Women Born Before The 19th Century

"I sometimes think, sir, that your fences might be in more thorough repair, and your roads in better order, if less time was spent in politics."

"Pleasure is a vain illusion; she draws you on to a thousand follies, errors, and I may say vices, and then leaves you to deplore your thoughtless credulity."

"Of all the pleasures of which the human mind is sensible, there is none equal to that which warms and expands the bosom, when listening to commendations bestowed on us by a beloved object, and are conscious of having deserved them."

"The mind of youth eagerly catches at promised pleasure: pure and innocent by nature, it thinks not of the dangers lurking beneath those pleasures, till too late to avoid them."

"Situated on an island which I think it will one day cover, it rises like Venice from the sea, and like that fairest of cities in the days of her glory, receives into its lap tribute of all the riches of the earth."

"Oh my dear girls, for to such only am I writing, listen not to the voice of love, unless sanctioned by paternal approbation; be assured it is now past the days of romance."

"... she had on a blue bonnet, and with a pair of lovely eyes of the same color, has contrived to make me feel devilish odd about the heart."

"Can you, who have always been used to serenity and order in a family, to rational, refined, and improving conversation, relinquish them, and launch into the whirlpool of frivolity, where the correct taste and the delicate sensibility which you possess must constantly be wounded by the frothy and illiberal sallies of licentious wit?"

"It is by surmounting difficulties, not by sinking under them, that we discover our fortitude. True courage consists not in flying from the storms of life; but in braving and steering through them with prudence. Avoid solitude. It is the bane of a disordered mind; though of great utility to a healthy one."

"Wealth and titles, which were sure to be heaped on the hero or heroine of the tale at last, she considered as the ultimatum of all sublunary good."

"She was magnificent in her womanhood—a dark Brunhilda, handsome, large, and free; full of joy and laughter, frank and fearless, never biting her tongue; and yet one who was never still, never dull, always going and doing and dreaming; always alive, always generous, loving and kind."

"It is surprising to know the large number of women who absolutely refuse to go to the polls. Not satisfied with remaining at home, they seem to take pleasure in talking disparagingly about the women who are interested."

"Men should not have everything. They certainly do not accomplish everything."

"Harmony, with ev'ry grace, Plays in the fair proportions of her face."

"No more to fabled names confined, To thee, supreme, all-perfect mind, My thoughts direct their flight: Wisdom's thy gift, and all her force From thee derived, unchanging source Of intellectual light! O send her sure, her steady ray To regulate my doubtful way Through life's perplexing road, The mists of error to control, And through its gloom direct my soul To happiness and good!"

"My mother bids me bind my hair With bands of rosy hue, Tie up my sleeves with ribbons rare, And lace my bodice blue."

"Rien ne m'est plus, plus ne m'est rien."

"Free as Nature’s first intention Was to make us, I’ll be found, Nor by subtle Man’s invention Yeild to be in Fetters bound By one that walks a freer round.Mariage does but slightly tye Men Whil’st close Pris’ners we remain, They the larger Slaves of Hymen Still are begging Love again At the full length of all their chain."

"Cou’d our First Father, at his toilsome Plough, Thorns in his Path, and Labour on his Brow, Cloath’d only in a rude, unpolish’d Skin, Cou’d he a vain Fantastick Nymph have seen, In all her Airs, in all her antick Graces, Her various Fashions, and more various Faces; How had it pos’d that Skill, which late assign’d Just Appellations to Each several Kind! A right idea of the Sight to frame; T’have guest from what New Element she came; T’have hit the wav’ring Form, and giv’n this Thing a Name."

"They tell us we mistake our sex and way; Good breeding, fassion, dancing, dressing, play Are the accomplishments we shou’d desire; To write, or read, or think, or to enquire Wou’d cloud our beauty and exaust our time, And interrupt the Conquests of our prime; Whilst the dull mannage of a servile house Is held by some our outmost art and use."

"How are we fal’n, fal’n by mistaken rules, And Education’s more than Nature’s fools."

"The King, the Priest, the Prophet, all are Thine, Nor wou’d ev’n God (in Flesh) thy Stroke decline."

"Judge not my passion by my want of skill: Many love well, though they express it ill; And I your censure cou’d with pleasure bear, Wou’d you but soon returne, and speake it here."

"Did I my lines intend for publick view, How many censures wou’d their faults persue; ... True judges might condemn their want of witt, And all might say, they’re by a Woman writt."

"This to the crown and blessing of my life, The much lov’d husband of a happy wife; To him whose constant passion found the art To win a stubborn and ungratefull heart, And to the world by tend’rest proof discovers, They err, who say that husbands can’t be lovers."

"Alas! a woman that attempts the pen, Such an intruder on the rights of men, Such a presumptuous Creature, is esteem’d, The fault, can by no vertue be redeem’d."

"Love, thou art best of Human Joys, Our chiefest Happiness below; All other Pleasures are but Toys, Musick without Thee is but Noise, And Beauty but an empty show.Heav’n, who knew best what Man wou’d move, And raise his Thoughts above the Brute; Said, Let him Be, and Let him Love; That must alone his Soul improve, Howe’er Philosophers dispute."

"Παυροεπὴς Ἤριννα, καὶ οὐ πολύμυθος ἀοιδαῖς: ἀλλ᾽ ἔλαχεν Μούσας τοῦτο τὸ βαιὸν ἔπος. τοιγάρτοι μνήμης οὐκ ἤμβροτεν, οὐδὲ μελαίνης νυκτὸς ὑπὸ σκιερῇ κωλύεται πτέρυγι: αἱ δ᾽ ἀναρίθμητοι νεαρῶν σωρηδὸν ἀοιδῶν μυριάδες λήθῃ, ξεῖνε, μαραινόμεθα. λωίτερος κύκνου μικρὸς θρόος ἠὲ κολοιῶν κρωγμὸς ἐν εἰαριναῖς κιδνάμενος νεφέλαις."

"Στᾶλαι, καὶ Σειρῆνες ἐμαί, καὶ πένθιμε κρωσσέ, ὅστις ἔχεις Ἀΐδα τὰν ὀλίγαν σποδιάν, τοῖς ἐμὸν ἐρχομένοισι παρ᾿ ἠρίον εἴπατε χαίρειν, αἴτ᾿ ἀστοὶ τελέθωντ᾿, αἴθ᾿ ἑτέρας πόλιος· χὤτι με νύμφαν εὖσαν ἔχει τάφος, εἴπατε καὶ τό· χὤτι πατήρ μ᾿ ἐκάλει Βαυκίδα, χὤτι γένος Τηνία, ὡς εἰδῶντι· καὶ ὅττι μοι ἁ συνεταιρὶς Ἤρινν᾿ ἐν τύμβῳ γράμμ᾿ ἐχάραξε τόδε."

"[Greek text]"

"Soft speech Provençal under the olives! Like a queen’s raiment from days long perish’d, Breathing aromas of old unremember’d Perfumes and shining in dust-cover’d places With sudden hints of forgotten splendour— So on the lips of the peasant his language, His only now, the tongue of the peasant."

"Why child, I haven't had time for marriage. Men are a nuisance anyhow, now aren't they? They're just boys grown up."

"Looking for nuggets is like hunting for a whisper in a big wind. You have to have an occupation to fall back on while you’re searching for a strike."

"Every man I met up north was my protector, and any man I ever met, if he needed my help, got it, whether it was a hot meal, nursing, mothering or whatever else he needed. After all, we pass this way only once, and it's up to us to help our fellows when they need our help."

"When I saw something that needed doing, I did it."

"Θάεο τὸν Βρομίου κεραὸν τράγον, ὡς ἀγερώχως ὄμμα κατὰ λασιᾶν γαῦρον ἔχει γενύων,κυδιόων ὅτι οἱ θάμ᾽ ἐν οὔρεσιν ἀμφὶ παρῇδα βόστρυχον εἰς ῥοδέαν Ναῒς ἔδεκτο χέρα."

"Οὐκέτι δὴ πλωτοῖσιν ἀγαλλόμενος πελάγεσσιναὐχέν᾽ ἀναρρίψω βυσσόθεν ὀρνύμενος,οὐδὲ περὶ σκαλάμοισι νεὼς περικαλλέα χείληποιφύσσω, τἀμᾷ τερπόμενος προτομᾷ:ἀλλά με πορφυρέα πόντου νοτὶς ὦς᾽ ἐπὶ χέρσον,κεῖμαι δὲ ῥαδινὰν τάνδε παρ᾽ ἠιόνα."

"ἵζευ ἅπας ὑπὸ καλὰ δάφνας εὐθαλέα φύλλα, ὡραίου τ᾽ ἄρυσαι νάματος ἁδὺ πόμα, ὄφρα τοι ἀσθμαίνοντα πόνοις θέρεος φίλα γυῖα ἀμπαύσῃς, πνοιῇ τυπτόμενα Ζεφύρου."

"Ἑρμᾶς τᾶιδ᾽ ἕστακα παρ᾽ ὄρχατον ἠνεμόεντα ἐν τριόδοις πολιᾶς ἐγγύθεν ἀιόνος,ἀνράσι κεκμηῶσιν ἔχων ἄμπαυσιν ὁδοῖο· ψυχρὸν δ᾽ ἀχραὲς κράνα ὑποπροχέει."

"Ἡνία δή τοι παῖδες ἐνί, τράγε, φοινικόενταθέντες καὶ λασίῳ φιμὰ περὶ στόματι,ἵππια παιδεύουσι θεοῦ περὶ ναὸν ἄεθλα,ὄφρ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἐφορῇ νήπια τερπομένους."

"On this night, Mrs. Poe, lingering on the bed of disease, and surrounded by her children, asks your assistance and asks it perhaps for the last time."

"Any time while I was a slave, if one minute's freedom had been offered to me, and I had been told that I must die at the end of that minute, I would have taken it—just to stand one minute on God's earth a free woman—I would."

"Pleasures are sins: we regret to offend God; but, then, pleasures please us."

"The true and the false speak the same language."

"A woman of honor should never suspect another of things she would not do herself."

"In love, as in war, a fortress that parleys is half taken."

"I confess I should be glad if my pleasures were as pleasing to God as they are to me: in that case, I should often find matter for rejoicing."

"It is difficult to repent of what gives us pleasure."

"No one perfectly loves God who does not perfectly love some of his creatures."

"Since love teaches how to trick the tricksters, how much reason have we to fear it — we who are poor simple creatures!"