Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety; other women cloy
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfied; for vilest things
Become themselves in her, that the holy priests
Bless her when she is riggish. William Shakespeare, Antony & Cleopatra II ii 243
O most delicate fiend!
Who is’t can read a woman? William Shakespeare, Cymbeline V vi 47-48, Cymbeline
This honest, virtuous, civil, gentle woman. The Hollow Crown: Henry IV part II 2012 ***** BBC starring Jeremy Irons & Simon Russell Beale & Tom Hiddleston & Alun Armstrong & David Bamber & Julie Walters & Niamh Cusack & David Dawson & Michaelle Dockery et al, director Richard Eyre, Hal of Doll Tearsheet
Be to her virtues very kind;
Be to her faults a little blind;
Let all her ways be unconfined;
And clap your padlock – on her mind. Matthew Prior, An English Padlock, 1705
She floats, she hesitates; in a word, she’s a woman. Jean Racine, Athalie, 1691
O Woman! in our hours of ease,
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please,
And variable as the shade
By the light quivering aspen made;
When pain and anguish wring the brow,
A ministering angel thou! Walter Scott, Marmion, 1808
Being a woman is a terribly difficult task since it consists principally in dealing with men. Joseph Conrad
We were basing our request for the vote on inequalities and injustices and lack of opportunity. Dame Margery Corbett Ashby, interview BBC 1972
And what is bettre than wisedoom? Womman.
And what is bettre than a good womman? Nothyng. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales
Wommen desiren to have sovereynetee
As wel over hir housbond as hir love. ibid.
And she was fayr as is the rose in May. ibid.
When lovely woman stoops to folly
And finds too late that men betray,
What charm can soothe her melancholy,
What art can wash her guilt away? Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield, 1766
When lovely woman stoops to folly and
Paces about her room again, alone,
She smoothes her hair with automatic hand
And puts a record on the gramophone. T S Eliot, The Waste Land
I don’t like women. I fucking hate women. I do. Jim Davidson, British right-wing comedian, interview The 100 Greatest Stand Ups, 2010
Woman is the nigger of the world. Yoko Ono
Women should be obscene and not heard. John Lennon
The carping malice of the vulgar world, who think it a proof of sense to dislike every thing that is writ by women. Susanna Centlivre 1669-1723, The Platonic Lady
Take my word for it, the silliest woman can manage a clever man, but it takes a very clever woman to manage a fool. Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills, 1888
The female of the species is more deadly than the male. Rudyard Kipling, 1919
Can anything be more absurd than keeping women in a state of ignorance, and yet so vehemently to insist on their resisting temptation? Vicesimus Knox
Join the Union, girls, and together say, Equal Pay for Equal Work! Susan B Anthony, 1820-1906
The fact is, women are in chains, and their servitude is all the more debasing because they do not realize it. Susan B Anthony
We ask justice, we ask equality, we ask that all civil and political rights that belong to the citizens of the United States be guaranteed to us and our daughters forever. Susan B Anthony & Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Matilda Joslyn Gage & Ida Husted Harper, History of Woman Suffrage, 1886
The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca Falls Convention July 1848
The Bible teaches that woman brought sin and death into the world, that she precipitated the fall of the race ... marriage for her was to be a condition of bondage, maternity a period of suffering and anguish, and in silence and subjection, she was to play the role of a dependent on man’s bounty for all her material wants. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Woman’s degradation is in man’s idea of his sexual rights. Our religion, laws, customs, are all founded on the belief that woman was made for man. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women’s emancipation. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Free Thought Magazine 1896
Let us look for the woman. Alexandre Dumas
cf.
Cherchez la femme. Joseph Fouche, attributed
Oh oh here she comes,
Watch out boy she’ll chew you up
Oh oh here she comes
She’s a maneater ... Hall & Oats, Maneater
To ask women to become unnaturally thin is to ask them to relinquish their sexuality. Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth, 1990
Cosmetic surgery processes the bodies of woman-made women, who make up the vast majority of its patient pool, into man-made women. Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women
Love a woman! You’re an ass!
’Tis a most insipid passion
To choose out for your happiness
The silliest part of God’s creation ... John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, Song, 1647-1680
Zeng Jinlian (China) measured 2.48 m (8 ft 1.75 in) when she died on 13 February 1982. Guinness World Records 2005 (50th edition)
The greatest fully authenticated age to which any human has ever lived is 122 years 164 days by Jeanne Louise Calment (France). ibid.
From the first dawn of life unto the grave,
Poor womankind’s in every state a slave. Sarah Egerton, 1670-1723, The Emulation
We will our rights in learning’s a world maintain;
Wit’s empire now shall know a female reign. ibid.
Personally, I can’t see why it would be any less romantic to find a husband in a nice four-colour catalogue than in the average downtown bar at happy hour. Barbara Ehrenreich, American sociologist & writer
Women who love the same man have a kind of bitter freemasonry. Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson, 1911
The soft, unhappy sex. Aphra Behn, The Wandering Beauty, 1698
’Tis the hand of Nature and we women cannot escape it. Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm, 1932
Let a bird into your life and before you know it you’ve got pink pourri in the bog and knickers in your cornflakes. Gangsta No.1 ***** 2000 staring Paul Bettany & Malcolm McDowell & David Thewlis & Saffron Burrows & Kenneth Cranham et al, director Paul McGuigan
What makes you think that you’re so special. You know, I wouldn’t mind a wife and someone to love. I deserve some love. I want a Valentine’s card. I don’t care if she’s a slag. I’ll look after her, all right. Spoil her. Buy her stuff. Maybe I’d like to settle down sometime, eh? But nobody ever thinks about that, do they? I mean, nobody thinks about you. Well fuck you! ibid.