Quotessence
Home / Authors / Sarah Moore Grimke Books

Sarah Moore Grimke Books

Writer

Related Quotes

“Had Adam tenderly reproved his wife, and endeavored to lead her to repentance instead of sharing in her guilt, I should be much more ready to accord to man that superiority which he claims; but as the facts stand disclosed by the sacred historian, it appears to me that to say the least, there was as much weakness exhibited by Adam as by Eve. They both fell from innocence, and consequently from happiness, but not from equality.”

MenShouldFactsWifeReadyWeaknessClaimsSacredGuiltInnocenceRepentanceHistorianAdamSuperiorityAccordAdam And Eve
Book:Letters on the equality of the sexes, and the condition of woman: Addressed to Mary S. Parker
Create image

“All history attests that man has subjected woman to his will, used her as a means to promote his selfish gratification, to minister to his sensual pleasures, to be instrumental in promoting his comfort; but never has he desired to elevate her to that rank she was created to fill. He has done all he could to debase and enslave her mind; and now he looks triumphantly on the ruin he has wrought, and say, the being he has thus deeply injured is his inferior.”

MenMindLooksMeanDoneUsedPleasureComfortSelfishRuinsSensualMinistersInferiorsPromotingGratificationInjuredSensual PleasureMale Dominance
Book:Letters on the equality of the sexes, and the condition of woman: Addressed to Mary S. Parker
Create image

“Fashionable women regard themselves, and are regarded by men, as pretty toys or as mere instruments of pleasure; and the vacuity of mind, the heartlessness, the frivolity which is the necessary result of this false and debasing estimate of women, can only be fully understood by those who have mingled in the folly and wickedness of fashionable life.”

MenMindHeartPleasureResultsUnderstoodRegardInstrumentsMereFollyToysWickednessFashionableFrivolityVacuityHeartlessness
Author:Sarah Moore Grimke
Create image

“The virtue of female slaves is wholly at the mercy of irresponsible tyrants, and women are bought and sold in our slave markets, to gratify the brutal lust of those who bear the name of Christians.”

ChristianNamesVirtueBearsFemaleMercyAbuseSlaverySlaveLustAfrican AmericanTyrantsBrutalIrresponsibleAfrican American Women
Book:Letters on the equality of the sexes, and the condition of woman: Addressed to Mary S. Parker
Create image

“Intellect is not sexed;... strength of mind is not sexed; and ... our views about the duties of men and the duties of women, the sphere of man and the sphere of woman, are mere arbitrary opinions, differing in different ages and countries, and dependent solely on the will and judgment of erring mortals.”

MenMindDifferentCountryAgeViewsOpinionDutyJudgmentMereIntellectMortalsDependentSpheresArbitraryStrength Of MindErringDifferent Ages
Author:Sarah Moore Grimke
Create image

“One of the duties which devolve upon women in the present interesting crisis, is to prepare themselves for more extensive usefulness, by making use of those religious and literary privileges and advantages that are within their reach, if they will only stretch out their hands and possess them.”

IfsUseHandsReligiousInterestingDutyAdvantageCrisisSlaveryPrivilegeUsefulness
Book:Letters on the equality of the sexes, and the condition of woman: Addressed to Mary S. Parker
Create image

“If the sewing societies, the avails of whose industry are now expended in supporting and educating young men for the ministry, were to withdraw their contributions to these objects, and give them where they are more needed, to their advancement of their own sex in useful learning, the next generation might furnish sufficient proof, that in intelligence and ability to master the whole circle of sciences, woman is not inferior to man.”

IfsMenGivingWholeMightYoungNextSexAbilityGenerationsObjectsMastersIndustryNeededProofCirclesYoung ManSufficientContributionMinistryInferiorsPhilanthropyNext GenerationAdvancementSewing
Book:Letters on the equality of the sexes, and the condition of woman: Addressed to Mary S. Parker
Create image

“I do deeply deplore, of the sake of the cause, the prevalent notion, that the clergy must be had, either by persuasion or by bribery. They will not need persuasion or bribery, if their hearts are with us; if they are not, we are better without them. It is idle to suppose that the kingdom of heaven cannot come on earth, without their cooperation.”

IfsNeedsHeartEarthHeavenCausesFeminismNotionSakeKingdomsCooperationIdlePersuasionKingdom Of HeavenClergyBribery
Author:Sarah Moore Grimke
Create image

“It would be as wise to set up an accomplished lawyer to saw wood as a business as to condemn an educated and sensible woman to spend all her time boiling potatoes and patching old garments. Yet this is the lot of many a one who incessantly stitches and boils and bakes, compelled to thrust back out of sight the aspirations which fill her soul.”

SoulWould BeSawsWiseSightWoodsLawyerEducatedAspirationAccomplishedSensibleCompelledPotatoesGarmentsThrustHouseworkBoilingIncessantlyStitches
Author:Sarah Moore Grimke
Create image

“Is it not clear that to give to such women as desire it and can devote themselves to literary and scientific pursuits all the advantages enjoyed by men of the same class will lessen essentially the number of thoughtless, idle, vain and frivolous women and thus secure the [sic] society the services of those who now hang as dead weight?”

MenGivingDesireNumbersClassClearAdvantageWeightPursuitSecureEnjoyedVainIdleFrivolous
Book:The Feminist Thought of Sarah Grimké
Create image

“Girls study under the paralyzing idea that their acquirements cannot be brought into practical use. They may subserve the purposes of promoting individual domestic pleasure and social enjoyment in conversation, but what are they in comparison with the grand stimulation of independence and self- reliance, of the capability of contributing to the comfort and happiness of those whom they love as their own souls?”

MayIdeasSoulSelfUsePurposeGirlIndividualSocialPleasureStudyComfortConversationAchievementIndependencePracticalsEnjoymentComparisonCapabilitySelf RelianceReliancePromotingContributingStimulationComfort And Happiness
Author:Sarah Moore Grimke
Create image

“Many a woman shudders... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians.”

ArtFormLiteratureTerribleTasteMarriedIntellectualArmyFortunePatientNervousPhysiciansMartyrUsefulnessEclipsePropheticUnmarriedMarried WomenEarly Life
Author:Sarah Moore Grimke
Create image

“[On the New Testament:] I ... must enter my protest against the false translation of some passages by the men who did that work, and against the perverted interpretation by the men who undertook to write commentaries thereon. I am inclined to think, when we [women] are admitted to the honor of studying Greek and Hebrew, we shall produce some various readings of the Bible a little different from those we now have.”

ThinkingMenWritingLittlesDifferentReadingStudyProduceHe ManHonorBibleVariousGreekProtestInterpretationSexismPassagesTestamentTranslationsNew TestamentCommentaryHebrew
Book:Letters on the equality of the sexes, and the condition of woman: Addressed to Mary S. Parker
Create image

“In all ages, through all the varied experience of individuals and nations, knowledge has been the power which has civilized, elevated and dignified humanity. In those countries where progress has been most rapid, the thirst for knowledge has been most intense.”

Has BeensCountryAgeHumanityIndividualNationsKnowledgeProgressIntenseCivilizedThirstRapidsThirst For Knowledge
Book:The Feminist Thought of Sarah Grimké
Create image

“I ask no favors for my sex, I surrender not our claim to equality. All I ask of our brethren is that they will take their feet from off our necks, and permit us to stand upright on the ground which God has designed us to occupy.”

AsksSexJusticeFeetClaimsSocial JusticeFavorsSurrenderNecksPermitBrethren
Book:Letters on the equality of the sexes, and the condition of woman: Addressed to Mary S. Parker
Create image