"I have always remarked, that women, in all countries, are civil and obliging, tender and humane; that they are ever inclined to be gay and chearful, timorous, and modest; and that they do not hesitate, like men, to perform a generous action. Not haughty, not arrogant, not supercilious; they are full of courtesy, and fond of society: more liable in general to err than man, but in general also more virtuous, and performing more good actions than he. To a woman, whether civilized or savage, I never addressed myself in the language of decency and friendship, without receiving a decent and friendly answer. With man it has often been otherwise. In wandering over the barren plains of inhospitable Denmark, through honest Sweden, and frozen Lapland, rude and churlish Finland, unprincipled Russia, and the wide-spread regions of the wandering Tartar; if hungry, dry, cold, wet, or sick, the women have ever been friendly to me, and uniformly so: and to add to this virtue, (so worthy the appellation of benevolence), these actions have been performed in so free and so kind a manner, that if I was dry I drank the sweetest draught, and, if hungry, I eat the coarse morsel with a double relish."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Travel writersAuthors from the United StatesPeople from ConnecticutExplorers from the United StatesDartmouth College alumni
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
John Ledyard
John Ledyard (November 1751 – 10 January 1789) was an American explorer and adventurer.
1 quote on TrueQuotesView all quotes by John Ledyard →
Related Quotes
"Scientific education is catholic; it embraces the whole field of human learning. No student can master all knowledge …"
"Honest investigation is but the application of common sense to the solution of the unknown. Science does not wait on …"
"Years of drought and famine come and years of flood and famine come, and the climate is not changed with dance, libat…"
"The verb is relatively of much greater importance in an Indian tongue than in a civilized language."
"Possible ideas and thoughts are vast in number. A distinct word for every distinct idea and thought would require a v…"
"The integers of language are sentences, and their organs are the parts of speech. Linguistic organization, then, cons…"
"Indian nouns are extremely connotive; that is, the name does more than simply denote the thing to which it belongs; i…"
"In Seneca the north is "the sun never goes there," and this sentence may be used as adjective or noun; in such cases …"
"In Ute the name for bear is "he seizes," or "the hugger." In this case the verb is used for the noun, and in so doing…"
"Economy in speech is the force by which its development has been accomplished, and it divides itself properly into ec…"