"Wifehood, the house, a family; they are woman’s traditional concern and each in its way represents one of the other great three—faith, hope, charity—which St. Paul sets down as the virtues of earth. (For how can one rear a family without faith? Or build a roof without hope? Or remain a proper wife without charity?) They are life’s vital elements and no ordered world can endure without them."

"Believe me Delmar, woman is the most fiendish instrument of torture ever devised to bedevil the days of man."

"L'Angiolo della Famiglia è la Donna. Madre, sposa, sorella, la donna è la carezza della vita, la soavità dell'affetto diffusa sulle sue fatiche, un riflesso sullo individuo della Provvidenza amorevole che veglia sull'umanità: sono in essa tesori di dolcezza consolatrice che bastano ad ammorzare qualunque dolore. Ed essa è inoltre per ciascun di noi l'iniziatrice dell'avvenire."

"A woman will always sacrifice herself if you give her the opportunity. It is her favourite form of self-indulgence."

"A woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her, but she can never forgive him for the sacrifices he makes on her account."

"I did not then know the besetting sin of woman, the passion to discuss her private affairs with anyone who is willing to listen."

"Now I believe tradition, which doth call The Muses, Virtues, Graces, females all. Only they are not nine, eleven, or three; Our authoress proves them but an unity. Mankind, take up some blushes on the score: Monopolize perfection hence no more. In your own arts confess yourselves outdone; The moon hath totally eclipsed the sun; Not with her sable mantle muffling him, But her bright silver makes his gold look dim: Just as his beams force our pale lamps to wink, And earthly fires within their ashes sink."

"How sweetly sounds the voice of a good woman! It is so seldom heard, that, when it speaks, It ravishes all senses,"

"Day unto day her dainty hands Make Life's soiled temples clean, And there's a wake of glory where Her spirit pure hath been. At midnight, thro' that shadow-land, Her living face doth gleam; The dying kiss her shadow, and The Dead smile in their dream."

"If women go into politics, they’ll wind up as bad as men."

"What have I done, or tried, or said In thanks to that dear woman dead? Men triumph over women still, Men trample women's rights at will, And man's lust roves the world untamed. * * * * O grave, keep shut lest I be shamed."

"Remember, you're fighting for this woman's honor, which is probably more than she ever did."

"A woman's life is nine parts mess to one part magic ... and the parts that look like magic often turn out to be the messiest of all."

"At last, in a world torn by the hatred and wars of men, appears a woman to whom the problems and feats of men are mere child's play. A woman whose identity is known to none, but whose sensational feats are outstanding in a fast-moving world. She serves as a symbol of integrity and humanity, so that the world of men would know what it means to be an Amazon. With a hundred times the agility and strength of our best male athletes and strongest wrestlers, she appears as though from nowhere to avenge an injustice or right a wrong! As lovely as Aphrodite — as wise as Athena — with the speed of Mercury and the strength of Hercules – She is known only as Wonder Woman!"

"Sing of the nature of women, and then the song shall be surely full of variety; old crotchets and most sweet closes. It shall be humorous, grave, fantastic, amorous, melancholy, sprightly, one in all, and all in one."

"Like untun'd golden strings all women are, Which long time lie untouch'd, will harshly jar. Vessels of brass oft handled, brightly shine; What difference betwixt the richest mine And basest mould, but use? ... Ah, simple Hero, learn thyself to cherish, Lone women like to empty houses perish. ... One is no number; maids are nothing then, Without the sweet society of men."

"Was this the face that launched a thousand ships, And burnt the topless towers of Ilium? Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss! Her lips suck forth my soul: see, where it flies! Come Helen, come give me my soul again. Here will I dwell, for heaven be in these lips, And all is dross that is not Helena."

"No woman, no cry."

"Here lies a most beautiful lady, Light of step and heart was she: I think she was the most beautiful lady That ever was in the West Country. But beauty vanishes, beauty passes, However rare, rare it be; And when I crumble who shall remember That lady of the West Country?"

"No thyng ys to man so dere As wommanys love yn gode manere. A gode womman ys mannys blys There her love ryght and stedfast ys; There ys no solas undyr hevene Of al that a man may nevene, That shuld a man so mochë glew As a gode womman that loveth trew. Ne derer ys none yn goddys hurde Than a chaste womman with lovely worde."

"What woman's fair after we find her faulty? What lady innocent when no longer chaste? Or who so vain to hope for honour, or for pity from that soul who wants it for herself?"

"A Learned Woman is thought to be a Comet, that bodes Mischief, when ever it appears."

"A woman can only be superior as a woman; as soon as she wants to emulate man, she is nothing but an ape."

"I would guess that most men who understand women at all feel hostility toward them. At their worst, women are low sloppy beasts."

"Right wise it was of our Colm when founding in Iona his famous sixth century school and colony of monks and scholars, he forbade the bringing in of a cow. "Where comes a cow," the wise man laid down, "there follows a woman; and where comes a woman follows trouble.""

"Women, I thought: if they fell over a cliff and thought there was company waiting at the bottom, they'd comb their hair on the way down."

"Women do not find it difficult nowadays to behave like men, but they often find it extremely difficult to behave like gentlemen."

"Le più caritative persone che sieno sono le donne, e le più fastidiose. Chi le scaccia, fugge e fastidii e l'utile; chi le intrattiene, ha l'utile ed e fastidii insieme. Ed è 'l vero che non è el mele sanza le mosche."

"When all the medical officers have retired for the night, and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she [Florence Nightingale] may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds."

"All sorts of articles and letters appear in the papers about women. Profound questions are raised concerning them. Should they smoke? Should they work? Vote? Take Orders? Marry? Exist? Are not their skirts too short, or their sleeves? Have they a sense of humour, of honour, of direction? Are spinsters superfluous? But how seldom similar inquiries are propounded about men."

"Seek to be good, but aim not to be great, A woman’s noblest station is retreat; Her fairest virtues fly from public sight."

"A cunning woman is a knavish fool."

": Were women never so fair, men would be false. : Were women never so false, men would be fond."

"A crudele genus nec fidum femina nomen! a pereat, didicit fallere si qua virum."

"Men have broad and large chests, and small narrow hips, and more understanding than the women, who have but small and narrow breasts, and broad hips, to the end they should remain at home, sit still, keep house, and bear and bring up children."

"My soul doth magnify the Lord: and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded: the lowliness of his handmaiden. For, behold, from henceforth: all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath magnified me: and holy is his Name."

"Hail, thou art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women."

"Parvula, pumilio, χαρίτων μία, tota, merum sal."

"Do you think women ought to have the vote?" I asked him. "My mother says," he replied, "that all the clever women have it already."

"She doeth little kindnesses, Which most leave undone, or despise; For naught that sets one's heart at ease, And giveth happiness or peace, Is low-esteemèd in her eyes."

"Earth's noblest thing, a Woman perfected."

"'Twas kin' o' kingdom-come to look On sech a blessed cretur."

"A woman’s dress should be like a barbed-wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view."

"I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own."

"Like a fair lily on a river floating She floats upon the river of his thoughts."

"A Lady with a lamp shall stand In the great history of the land, A noble type of good, Heroic womanhood."

"The life of woman is full of woe, Toiling on and on and on, With breaking heart, and tearful eyes, The secret longings that arise, Which this world never satisfies! Some more, some less, but of the whole Not one quite happy, no, not one!"

"I adore woman, but I want her to keep her place. I don’t want woman to be the coming man!"

"Let any one commend to these female runagates quietness, duty, home-staying, and the whole cohort of Wild Women is like an angry beehive which a rough hand has disturbed."