Friday, March 6, 2009

Women



Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison. ~Mary Wollstonecraft

Nobody objects to a woman being a good writer or sculptor or geneticist if at the same time she manages to be a good wife, a good mother, good-looking, good-tempered, well-dressed, well-groomed, and unaggressive. ~Marya Mannes

Women are the only exploited group in history to have been idealized into powerlessness. ~Erica Jong

Women are not the weak, frail little flowers that they are advertised. There has never been anything invented yet, including war, that a man would enter into, that a woman wouldn't, too. ~Will Rogers

I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naïve or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman. ~Anaïs Nin

13 comments:

Seraph + Splendor said...

What a lovely and inspiring collection of quotes! Thank you so much for posting.
S+S

Dutchbaby said...

These are very powerful words and of course, I love the painting. John Singer Sargent isn't it?

Anonymous said...

That Singer Sargent is one of my favorite paintings of all time.

And what a timely post. I just read of a recent study in which it was found that the average woman thinks about her body EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES, and, of course, most of those thoughts are negative. WHAT are we doing to ourselves!?

Maia said...

I adore Madame X.

Annie Coe said...

Wonderful quotes and too true. Love the Sargent, one of my favorites.

Maggie May said...

oh my goodness I LOVE your header picture. and anais...sigh...

robin laws said...

goodness you are my heroine with your inspiration and ability to read my heart. it's like you choose things to post just for me, because you know me best by some odd metaphysical quirk. i imagine many of your readers feel this personal tie to your spirit dear yoli, beautiful and tough fencer that you are.

Gill said...

Anais Nin, genius.
We are worth celebrating. Will Rogers was right too, we'd go anywhere.
Your images are great as usual Yoli...kiss your super sweet kids from my new niece Madison.
xoxo

marc aurel said...

I'm so happy to have been raised and tutored by feminists.
The Singer Sargent seems to be more about the dresss than the woman. To me, she is an archytypal blank, upon which each of us can project our own fantasies. Sounds grouchy, but, I suppose, I was weened on Euro-centric art.

Tess Kincaid said...

Love Madame X! I have a little framed print of her in my hallway upstairs.

GeNeRaCiOn AsErE said...

Muchas Felicidades en el día de la mujer.
Besos y un abrazo grande de la pandilla.

Diane Dehler said...

Great post; and words to inspire.

A Cuban In London said...

How apposite your quotes were for International Women's Day! Many thanks.

Greetings from London.