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Matilda Joslyn Gage

29 quotes

“While so much is said of the inferior intellect of woman, it is by a strange absurdity conceded that very many eminent men owe their station in life to their mothers.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Trammeled as women have been, by might and custom, there are still many shining examples, which serve as beacon lights of what may be attained by genius, labor, energy, and perseverance combined.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To those who say women do not desire their rights, or think they have them already, I would say, converse with any intelligent woman on the subject, and you will not find them indifferent. Woman feels deeply, keenly, her degradation, but is bound by the iron hand of custom which so long has exercised tyrant rule over her. An ignorant woman is virtually in the same condition as the peasant who thinks it right that a king shall rule over him; and to keep him content, he is made to believe it would be blasphemy and treason in him to call in question this right.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The question is, how can this mental and moral lethargy, which now binds the generality of women, be shaken off? They are educated to a state of entire dependence; taught before marriage, to expect a support from their fathers, and after, from their husbands; to suppress their convictions, if contrary to those of their fathers, brothers and husbands, and to allow others to act for them. This state of listlessness follows as a natural consequence.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Were refined, intelligent conversation in the home circle appreciated, club-rooms, secret societies, taverns, and stores, where man’s leisure is generally spent, would be less frequented; for where all are educated, it is a disgrace to be ignorant, and time now wasted, would be spent in improvement.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Being placed in a position compelling them to act, has caused many persons to discover talents in themselves they were before unaware of possessing. Great emergencies produce great leaders, seemingly fitted by Providence, while it is but the arousing of some energy, hitherto dormant.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Those who fear woman’s incapacity to cope with the trials of life, should consider what is now actually thrust upon her by existing customs.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Although our country makes great professions in regard to general liberty, yet the right to particular liberty, natural equality, and personal independence, of two great portions of this country, is treated, from custom, with the greatest contempt; and color in the one instance, and sex in the other, are brought as reasons why they should be so derided; and the mere mention of such, natural rights is frowned upon, as tending to promote sedition and anarchy.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“After marriage, the husband and wife are considered as one person in law, which I hold to be false, from the very laws applicable to married parties.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A woman’s personal property, by marriage becomes absolutely her husband’s, which, at his death, he may give away from her; while at her death she has no such power, or any power, of disposing of his personal property.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A shame on such laws! a SHAME on such men.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The present laws are deleterious to the moral sensibilities of both husband and wife. Woman has no inducement to prudence and industry, and she is obliged seemingly to acquiesce in the wishes of her husband, however repugnant to her, as the only means of obtaining, in even a small degree, her own; or she is allowed to follow her own plans and views as a favor, and not from the lack of power to compel her to do otherwise.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the present posture of our national affairs, when the instruments of power, although professedly in the hands of the people, are, in reality, lodged in the hands of a moiety, thereby forming an Aristocracy, rather than a Republic – what are we to expect, but that one portion of the nation will be sunk in ignorance and grovelling [sic] submission.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Parliament of Toulouse burned 400 witches at one time. Four hundred women at one hour on the public square, dying the horrid death of fire for a crime which never existed save in the imagination of those persecutors and which grew in their imagination from a false belief in woman’s extraordinary wickedness, based upon a false theory as to original sin.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is computed from historical records that nine millions of persons were put to death for witchcraft after 1484, or during a period of three hundred years, and this estimate does not include the vast number who were sacrificed in the preceding centuries upon the same accusation. The greater number of this incredible multitude were women.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Boiling heretics and malefactors alive, commonly in oil but occasionally in water, was practised throughout Europe until a comparatively late period.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Massachusetts was not the only, colony that treated witchcraft as a crime. Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia possessed similar enactments. Witchcraft was considered and treated as a capital offense by the laws of both Pennsylvania and New York, trials taking place in both colonies not long before the Salem tragedy......... Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York, eight of the thirteen colonies recognized witchcraft as a capital crime.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“While the sale of daughters was practiced in England for seven hundred years after the introduction of Christianity, we note that by the ancient law of India, a father was forbidden to sell his daughter in marriage, or receive the smallest present therefor. In mediaeval England the daughter was held as a portion of the father property to be sold to the highest bidder.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For a long period after the reformation, English women were not permitted to read the Bible, a statute of the Eighth Henry prohibiting ‘women and others of low degree’ from its use.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An examination of history proves that in Christian Russia as in Christian England the husband could release himself from the marriage bond by killing his wife, over whom under Christian law he had power of life and death. Her children, as to-day in Christian England and America, are not under her control; she is to bear children but not to educate them, for as under Catholic and Protestant Christianity, women are looked upon as a lower order of beings, of an unclean nature.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The careful student of history will discover that Christianity has been of very little value in advancing civilization, but has done a great deal toward retarding it.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The church and civilization are antipodal; one means authority, the other freedom; one means conservatism, the other progress; one means the rights of God as interpreted by the priesthood, the other the rights of humanity as interpreted by humanity. Civilization advances by free thought, free speech, free men.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 540 as quoted in K. M. Talreja, Holy Vedas and Holy Bible: A Comparative Study, New Delhi: Rashtriya Chetana Sangathan, 2000
“The State, agent and slave of the Church, has so long united with it in suppression of woman’s intelligence, has so long preached of power to man alone, that it has created an inherited tendency, an inborn line of thought toward repression.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 543 as quoted in K. M. Talreja, Holy Vedas and Holy Bible: A Comparative Study, New Delhi: Rashtriya Chetana Sangathan, 2000
“Although so much is said against the unfitness of woman for public life, it can be seen, from Semiramis to Victoria, that she has a peculiar fitness for governing. In poetry, Sappho was honored by the title of the tenth Muse. Helena Lucretio Corano, a Venetian lady, who lived in the seventeenth century, was a woman of such rare scientific attainments, that the most illustrious persons, in passing through Venice, were more anxious to see her than all the curiosities of the city. She devoted herself, with intense perseverance, to literary pursuits; was made a Doctor, and received the title of Unalterable; and, with all, combined an unostentatious humility. She was but thirty-eight, when she died. Mary Cunitz, a native of Silesia, was one of the greatest geniuses of the sixteenth century. She understood many languages[,] was skilled in history, poetry, painting, music, and medicine; and these were but amusements. She particularly applied herself to Mathematics, and especially to Astronomy. She was ranked as one of the most able astronomers of her time, and formed astronomical tables, that acquired for her a great reputation. Another lady of the seventeenth century, Anne Maria Schureman, succeeded admirably in sculpture, engraving, and music. She was also learned in various languages; but in miniature painting she particularly excelled. Constantia Grierson, an Irish girl, of poor parentage, was celebrated for her literary attainments, although she died at the early age of twenty-seven. With the learning, energy, and perseverance of Lady Jane Grey, Mary, and Elizabeth, all are familiar. Mrs. Montague is spoken of by Cowper, as standing at the head of all that is called learned, and, that every critic veiled his bonnet at her superior judgment. Joannie Baillie has been termed the female Shakspeare [sic]. Miss Caroline Herschell shares the fame of her brother, as an astronomer, having herself discovered planets and comets. The greatest triumphs of the present age, in the drama, music, and literature, have been achieved by females, among whom may be mentioned Miss Cushman, Jenny Lind, Miss Chesebro, Miss Carey, Miss Fennimore Cooper, Grace Greenwood, Mrs. Stowe, and Margaret Fuller Ossoli. Mrs. Somerville’s renown has long been spread over both hemispheres, as one of the first astronomers of the present age. With this, she combines various literary acquirements; and to those who think them incompatible with feminine duties, it can be shown that she discharged, in an eminent degree, every social and family requirement.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Self-reliance is one of the first lessons to be taught our daughters; they should be educated with our sons, and equally with them taught to look forward to some independent means of support: either to one of the professions, or the business best fitted to exercise their talents. Marriage has been looked to as the acme of hope, by women; and why? Because all lucrative and honorable means of support have been seized by men, and women have been driven to marriage, as a necessity. To what more fertile cause can be attributed the uncongeniality frequently existing between married parties? Women have been instructed in showy accomplishments, while literature has been nearly cast aside, as unnecessary; men have been educated not to expect companionship in their wives. At the proposition of equal education and rights, man starts up and says, if women are admitted as equals, you ruin domestic harmony. If a woman is permitted to think for herself, forsooth, she may disagree in her views with her husband, and family peace may be destroyed. A fig for such reasoning!”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In all governments, it would be the dictate of policy, for the governed to submit to what the governors decree, provided they decree nothing inconsistent with their natural rights; but as soon as any government stretches its powers so far as to destroy the natural rights, to which the members of a community are entitled, these last are justified, by all the laws of God and man, in opposing such a government. We claim, as a natural right, the same privilege of acting as we think best, which is accorded to the other half of mankind – right bestowed upon us by God, when he created man in his own image, after his own likeness, both male and female, and gave them equal dominion”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are invited to acquire a knowledge of government, not only by many immediate benefits, but by a multitude of future ones; and who can say it will not end in the full maturity of public happiness? Nothing is a stronger proof how natural the love of liberty is to mankind, than the efforts made to attain it. Let wives cast aside the thought that their highest duty consists in gratifying their husbands palates, by some delicacy; or listening with smiling countenance, to what he may please to relate of the day’s occurrences, while placidly darning his stocking, with no higher ambition than to have it well done. I do not, by any means depreciate these necessary employments, in their proper place; but they should not be the chief business of their lives. The duty to please, devolves equally on both parties. Remember your duty to God, and your own sex, as well as to man. Let us make such use of our talent, as to receive the plaudit of our Maker, of well done, good and faithful servant.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We need not expect the concessions demanded by women will be peaceably granted; there will be a long moral warfare, before the citadel yields; in the meantime, let us take possession of the outposts. The public must be aroused to a full sense of the justice of our claims. Beside the duty of educating our children, so as to make the path of right, easy to their feet, is that of discussion, newspaper articles, petitions: all great reforms are gradual. Fear not any attempt to frown down the revolution already commenced; nothing is a more fertile aid of reform, than an attempt to check it; work on!”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As early as the sixth century a council at Macon (585) fifty-nine bishops taking part, devoted its time to a discussion of this question, ‘Does woman possess a soul ?’…… Until time of Peter the Great, women were not recognized as human beings in that great division of Christendom known as the Greek church, the census of that empire counting only males, or so many ‘souls’ -no woman named. Traces of this old belief have not been found wanting in our own country within the century. As late as the Woman’s Rights Convention in Philadelphia, 1854, an objector in the audience cried out : ‘Let women first prove they have souls; both the Church and the State deny it.’”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source