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Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Elizabeth Cady Stanton Quotes

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Famous Elizabeth Cady Stanton Quotes

“The strongest reason for giving woman all the opportunities of higher education, for the full development of her faculties, forces of mind and body; for giving her the most enlarged freedom of thought and action; a complete emancipation from all forms of bondage, of custom, dependence, superstition; from all the crippling influences of fear - is the solitude and personal responsibility of her own individual life.”

GivingMindReasonBodyActionFormOpportunityIndividualForceResponsibilityInfluenceDevelopmentHigherSolitudeFacultyCustomsStrongestSuperstitionsWomens RightsDependenceBondageMind And BodyPersonal ResponsibilityFreedom Of ThoughtEmancipationHigher EducationThoughts And ActionsIndividual Life
Author:Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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“In youth our most bitter disappointments, our brightest hopes and ambitions, are known only to ourselves. Even our friendship and love we never fully share with another; there is something of every passion, in every situation, we conceal.”

PassionSituationKnownShareYouthAmbitionAnd LoveDisappointmentBitterLove And FriendshipBitter Disappointment
Book:The Elizabeth Cady Stanton-Susan B. Anthony reader: correspondence, writings, speeches
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“I often saw weary little women coming to the table after most exhausting labors, and large, bumptious husbands spreading out their hands and thanking the Lord for the meals that the dear women had prepared, as if the whole came down like manna from heaven. So I preached a sermon in the blessing I gave. You will notice that it has three heresies in it: Heavenly Father and Mother, make us thankful for all the blessings of this life, and make us ever mindful of the patient hands that oft in weariness spread our tables and prepare our daily food. For humanity's sake, Amen.”

IfsLittlesWholeHandsMotherHumanityThreeFatherHeavenLordSawsAtheismBlessingHusbandLaborTablesPreparedPatientSakeDearSpreadPositive AtheismThis LifeMealsHeavenlyWearySermonsHeresyHeavenly FatherExhaustingAmenWearinessLittle Women
Author:Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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“Women are afraid. It is unpopular to question the bible. They are creatures of tradition. They fear to question their position in the testament, as they feared to advocate suffrage fifty years ago. Now they are quarreling as to which were among the first to advocate it. You see they are not used to abuse as I am. In Albany, fifty years ago, when I went before the legislature to plead for a married woman's right to her own property, the women whom I met in society crossed the street rather than speak to me.”

YearsFirstsUsedSpeakAtheismStreetsPositionMetsCreaturesMarriedYears AgoTraditionAbusePropertyPositive AtheismFiftyTestamentLegislatureSuffrageMarried WomenAlbany
Author:Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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“These teachings in regard to woman so faithfully reflect the provisions of the canon law that it is fair to infer that their inspiration came from the same source, written by men, translated by men, revised by men. If the Bible is to be placed in the hands of our children, read in our schools, taught in our theological seminaries, proclaimed as God's law in our temples of worship, let us by all means call a council of women in New York, and give it one more revision from the woman's standpoint.”

IfsMenGivingMeanChildrenHandsInspirationSchoolLawWrittenAtheismTeachingNew YorkTaughtSourceWorshipFairsRegardOur ChildrenPositive AtheismTemplesCouncilProvisionStandpointTheologicalRevisionCanon
Author:Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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“It is through the perversion of the religious element in woman, playing upon her hopes and fears of the future, holding this life with all its high duties in abeyance to that which is to come, that she and the children she has trained have been so completely subjugated by priestcraft and superstition.”

ChildrenHas BeensReligiousAtheismDutyElementsPositive AtheismThis LifeSuperstitionsPerversionHopes And FearsFear Of The Future
Book:The Woman's Bible
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“As women are taking an active part in pressing on the consideration of Congress many narrow sectarian measures, such as more rigid Sunday laws, the stopping of travel, the distribution of the mail on that day, and the introduction of the name of God into the Constitution; and as this action on the part of some women is used as an argument for the disfranchisement of all, I hope this convention will declare that the Woman Suffrage Association is opposed to all union of Church and State, and pledges itself as far as possible to maintain the secular nature of our Government.”

StatesGovernmentActionLawUsedNamesChurchAtheismArgumentConstitutionUnionsCongressPositive AtheismActiveConsiderationSundayAssociationConventionsMailSecularStoppingDistributionIntroductionChurch And StatePledgeSuffrageWoman SuffragePressing On
Author:Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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“I can say that the happiest period of my life has been since I emerged from the shadows and superstitions of the old theologies, relieved from all gloomy apprehensions of the future, satisfied that as my labors and capacities were limited to this sphere of action, I was responsible for nothing beyond my horizon, as I could neither understand nor change the condition of the unknown world. Giving ourselves, then, no trouble about the future, let us make the most of the present, and fill up our lives with earnest work here.”

WorldGivingHas BeensI CanActionOur LivesTroubleAtheismConditionsPeriodsShadowCapacityLaborResponsiblePositive AtheismSatisfiedTheologyHorizonSpheresSuperstitionsEarnestApprehensionGloomyRelievedUnknown Worlds
Author:Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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“A very wise father once remarked, that in the government of his children, he forbid as few things as possible; a wise legislature would do the same. It is folly to make laws on subjects beyond human prerogative, knowing that in the very nature of things they must be set aside. To make laws that man cannot and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt. It is very important in a republic, that the people should respect the laws, for if we throw them to the winds, what becomes of civil government?”

PeopleIfsMenShouldHumansChildrenImportantGovernmentLawFatherKnowingWiseAtheismSubjectsWindPositive AtheismFollyRepublicContemptLegislaturePrerogativeVery Wise
Author:Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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“It is often asserted that woman owes all the advantages of the position she occupies to-day to Christianity, but the facts of history show that the Christian Church has done nothing specifically for woman's elevation. In the general march of civilization, she has necessarily reaped the advantage of man's higher development, but we must not claim for Christianity all that has been achieved by science, discovery and invention.”

MenHas BeensDoneFactsShowsChristianChurchChristianityAtheismPositionDevelopmentHigherCivilizationDiscoveryAdvantageClaimsPositive AtheismInventionMarchElevationChristian ChurchDiscovery And Invention
Author:Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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“The point I wish plainly to bring before you on this occasion is the individuality of each human soul--our Protestant idea, the right of individual conscience and judgment--our republican idea, individual citizenship. In discussing the rights of woman, we are to consider, first, what belongs to her as an individual, in a world of her own, the arbiter of her own destiny, an imaginary Robinson Crusoe with her woman Friday on a solitary island. Her rights under such circumstances are to use all her faculties for her own safety and happiness.”

WorldFirstsHumansIdeasSoulUseIndividualWishDestinyRightsCircumstancesRepublicanSolitudeJudgmentConscienceSafetyIndividualityOccasionsIslandsFacultyImaginarySolitaryWomens RightsCitizenshipFridayHuman SoulProtestantsDiscussingArbiterRobinson Crusoe
Author:Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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“Everyone in the full enjoyment of all the blessings of his life, in his normal condition, feels some individual responsibility forthe poverty of others. When the sympathies are not blunted by any false philosophy, one feels reproached by one's own abundance.”

FeelsPhilosophyIndividualResponsibilityPovertyConditionsBlessingNormalEnjoymentAbundanceSympathySocial ResponsibilityIndividual Responsibility
Book:Eighty Years and More: Reminiscences, 1815-1897
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“The most fitting monuments this nation can build are schoolhouses and homes for those who do the work of the world. It is no answer to say that they are accustomed to rags and hunger. In this world of plenty every human being has a right to food, clothes, decent shelter, and the rudiments of education.”

WorldHumansHomeNationsHuman BeingsAnswersThis WorldClothesHungerHuman RightsPlentyDecentShelterAccustomedMonumentFittingRags
Book:Eighty Years and More: Reminiscences, 1815-1897
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“The girl must early be impressed with the idea that she is to be "a hand, not a mouth"; a worker, and not a drone, in the great hive of human activity. Like the boy, she must be taught to look forward to a life of self-dependence, and early prepare herself for some trade or profession.”

HumansLooksIdeasSelfHandsGirlWorkBoysTaughtActivityMouthsTradeWorkersProfessionImpressedDependenceHuman ActivityDronesHives
Book:History of woman suffrage
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“Let the girl be thoroughly developed in body and soul, not modeled, like a piece of clay, after some artificial specimen of humanity, with a body like some plate in Godey's book of fashion, and a mind after the type of Father Gregory's pattern daughters, loaded down with the traditions, proprieties, and sentimentalities of generations of silly mothers and grandmothers, but left free to be, to grow, to feel, to think, to act. Development is one thing, that system of cramping, restraining, torturing, perverting, and mystifying, called education, is quite another.”

ThinkingFeelsMindBookSoulBodyMotherHumanityGirlFatherLeftGrowsFreedomPiecesGenerationsOne ThingFashionTypeDevelopmentDaughterTraditionPatternsSillyGrandmotherArtificialPlatesClayLoadedSentimentalityProprietyRestrainingMother And Grandmother
Book:History of woman suffrage
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“... women feel the humiliation of their petty distinctions of sex precisely as the black man feels those of color. It is no palliation of our wrongs to say that we are not socially ostracized, so long as we are politically ostracized as he is not.”

MenFeelsLongSexBlackColorOppressionDistinctionHumiliationPetty
Book:THE HISTORY OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE - Complete 6 Volumes (Illustrated): Everything You Need to Know about the Biggest Victory of Women’s Rights and Equality in the United States – Written By the Greatest Social Activists, Abolitionists & Suffragists
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“They who say that women do not desire the right of suffrage, that they prefer masculine domination to self-government, falsify every page of history, every fact in human experience. It has taken the whole power of the civil and canon law to hold woman in the subordinate position which it is said she willingly accepts.”

HumansSaidSelfWholeFactsGovernmentLawDesireAcceptingTakenPositionPagesDeceptionDominationHuman ExperienceMasculineSubordinatesOld WomanSuffrageSelf-governmentCanonWoman Suffrage
Book:History of Woman Suffrage ...: 1883-1900
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“Fear, coercion, punishment, are the masculine remedies for moral weakness, but statistics show their failure for centuries. Why not change the system and try the education of the moral and intellectual faculties, cheerful surroundings, inspiring influences? Everything in our present system tends to lower the physical vitality, the self-respect, the moral tone, and to harden instead of reforming the criminal.”

TryingSelfShowsMoralInfluenceCenturyCrimeIntellectualWeaknessPrisonCriminalsPunishmentToneSelf RespectStatisticsFacultyWhy NotRemedyCheerfulMasculineSurroundingsVitalityCoercion
Book:Eighty Years and More: Reminiscences, 1815-1897
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“Nothing strengthens the judgment and quickens the conscience like individual responsibility. Nothing adds such dignity to character as the recognition of one's self-sovereignty; the right to an equal place, everywhere conceded--a place earned by personal merit, not an artificial attainment by inheritance, wealth, family and position.”

SelfCharacterIndividualWealthResponsibilityPositionEqualJudgmentConscienceDignityAddRecognitionMeritArtificialSovereigntyInheritanceAttainmentIndividual ResponsibilityConceded
Author:Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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“The strongest reason why we ask for woman a voice in the government under which she lives; in the religion she is asked to believe; equality in social life, where she is the chief factor; a place in the trades and professions, where she may earn her bread, is because of her birthright to self-sovereignty; because, as an individual, she must rely on herself.”

BelieveMaySelfReasonGovernmentAsksIndividualSocialVoiceTradeProfessionBreadFactorsChiefsReason WhyRelyStrongestIndividualismSovereigntySocial LifeBirthright
Author:Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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“... strike the words "white male" from all your constitutions, and then, with fair sailing, let us sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish together.”

TogetherDiesWhiteFairsConstitutionMalesStrikesSwimSwimmingSailingSink Or Swim
Book:THE HISTORY OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE - Complete 6 Volumes (Illustrated): Everything You Need to Know about the Biggest Victory of Women’s Rights and Equality in the United States – Written By the Greatest Social Activists, Abolitionists & Suffragists
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“A woman who occupies the same realm of thought with man, who can explore with him the depths of science, comprehend the steps of progress through the long past and prophesy those of the momentous future, must ever be surprised and aggravated with his assumptions of leadership and superiority, a superiority she never concedes, an authority she utterly repudiates.”

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Author:Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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