“Women are much more like each other than men: they have, in truth, but two passions, vanity and love; these are their universal characteristics.”

—  Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

19 December 1749
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Women are much more like each other than men: they have, in truth, but two passions, vanity and love; these are their u…" by Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield?
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield photo
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield 65
British statesman and man of letters 1694–1773

Related quotes

Oscar Wilde photo

“Men always want to be a woman’s first love. That is their clumsy vanity. We women have a more subtle instinct about these things. What (women) like is to be a man’s last romance.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
Florence Nightingale photo

“It is thought pretty to say that "Women have no passion." If passion is excitement in the daily social intercourse with men, women think about marriage much more than men do; it is the only event of their lives. It ought to be a sacred event, but surely not the only event of a woman's life, as it is now. Many women spend their lives in asking men to marry them, in a refined way. Yet it is true that women are seldom in love. How can they be?”

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

Cassandra (1860)

Paul Gauguin photo

“In Europe men and women have intercourse because they love each other. In the South Seas they love each other because they have had intercourse. Who is right?”

Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) French Post-Impressionist artist

Quoted by Bengt Danielsson in Gauguin in the South Seas http://books.google.com/books?id=u41CAAAAIAAJ&q=%22In+Europe+men+and+women+have+intercourse+because+they+love+each+other+In+the+South+Seas+they+love+each+other+because+they+have+had+intercourse+Who+is+right%22&pg=PA137#v=onepage (1966)
undated

Mata Amritanandamayi photo

“There is nothing more profound than the strength and beauty of two hearts that love each other. Love has the mind-cooling freshness of the full moon and the scintillating brilliance of the sun’s rays. But love will not enter our hearts without permission. Women and men should be equally willing to invite within this love that is waiting. Only love can bring about a permanent change in the mind-sets and, therefore, the realities of women and men.”

Mata Amritanandamayi (1953) Hindu spiritual leader and guru

The Infinite Potential of Women (2008)

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues photo

“Men crowd into honorable careers without other vocation than their vanity, or at best their love of fame.”

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747) French writer, a moralist

Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), p. 185.

Martin Firrell photo

“Women are much more honourable than men.”

Martin Firrell (1963) British artist and activist

quoting April Ashley
"Complete Hero" (2009)

Nicholas Sparks photo

“Women are more attuned to feelings than men are, and if they’re not being truthful, more often than not it’s because they think truth might hurt your feelings. But it doesn’t mean they don’t love you.”

Nicholas Sparks book At First Sight

Mayor Gherkin, Chapter 8, p. 120
Source: 2000s, At First Sight (2005)
Context: ... but what I eventually came to understand was that if a woman truly loves you, you can't always expect her to tell the truth. You see, women are more attuned to feelings than men are, and if they're not being truthful, more often than not it's because they think the truth might hurt your feelings. But it doesn't mean they don't love you.

Warren Farrell photo

“When we look at the pay of men and women who do work equal hours, two discoveries are quite astonishing:
--When women and men work less than 40 hours a week, the women earn more than the men;
--When men and women work more than 40, the men earn more than the women.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: Why Men Earn More (2005), p. 79.

Alan Watts photo

“There are times when men's passions are much more trustworthy than their principles”

Alan Watts book The Way of Zen

Source: The Way of Zen (1957), p. 29
Context: It was a basic Confucian principle that "it is man who makes truth great, not truth which makes man great." For this reason, "humanness" or "human-heartedness" (jen) was always felt to be superior to "righteousness" (i), since man himself is greater than any idea which he may invent. There are times when men's passions are much more trustworthy than their principles.

Related topics