A woman prefers poverty with the affection of her husband to riches without it.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
A handsome woman who has the qualities of an agreeable man is the most delicious society in the world. She unites the merit of both sexes. Caprice is in the women the antidote to beauty.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
The brain women never interest us like the heart women; white roses please less than red.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
‘Tis beauty, that doth oft make women proud; ’tis virtue, that doth make them most admired; ’tis modesty, that makes them seem divine.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Woman is like the reed which bends to every breeze, but breaks not in the tempest.
—Richard Whately (1787–1863) English Philosopher, Theologian
Recreation or pleasure is to a woman what the sun is to the flower; if moderately enjoyed, it beautifies, it refreshes, and improves; if immoderately, it withers, deteriorates, and destroys. But the duties of domestic life, exercised, as they must be, in retirement, and calling forth all the sensibilities of the female, are, perhaps, as necessary to the full development of her charms, as the shades and shadows are to the rose; confirming its beauty, and increasing its fragrance.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Honor to women! they twine and weave the roses of heaven into the life of man; it is they that unite us in the fascinating bonds of love; and, concealed in the modest veil of the graces, they cherish carefully the external fire of delicate feeling with holy hands.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
The world is the book of women. Whatever knowledge they may possess is more commonly acquired by observation than by reading.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
A woman’s greatest glory is to be little talked about by men, whether for good or ill.
—Pericles (c.490–429 BCE) Athenian Statesman, General
There is a vein of inconsistency in every woman’s heart, within whose portals love hath entered.
—Dorothee Luzy Dotinville (1747–1830) French Dancer, Actress
No amount of preaching, exhortation, sympathy, benevolence, will render the condition of our working women what it should be so long as the kitchen and the needle are subtsantially their only resources.
—Horace Greeley (1811–72) American Journalist, Author
A woman too often reasons from her heart; hence two-thirds of her mistakes and her troubles.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
Win and wear her if you can.—She is the most delightful of God’s creatures—Heaven’s best gift—man’s joy and pride in prosperity, and his support and comfort in affliction.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist
The test of civilization is the estimate of woman.
—George William Curtis (1824–92) American Writer, Editor, Orator
The female of the species is more deadly than the male.
—Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) British Writer, Poet, Novelist, Short Story Author
O woman! in ordinary cases so mere a mortal, how in the great and rare events of life dost thou swell into the angel!
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
Let men say what they will; according to the experience I have learned, I require in married women the economical virtue above all other virtues.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
It is only the nature of their education that puts a woman at such disadvantage, and keeps up the notion that they are our inferiors in ability.—The best sources of knowledge are shut off from them, and the surprise is that they manage to keep so abreast of us as they do.
—Joseph Story (1779–1845) American Jurist, Lawyer
Most men like in women what is most opposite their own characters.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
The greater part of what women write about women is mere sycophancy to man.
—Anne Louise Germaine de Stael (1766–1817) French Woman of Letters
The errors of women spring, almost always, from their faith in the good, or their confidence in the true.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
Earth has nothing more tender than a woman’s heart when it is the abode of piety.
—Martin Luther (1483–1546) German Protestant Theologian
Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks, shall win my love.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
When I see the elaborate study and ingenuity displayed by women in the pursuit of trifles, I feel no doubt of their capacity for the most herculean undertakings.
—Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910) American Feminist, Reformer, Writer
Love, which is only an episode in the life of a man, is the entire history of woman’s life.
—Anne Louise Germaine de Stael (1766–1817) French Woman of Letters
If thou wouldst please the ladies, thou must endeavor to make them pleased with themselves.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Oh, if the loving, closed heart of a good woman should open before a man, how much controlled tenderness, how many veiled sacrifices and dumb virtues, would he see reposing therein!
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Philosopher
All a woman has to do in this world is contained within the duties of a daughter, a sister, a wife, and a mother.
—Richard Steele (1672–1729) Irish Writer, Politician
Next to God we are indebted to women, first for life itself, and then for making it worth having.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
Woman, reduces us all to a common denominator.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
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