In the jungles of central Klatch there are, indeed, lost kingdoms of mysterious Amazonian princesses who capture male explorers for specifically masculine duties. These are indeed rigorous and exhausting and the luckless victims do not last long.*
* This is because wiring plugs, putting up shelves, sorting out the funny noises in attics, and mowing lawns can eventually reduce even the strongest constitution.
Quotations about:
gender roles
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Here’s all you need to know about men and women: Women are crazy and men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid. It’s not the only reason, but it’s a big one. And by the way, if you don’t think men are stupid, check the newspaper. […] And if you don’t think women are crazy, ask a man. That’s the one thing men aren’t stupid about: they know for sure, way deep down in their hearts, that women are straight-out fucking nuts.
George Carlin (1937-2008) American comedian
Book (2004), When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, “Guys & Dolls: Part 1”
(Source)
Strange to say, the first symptom of true love in a young man is timidity; in a young girl it is boldness. This is surprising, and yet nothing is more simple. It is the two sexes tending to approach each other and assuming each the other’s qualities.
[Et puis, chose bizarre, le premier symptôme de l’amour vrai chez un jeune homme, c’est la timidité, chez une jeune fille, c’est la hardiesse. Ceci étonne, et rien n’est plus simple pourtant. Ce sont les deux sexes qui tendent à se rapprocher et qui prennent les qualités l’un de l’autre.]
Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Les Misérables, Part 4 “Saint Denis,” Book 3 “The House in the Rue Plumet,” ch. 6 (4.3.6) (1862) [tr. Hapgood (1887)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:Oddly enough, the first symptom of true love in a young man is timidity, in a young woman, boldness. This is surprising, and yet nothing is more natural. It is the two sexes tending to unite, and each acquiring the qualities of the other.
[tr. Wilbour (1862)]Strange it is, the first symptom of true love in a young man is timidity; in a girl it is boldness. This will surprise, and yet nothing is more simple; the two sexes have a tendency to approach, and each assumes the qualities of the other.
[tr. Wraxall (1862)]And besides, although shyness is the first sign of true love in a youth, boldness is its token in a maid. This may seem strange, but nothing could be more simple. The sexes are drawing close, and in doing so each assumes the qualities of the other.
[tr. Denny (1976)]And then, oddly enough, the first symptom of true love in a man is timidity, in a young woman, boldness. This is surprising, and yet nothing is more natural. It is the two sexes tending to unite, and each acquiring the qualities of the other.
[tr. Wilbour/Fahnestock/MacAfee (1987)]
A friend and mourner recalled that, growing up, she believed cats and dogs were the same animal, but that cats were the females and dogs the males. This is entirely credible.
For ages past, women were defined only in relation to other people, and the definition lingers: a woman may be called a wife and mother for most of her life, while a man is called a husband and father only at his funeral.
Barbara Holland (1933-2010) American author
One’s Company: Reflections on Living Alone, ch. 1 (1992)
(Source)
To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart and a free mind.
Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) American writer
To My Daughters, with Love, ch. 15 “Men and Women” (1967)
(Source)
Man is a creature who lives not upon bread alone, but principally by catchwords; and the little rift between the sexes is astonishingly widened by simply teaching one set of catchwords to the girls and another to the boys.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1881), “Virginibus Puerisque, Part 2”
(Source)
First published in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, ch. 1, part 2 (1881)
