There are three classes into which all the women past seventy years of age I have ever known, were divided: that dear old soul; that old woman; that old witch.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
I have often had occasion to remark the fortitude with which women sustain the most overwhelming reverses of fortune. Those disasters which break down the spirit of a man and prostrate him in the dust seem to call forth all the energies of the softer sex, and give such intrepidity and elevation to their character, that at times it approaches to sublimity.
—Washington Irving (1783–1859) American Essayist, Biographer, Historian
The society of women is the element of good manners.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Modern invention has banished the spinning wheel, and the same law of progress makes the woman of today a different woman from her grandmother.
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) American Civil Rights Leader
A woman’s lot is made for her by the love she accepts.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
O Woman, you are not merely the handiwork of God, but also of men; these are ever endowing you with beauty from their own hearts… . You are one-half woman and one-half dream.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
They often say woman cannot keep a secret, but every woman in the world, like every man, has a hundred secrets in her own soul which she hides from even herself. The more respectable she is, the more certain it is the secrets exist.
—Austin O’Malley (1858–1932) American Aphorist, Ophthalmologist
There is one in the world who feels for him who is sad a keener pang than he feels for himself; there is one to whom reflected joy is better than that which comes direct; there is one who rejoices in another’s honor, more than in any which is one’s own; there is one on whom another’s transcendent excellence sheds no beam but that of delight; there is one who hides another’s infirmities more faithfully than one’s own; there is one who loses all sense of self in the sentiment of kindness, tenderness, and devotion to another; that one is woman.
—Washington Irving (1783–1859) American Essayist, Biographer, Historian
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
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 buckling on of the knight’s armor by his lady’s hand was not a mere caprice of romantic fashion. It is the type of an eternal truth that the soul’s armor is never well set to the heart unless a woman’s hand has braced it, and it is only when she braces it loosely that the honor of manhood fails.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
Women famed for their valor, their skill in politics, or their learning, leave the duties of their own sex, in order to invade the privileges of ours. I can no more pardon a fair one for endeavoring to wield the club of Hercules, than I could a man for endeavoring to twirl her distaff.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
‘Til we are built like angels, with hammer, and chisel, and pen, we will work for ourselves and a woman, for ever and ever, Amen.
—Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) British Children’s Books Writer, Short story, Novelist, Poet, Journalist
Women never truly command, till they have given their promise to obey; and they are never in more danger of being made slaves, than when the men are at their feet.
—George Farquhar (1677–1707) Irish Dramatist
The foundation of domestic happiness is faith in the virtue of woman.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
A good and true woman is said to resemble a Cremona fiddle—age but increases its worth and sweetens its tone.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
Women wish to be loved without a why or a wherefore—not because they are pretty or good, or well-bred, or graceful, or intelligent, but because they are themselves.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
The deepest tenderness a woman can show to a man, is to help him to do his duty.
—Dinah Craik (1826–87) British Novelist, Essayist, Poet
There is a woman at the beginning of all great things.
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian
Women are ever in extremes; they are either better or worse than men.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
Women that are the least bashful are not unfrequently the most modest; and we are never more deceived than when we would infer any laxity of principle from that freedom of demeanor which often arises from a total ignorance of vice.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
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
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
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
A woman is more desirous of entering the state of matrimony than a man.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
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
The happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
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 best woman has always somewhat of a man’s strength; and the noblest man of a woman’s gentleness.
—Dinah Craik (1826–87) British Novelist, Essayist, Poet
God has placed the genius of women in their hearts; because the works of this genius are always works of love.
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian