The Quotes canon
Sourced and curated.
Every quote has been curated by hand and carefully authenticated.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Patriarchy40 quotes
That's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool. — F. Scott Fitzgerald · 1925The law sees and treats women the way men see and treat women. — Catharine MacKinnon · 1983What little girls learn is not the desire for the other, but the desire to be desired. — Naomi Wolf · 1990This has always been a man's world, and none of the reasons hitherto brought forward in explanation of this fact has seemed adequate. — Simone de Beauvoir · 1949"Beauty" is a currency system like the gold standard. Like any economy, it is determined by politics, and in the modern age in the West it is the last, best belief system that keeps male dominance intact. — Naomi Wolf · 1990Perhaps patriarchy's greatest psychological weapon is simply its universality and longevity... Patriarchy has a still more tenacious or powerful hold through its successful habit of passing itself off as nature. — Kate Millett · 1970All 40 quotes →Women8 quotes
That's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool. — F. Scott Fitzgerald · 1925It is hard for a woman to define her feelings in a language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs. — Thomas Hardy · 1874A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband. — Proverbs 12:4 · 686 BCA woman watches her body uneasily, as though it were an unreliable ally in the battle for love. — Leonard Cohen · 1963Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man-there has never been such another... Who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as "The women, God help us", or "The ladies, God bless them!" — Dorothy L. Sayers · 1946Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. — Charlotte Whitton · 1963All 8 quotes →Gender relations7 quotes
The principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes—the legal subordination of one sex to the other—is wrong in itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement. — John Stuart Mill · 1869It is hard for a woman to define her feelings in a language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs. — Thomas Hardy · 1874Man for the field and woman for the hearth:
Man for the sword and for the needle she:
Man with the head and woman with the heart:
Man to command and woman to obey;
All else confusion. — Alfred Tennyson · 1847It is humbling to reflect, that in those countries in which the fondness for the mere persons of women is carried to the highest excess, they are slaves; and that their moral and intellectual degradation increases in direct proportion to the adoration which is paid to mere external charms. — Hannah More · 1799Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man-there has never been such another... Who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as "The women, God help us", or "The ladies, God bless them!" — Dorothy L. Sayers · 1946Man is, or should be, woman's protector and defender. The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life. The Constitution of the family organization, which is founded in the divine ordinance, as well as the nature of things, indicates the domestic sphere as that which properly belongs to the domain and functions of womanhood... The paramount destiny and mission of woman are to fulfil the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator. — Joseph P. Bradley · 1873All 7 quotes →Oppression of women7 quotes
Your great glory is not to be inferior to what God has made you, and the greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men, whether they are praising you or criticizing you. — Pericles · 430 BCThe principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes—the legal subordination of one sex to the other—is wrong in itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement. — John Stuart Mill · 1869If God is male, then the male is God. — Mary Daly · 1973It is humbling to reflect, that in those countries in which the fondness for the mere persons of women is carried to the highest excess, they are slaves; and that their moral and intellectual degradation increases in direct proportion to the adoration which is paid to mere external charms. — Hannah More · 1799Men may have had their own very good reasons for bringing women up in servitude, but the soul of a servant is not an attractive thing, and one of the most infuriating aspects of women's constricted upbringing is that it has made them less attractive, even in the eyes of their constrictors, than they should have been. Man has twisted and pruned women out of all recognition and then not liked the results. — Janet Radcliffe Richards · 1980In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly. — Laura Mulvey · 1975All 7 quotes →Men and women6 quotes
A man has every season, while a woman has only the right to spring. — Jane Fonda · 1989It is hard for a woman to define her feelings in a language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs. — Thomas Hardy · 1874A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband. — Proverbs 12:4 · 686 BCMan for the field and woman for the hearth:
Man for the sword and for the needle she:
Man with the head and woman with the heart:
Man to command and woman to obey;
All else confusion. — Alfred Tennyson · 1847Our ancestors refused to allow any woman to transact even private business without a guardian to represent her; women had to be under the control of fathers, brothers, or husbands. But we (heaven preserve us!) are now allowing them even to take part in politics, and actually to appear in the Forum and to be present at our meetings and assemblies!... Give a free rein to their unprincipled nature, to this untamed animal, and then expect them to set a limit on their own license! — Livy · 9 BCTo men a man is but a mind. Who cares
What face he carries or what form he wears?
But woman's body is the woman. — Ambrose Bierce · 1906Women's attractiveness3 quotes
That's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool. — F. Scott Fitzgerald · 1925Taught from their infancy that beauty is woman’s sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and, roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison. — Mary Wollstonecraft · 1792In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly. — Laura Mulvey · 1975Discreet women2 quotes
Silence gives the proper grace to women. — Sophocles · 440 BCGreat is the glory of the woman who occasions the least talk among men, whether of praise or of blame. — Thucydides · 404 BCHollywood2 quotes
There are only three ages for women in Hollywood - Babe, District Attorney, and Driving Miss Daisy. — Elise Elliot Atchison · 1996For an actress to be a success, she must have the face of a Venus, the brains of a Minerva, the grace of Terpsichore, the memory of a Macaulay, the figure of Juno and the hide of a rhinoceros. — Ethel Barrymore · 1953Misogyny2 quotes
I could hardly find a book on morals where, even before I had read it in its entirety, I did not find several chapters or certain sections attacking women, no matter who the author was... I finally decided that God formed a vile creature when He made woman, and I wondered how such a worthy artisan could have deigned to make such an abominable work which, from what they say, is the vessel as well as the refuge and abode of ever evil and vice. — Christine de Pizan · 1405Our ancestors refused to allow any woman to transact even private business without a guardian to represent her; women had to be under the control of fathers, brothers, or husbands. But we (heaven preserve us!) are now allowing them even to take part in politics, and actually to appear in the Forum and to be present at our meetings and assemblies!... Give a free rein to their unprincipled nature, to this untamed animal, and then expect them to set a limit on their own license! — Livy · 9 BCWomen's bodies2 quotes
A woman watches her body uneasily, as though it were an unreliable ally in the battle for love. — Leonard Cohen · 1963To men a man is but a mind. Who cares
What face he carries or what form he wears?
But woman's body is the woman. — Ambrose Bierce · 1906Beauty1 quote
"Beauty" is a currency system like the gold standard. Like any economy, it is determined by politics, and in the modern age in the West it is the last, best belief system that keeps male dominance intact. — Naomi Wolf · 1990Catholic church1 quote
The Catholic Church has never really come to terms with women. What I object to is being treated either as Madonnas or Mary Magdalenes. — Shirley Williams · 1981Feminism1 quote
I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute. — Rebecca West · 1913Gender roles1 quote
Man for the field and woman for the hearth:
Man for the sword and for the needle she:
Man with the head and woman with the heart:
Man to command and woman to obey;
All else confusion. — Alfred Tennyson · 1847Law1 quote
The law sees and treats women the way men see and treat women. — Catharine MacKinnon · 1983Nature of God1 quote
If God is male, then the male is God. — Mary Daly · 1973Single life1 quote
Being alone and liking it is, for a woman, an act of treachery, and infidelity far more threatening than adultery. — Molly Haskell · 1999Single women1 quote
Being alone and liking it is, for a woman, an act of treachery, and infidelity far more threatening than adultery. — Molly Haskell · 1999Slut shaming1 quote
A woman takes off her claim to respect along with her garments. — Herodotus · 430 BCSocietal values1 quote
This is an important book, the critic assumes, because it deals with war. This is an insignificant book because it deals with the feelings of women in a drawing room. — Virginia Woolf · 1929Speaking up1 quote
Just because a girl speaks her mind doesn't mean she's a psycho. — Lindsay Weir · 2000Virginity1 quote
It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue. — Voltaire · 1750Women and aging1 quote
A man has every season, while a woman has only the right to spring. — Jane Fonda · 1989Women and society1 quote
Any woman who chooses to behave like a full human being should be warned that the armies of the status quo will treat her as something of a dirty joke; that's their natural and first weapon. — Gloria Steinem · 1972Women's empowerment1 quote
How dare you? All of you! Standing around deciding my future? I am not a prize to be won! — Princess Jasmine · 1992Women's rights1 quote
Our ancestors refused to allow any woman to transact even private business without a guardian to represent her; women had to be under the control of fathers, brothers, or husbands. But we (heaven preserve us!) are now allowing them even to take part in politics, and actually to appear in the Forum and to be present at our meetings and assemblies!... Give a free rein to their unprincipled nature, to this untamed animal, and then expect them to set a limit on their own license! — Livy · 9 BC