneurs have to work twice as hard to succeed... the best thing to do is to remain resolute, focused, ethical and preserve your integrity”

Divine Ndhlukula (1960) Zimbabwean businesswoman and farmer

Source: Lioness of Africa, 23 January 2020 https://www.lionessesofafrica.com/blog/2017/4/13/quote-of-the-day

“I have been opposed to vivisection for many years; not just because it is unbelievably barbaric and unforgivably cruel but also because it is worthless, wasteful, inaccurate, uninformative and dangerously misleading. The cruelty is indefensible and an affront to human dignity, but in a desperate attempt to justify their evil practices many vivisectors still claim that what they do helps save human lives. They are lying. The truth is that animal experiments kill people and animal researchers are responsible for the deaths of thousands of men, women and children every year; they are also directly responsible for a massive amount of human suffering.”

Vernon Coleman (1946) British doctor

"Why Animal Experiments Must Stop" (1991), in animalliberationfront.com http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Philosophy/Animal%20Testing/Vivisection/waems.htm.

Lying , Death , Men , Children

“Abortion prohibition by the State, however, controls women and denies them full autonomy and full equality with men. That was the idea I tried to express in the lecture to which you referred.”

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933) Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

When Sen. Hank Brown (R-CO) asked about her remarks during her 1993 Senate confirmation hearing about the above quoted lecture, Ginsburg clarified her stance with the quoted sentences. As quoted in: Olivia Waxman (August 2, 2018): Ruth Bader Ginsburg Wishes This Case Had Legalized Abortion Instead of Roe v. Wade. In: Time Magazine. Archived https://web.archive.org/web/20220527151841/https://time.com/5354490/ruth-bader-ginsburg-roe-v-wade/ from the original https://time.com/5354490/ruth-bader-ginsburg-roe-v-wade/ on May 27, 2022.
1990s

Idea , Men

“Women are attracted to men's ability to generate, to be productive, and to share. These qualities transcend wealth, which can disappear.”

Jordan Peterson (1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ifi5KkXig3s "Biblical Series IV: Adam and Eve: Self-Consciousness, Evil, and Death"

Wealth , Men

“The continuous cries for help - from children and women and men - ring in my ears, even today seventy-seven years later.”

Amartya Sen (1933) Indian economist

pg. 115
Source: 2020s, Ch. 7 section 2

Children , Help , Men

“Were Women all like those whom here I name,
Woman to man I surely would prefer;
The Sun is feminine, nor deems it shame;
The Moon, though masculine, depends on her.”

Jami (1414–1492) Persian poet

Alluding to Rabia of Basra, Nafahat al-Uns, as quoted in A Literary History of Persia https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Literary_History_of_Persia/q_n1DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA299 by E. G. Browne, p. 299.

Dependency , Sun

“On top of the war talk, women were driving me crazy: the ones who said “no” and the ones who said “yes.””

Jack Cady book The Night We Buried Road Dog

It got downright mystifying just trying to figure out which was worse. At nineteen, it’s hard to know how to act.
Source: The Night We Buried Road Dog (1993), p. 463

War

“I would rather have stayed in the theater and done comedy. Comedy in film (was) so narrow for women. I was much happier doing very black comedy onstage, and I could never find anything of that ilk on film. The closest to what I might have accomplished was `Working Girl.'”

Sigourney Weaver (1949) American actress

“Dream Weaver" (Dec 3, 1997)

Girl

“I guess I don`t think of film as an innovative medium. I guess I feel that film kind of caught up to what`s been happening to women for the last 20 years.”

Sigourney Weaver (1949) American actress

“SIGOURNEY WEAVER`S CLOSE SHAVE” (May 16, 1992)

Thinking , Feeling

“Support for abortion rights and legal abortion has actually increased over the years. And women have continued to access abortion services at pretty much the same rate.”

Cecile Richards (1958) American feminist and abortion rights activist

Cecile Richards on Roe v. Wade Overturn: "This Is About Maintaining Political Power" https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/a39916765/cecile-richards-on-roe-v-wade-overturn-supreme-court/ (PUBLISHED: MAY 5, 2022)

Support

“It was a great image, especially for areas where there was strong Muslim influence and the concomitant view prevailed that women had no souls.”

John Brunner book The Jagged Orbit

Source: The Jagged Orbit (1969), Chapter 15 (p. 49)

Soul , Strong

“If men are honest, everything they do and everywhere they go is for a chance to see women.”

Jack Nicholson (1937) American actor, film director, producer, and writer

"'I used to feel irresistible to women. Not any more': The melancholy confessions of Jack Nicholson", dailymail.co.uk, 31 January 2011.

Chance , Men

“It's a little bit more of a challenge, I think, for women, but, if you're willing to put in the work and be committed and have a family and circle of support around you, you'll be able to do it, and thankfully, I do, so I can serve my district.”

Kate Klunk (1982) American politician

Pa. ranks poorly in women holding public office, but York County 'a different story' https://www.eveningsun.com/story/news/2018/02/22/pa-ranks-poorly-women-holding-public-office-but-york-county-different-story/332822002/ (22 February 2018)

Family , Support , Thinking

“We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women created ... by the — you know — you know, the thing.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2020, March 2020

Truth , Men

“Let me tell you, if anyone in the past has spoken
ill of women, or speaks so now or will speak so
in the future, I’ll sum it up for him: Neither sea
nor land has ever produced a more monstrous
creature than woman.”

Euripidés book Hecuba

Hecuba, lines 1178-1182 ( tr. Jay Kardan and Laura-Gray Street (2010) http://didaskalia.net/issues/8/32/)
Variant ( tr. E. P. Coleridge (1938) http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg007.perseus-eng1:1145-1186):
[I]f any of the men of former times have spoken ill of women, if any does so now, or shall do so hereafter, I will say all this in one short sentence; for neither land or sea produces such a race, as whoever has had to do with them knows.

Sea , Past , Future

“On behalf of all those dead
who learned their hatred of women long ago,
for those who hate them now, for those unborn
who shall live to hate them yet, I now declare
my firm conviction: neither earth nor ocean
produces a creature as savage and monstrous
as woman.”

Euripidés book Hecuba

Hecuba (424 BC), lines 1177-1182. [Euripides, William Arrowsmith (translated by), Grene, David, Lattimore, Richmond, Euripides III: Four Tragedies, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, USA, 0226307824, paperback]
Variant ( tr. Jay Kardan and Laura-Gray Street (2010) http://didaskalia.net/issues/8/32/):
Let me tell you, if anyone in the past has spoken
ill of women, or speaks so now or will speak so
in the future, I’ll sum it up for him: Neither sea
nor land has ever produced a more monstrous
creature than woman.

Hate , Learning , Dead

“There’s a word, and the word is called misogynoir. And that word describes the double whammy that women of color have to face: You’re vulnerable on the issue of gender, and you’re vulnerable on the issue of race.”

Carol Moseley Braun (1947) American politician and lawyer

The US’s first Black woman senator on what Ketanji Brown Jackson brings to the Supreme Court https://www.vox.com/23015036/ketanji-brown-jackson-supreme-court-history (Apr 7, 2022)

Color

“All men lie to you. When they tell you that they love you, it’s a lie… All men hate you, ladies, they hate you. Because you prevent men from thriving… This is why all the crimes committed in the world are women’s fault.”

Vladimir Zhirinovsky (1946–2022) Russian politician and political activist

"The Best of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the Clown Prince of Russian Politics" in VICE https://www.vice.com/en/article/xd5q47/the-best-of-vladimir-zhirinovsky-russias-craziest-politician

Hate , Lie , World , Love

“I have to confess... for a long time, for many-many years, I am a convinced lesbian. I struggle to understand the representatives of sexual minorities when so many beautiful women are around you.”

Vitali Klitschko (1971) Ukrainian boxer and politician

2013
Source: [Виталий Кличко: Я - убежденный лесбиян, https://sportrbc.ru/news/5755950e9a7947e47e135f3d, 2022-06-13, РБК Спорт, ru]

Time , Understanding , Beauty

“The problem of locating photos often confirms the indifference to women’s presence in history, as reflected in the media, books, historical records, museums, university libraries.”

Elizabeth Martinez (1925) American community organizer, activist, author, and educator

Source: (es) El problema de localizar fotografías confirma la indiferencia ante la presencia de las mujeres en la historia, cosa que se refleja constantemente en los medios, libros, archivos históricos, museos y bibliotecas universitarias.

Photo , History , Universe , Books

“Contempt for women is inscribed in the works of Saint Paul.”

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (1969) Dutch feminist, author

Source: 2010s, Nomad: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations (2010), Chapter 16, “Seeking God but Finding Allah” (p. 241)

“The liberation of women is like a vast, unfinished house. The west wing is fairly complete….
Go to the east wing, however, and what you find is worse than unfinished.”

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (1969) Dutch feminist, author

Source: 2010s, Nomad: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations (2010), Chapter 15, “Dishonor, Death, and Feminists” (pp. 233-234)

Housing

“We make our sons. This is the tragedy of the tribal Muslim man, and especially the firstborn son: the overblown expectations, the ruinous vanity, the unstable sense of self that relies on the oppression of one group of people—women—to maintain the other group’s self-image.”

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (1969) Dutch feminist, author

Source: 2010s, Nomad: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations (2010), Chapter 4, “My Brother’s Story” (p. 58)

People , Sense

“I have discovered something else, Throsset of Dowes. And that is that men give women jewels when they have absolutely no idea what might please them and are not willing to take time to think about it.”

Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) American fiction writer

Source: The True Game, The Search of Mavin Manyshaped (1985), Chapter 9 (p. 165)

Time , Thinking , Idea , Men

“The articulation of concerns common to almost all women, such as health, child care, domestic violence, rape and reproductive rights, is much more frequent than it was two decades ago.”

Elizabeth Martinez (1925) American community organizer, activist, author, and educator

De Colores Means All of Us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century (2017)

Health

“Old women should not seek to be perfumed.”

Archilochus (-680–-645 BC) Ancient Greek lyric poet

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, first ebook edition, 2014
Attributed quotes

“Time and time again, I have observed that the usual response among white women's groups when the "racism issue" comes up is to deny the difference. I have heard comments like, "Well, we're open to all women; why don't they (women of color) come? You can only do so much..."”

Cherríe Moraga (1952) American writer

But there is seldom any analysis of how the very nature and structure of the group itself may be founded on racist or classist assumptions. More important, so often the women seem to feel no loss, no lack, no absence when women of color are not involved; therefore, there is little desire to change the situation. This has hurt me deeply. I have come to believe that the only reason women of a privileged class will dare to look at how it is that they oppress, is when they've come to know the meaning of their own oppression. And understand that the oppression of others hurts them personally.
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, Fourth Edition (2015)

Time , Color

“It's better not to argue with women.”

Vladimir Putin (1952) President of Russia, former Prime Minister

"Putin on Hillary: 'It's Better Not to Argue With Women'" https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/putin-on-hillary-its-better-not-to-argue-with-women/439788/, The Atlantic, 4 June 2014
2010s, 2014

“If we consider women whose lot it is to inspire deep affection, we shall sometimes find them, not those who can most generously bestow, but those who can most generously receive.”

Jean Ingelow (1820–1897) British writer

Source: Don John (1881), Ch. 6, p. 74.

“When women thrive, all of society benefits and succeeding generations are given a better start in life.”

Kofi Annan (1938–2018) 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations

Quoted in: Kabir, Hajara Muhammad (2010). Northern women development. [Nigeria]. ISBN 978-978-906-469-4. OCLC 890820657.

Life

“The fact is women are in chains, and their servitude is all the more debasing because they do not realize.”

Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) American women's rights activist

Quoted in: Kabir, Hajara Muhammad (2010). Northern women development. [Nigeria]. ISBN 978-978-906-469-4. OCLC 890820657.

“The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power, You just take it.”

Roseanne Barr (1952) American actress, comedienne, writer, producer and director

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/26434-the-thing-women-have-yet-to-learn-is-nobody-gives
cited in; Kabir, Hajara Muhammad (2010). Northern women development. [Nigeria]. ISBN 978-978-906-469-4. OCLC 890820657.

Learning

“Women are wiser than men, because they know less and understand more.”

James Thurber (1894–1961) American cartoonist, author, journalist, playwright

Quoted in: Kabir, Hajara Muhammad (2010). Northern women development. [Nigeria]. ISBN 978-978-906-469-4. OCLC 890820657.
https://allauthor.com/quotes/42366/
From other writings

Understanding , Men

“For what is done or learned by one class of women becomes, by virtue of their common womanhood, the property of all women.”

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910) England-born American physician, abolitionist, women's rights activist

Quoted in: Kabir, Hajara Muhammad (2010). Northern women development. [Nigeria]. ISBN 978-978-906-469-4. OCLC 890820657.
Medicine and Morality (1881)

Learning

“Women really do rule the world, they just haven't figure it yet. When they do, and they will, we're all in big trouble.”

Leon MacLaren (1910–1994) British philosopher

Dr Leone, quoted in: Kabir, Hajara Muhammad (2010). Northern women development. [Nigeria]. ISBN 978-978-906-469-4. OCLC 890820657.

World

“If I were a girl, I'd despair. The supply of good women far exceeds that of a man who desrves them.”

Robert Graves (1895–1985) English poet and novelist

Robert Graves Quotes. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
General sources

Despair , Girl

“Today, the image always comes first, and it is enough to look at the women on our television to realize it. I don't want to make a bundle of all the grass, but having a nice and seductive image is necessary. I don't even know if it is wrong: a beautiful woman is right to be appreciated also for her own aesthetics. The problem occurs when, at an audition and with the same talent, the girl with the dress is taken instead of the girl in the suit. I realized I had a weapon available, my body, and I decided to use it. It is wrong, however, that talent alone is not enough.”

Paola Di Benedetto (1995) Italian showgirl, model, television presenter and radio host

Original: (it) L'immagine, oggi, arriva sempre prima, ed è sufficiente guardare le donne della nostra televisione per rendersene conto. Non voglio fare di tutta l'erba un fascio, ma avere un'immagine piacente e seducente è necessario. Non so neanche dire se sia sbagliato: una donna bella è giusto si faccia apprezzare anche per la propria estetica. Il problema subentra quando, ad un provino e a parità di talento, viene presa la ragazza con il vestitino al posto della ragazza in tailleur. Io ho capito di aver a disposizione un’arma, il mio corpo, e ho deciso di sfruttarla. È sbagliato, però, che il solo talento non sia sufficiente.
Source: From the interview with de Claudia Casiraghi, Paola Di Benedetto: La bellezza aiuta, ma non basta https://www.vanityfair.it/people/italia/2020/12/07/paola-di-benedetto-oltre-il-corpo-libro-se-ci-credi-interviste, vanitifayr.it, 7 December 2020.

Girl , Grass , Beauty , Problem

“The desire to be perfect. Women innately have this weird thing where they try to have a perfect persona—to look perfect, be perfect, act perfect, have their kids look a certain way. Women put so much pressure on themselves.”

Mila Kunis (1983) American actress

"Mila Kunis on Life With Ashton and Making Babies: “There’s Nothing We Don’t Know About Each Other"" in Glamour https://www.glamour.com/story/mila-kunis-on-life-with-ashton-and-making-babies (6 July 2016)

Perfection , Way

“The Women of Cumann na mBan

The struggle is a-fading
Drifting to history
Yet the importance of these women
Does not need persuading

In Belfast was Winnie Carney
Who worked for freedom’s gain
She was a trade unionist in Dublin
When Connolly was slain

Travelling the country
Was Bloxham from May-o
A magnificent orator
Her resignation was blow

We must mention Jen Wyse-Power
Once the president
She supported the Treaty
Which made everyone sour

It was the great Sorcha MacMahon
Moving to-and-from the Four Courts
Fundraising for dependants
And arranging the transports

Do not forget Maud Mitchell
The first Captain of the Midlands
The executive’s fine beauty
In Cork she gave commands

Of course, there was Maud Gonne
And Countess Markievicz
For many years great warriors
'Til on parliament they split

After many hours of conflict
Settles does the dust
Yet the ideals of these women
Carry on they must”

Unknown author

Dependency , History , Country , Support

“Cultural products which present women who do not want to be household slaves or universal mothers or sex objects as bitches or sexual failures objectively aid male supremacy.”

Meredith Tax (1942) American writer

Source: "Culture is not Neutral, Whom Does it Serve?" (1972), p. 15

Bitch , Universe , Failure , Sex

“I am beginning to reach the age when I say hello to the old women I meet in my neighborhood, anticipating the moment in life when I shall be one of them. When I was twenty I didn't notice them; they would be dead before my face had wrinkles.”

Annie Ernaux (1940) French writer

Quoted in But Enough About Me by Nancy K. Miller (Columbia University Press, 2002), p. 96
Exteriors (1993)

Dead , Age , Life

“Women executives have a different sensitivity. Male executives only understood makeup or fashion as an instrument of seduction, because that was addressed to them. They didn’t understand that we like to put on makeup or dress up just because it’s a game; it’s pleasurable.”

Isabella Rossellini (1952) Italian actress and filmmaker

On being asked to be the face of Lancôme after being fired by a male executive decades earlier in “Isabella Rossellini: ‘Ageing brings a lot of happiness. You get fatter – but there is freedom’” https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/oct/13/isabella-rossellini-ageing-brings-a-lot-of-happiness-you-get-fatter-but-there-is-freedom in The Guardian (2020 Oct 13)

Game , Pleasure , Fashion , Understanding