When once the woman has tempted us, and we have tasted the forbidden fruit, there is no such thing as checking our appetites, whatever the consequences may be.
GEORGE WASHINGTON, letter to Mrs. Richard Stockton, Sep. 2, 1783
With women the heart argues, not the mind.
- Oh! too convincing -- dangerously dear --
- In woman's eye the unanswerable tear!
There is such a thing as the wrong woman. She makes a man a fraction.... But the right woman! She multiplies a man.
HORACE HOLLEY, "The Genius"
As the vine which has long twined its graceful foliage about the oak and been lifted by it into sunshine, will, when the hardy plant is rifted by the thunderbolt, cling round it with its caressing tendrils and bind up its shattered boughs, so is it beautifully ordered by Providence that woman, who is the mere dependent and ornament of man in his happier hours, should be his stay and solace when smitten with sudden calamity, winding herself into the rugged recesses of his nature, tenderly support ing the drooping head, and binding up the broken heart.
WASHINGTON IRVING, "The Wife," The Sketch Book
When one sees one of the romantic creatures before him he imagines he is looking at some holy being, so wonderful that its one breath could dissolve him in a sea of a thousand charms and delights; but if one looks into the soul -- it's nothing but a common crocodile.
- Of all the paths lead to a woman's love
- Pity's the straightest.
JOHN FLETCHER, The Knight of Malta
I think that women as a group are so powerful. I still don't think we are able to embrace our power well enough yet. We think we live in a man's world and we have to follow their rules, and yet, we're so different, and our rules are so different. I wish that we could come together more as a political force. If women ran the world, I don't believe that there would be war. I really don't.... We understand the bigger picture. We understand our impact on the environment, on the world. We understand the generations that will go after us because we gave birth to them.
KYRA SEDGWICK, Newsweek, Oct. 15, 2007
[Women] ... is nothin' but little girls in long skirts, and their hair done up.
There's a lot of pressure on women to fulfill certain fantasies. They expect you to be a little bit of a tart, to flirt with all the men. A lot of women do it. But I'm not doing that. I talk with these guys about their wives and kids right away. When they say inappropriate things, I let them, because boys will be boys, but I'm not looking to participate in their conversations.
JESSICA ALBA, Marie Claire Magazine, March 2008
Most women are not so young as they are painted.
MAX BEERBOHM, A Defence of Cosmetics
Women age early, and their mistake is not knowing where to hide all the time that lies behind them so that no one sees it. What are they to do, devour it like the umbilical cords of their children? Hell and damnation!
Women and music should never be dated.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH, She Stoops to Conquer
There are two kinds of spiritual law, two kinds of conscience, one in man and another, altogether different, in woman. They do not understand each other; but in practical life the woman is judged by man's law, as though she were not a woman but a man.
HENRIK IBSEN, From Ibsen's Workshop
What is better than wisdom? Woman. And what is better than a good woman? Nothing.
GEOFFREY CHAUCER, The Canterbury Tales
Women are seldom silent. Their beauty is forever speaking for them.
PHILIP MOELLER, Helena's Husband
A sensible woman can never be happy with a fool.
GEORGE WASHINGTON, letter to Eleanor Parke Custis, Jan. 16, 1795
I profess not to know how women's hearts are wooed and won. To me they have always been matters of riddle and admiration. Some seem to have but one vulnerable point, or door of access; while others have a thousand avenues, and may be captured in a thousand different ways. It is a great triumph of skill to gain the former, but a still greater proof of generalship to maintain possession of the latter, for man must battle for his fortress at every door and window. He who wins a thousand common hearts is therefore entitled to some renown; but he who keeps undisputed sway over the heart of a coquette is indeed a hero.
WASHINGTON IRVING, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democratic president. It's kind of a pipe dream; it's a personal fantasy of mine.
ANN COULTER, Newsweek, Oct. 15, 2007
Women are leaders everywhere you look--from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household. Our country was built by strong women and we will continue to break down walls and defy stereotypes.
NANCY PELOSI, Glamour Magazine, Jan. 2007
Women still have an uneasy relationship with power and the traits necessary to be a leader. There is this internalized fear that if we are really powerful, we are going to be considered ruthless or pushy or strident--al those epithets that strike right at our femininity. We are still working at trying to overcome the fear that power and womanliness are mutually exclusive.
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, Newsweek, Oct. 15, 2007
As a woman, I have an inherent need to be all things to all people, to make certain everybody's taken care of. I know I can't sustain that level all the time, so I'm finding the proper balance and it's made me infinitely happier.
SARAH JESSICA PARKER, Woman's Day Magazine, Sep. 12, 2007
A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult.
MELINDA GATES, Woman's Day Magazine, Oct. 2, 2007
A woman with a well-stocked toy drawer isn't dependent on anyone and is unlikely to hurl herself at a lowlife just for nooky.
ARIANNE COHEN, Marie Claire Magazine, March 2008
I think women of a certain generation, mine in particular, feel like we can have it all because that's what we were fed. It's like, we reap the benefits of the feminist movement - they did all the legwork and now we're going to try to be parents and successful business people and great wives and good friends and take a cooking class and blah, blah, blah...
SARAH JESSICA PARKER, BBC interview, Dec. 13, 2005
Women are not allowed to be complicated in our society. We still very much have a Madonna-whore complex. We're comfortable seeing women as great mothers, and then we're comfortable seeing them as hookers, but there's no in-between.
CHARLIZE THERON, Glamour Magazine, July 2008
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