The main cause is a pernicious falsehood propagated against her being, namely that she is inferior by her nature. Inferior in what? What has man ever done that woman, under the same advantages could not do?
Books and opinions, no matter from whom they came, if they are in opposition to human rights, are nothing but dead letters.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes that any books or opinions that do not support human rights are ultimately meaningless.
Ernestine Rose's quote underscores the importance of human rights as a fundamental principle that gives significance to ideas and literature. When books and opinions stand in opposition to these rights, they fail to resonate with the core values of humanity and are rendered ineffective, much like lifeless text. This statement invites us to critically evaluate the ideas we engage with, ensuring they align with the principles of justice and equity.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on social justice, one might quote Rose to highlight the importance of human rights in literature.
More from Ernestine Rose
All quotes βFor here lies the corner stone of all the injustices done woman, the wrong idea from which all other wrongs proceed. She is not acknowledged as mistress of herself. For her cradle to her grave she is another's. We do indeed need and demand the other rights of which I have spoken, but let us first obtain OURSELVES.
Again, I shall be told that the law presumes the husband to be kind, affectionate, and ready to provide for and protect his wife. But what right, I ask, has the law to presume at all on the subject?
It is high time to compel man by the might of right to give woman her political, legal and social rights. She will find her own sphere in accordance with her capacities, powers and tastes; and yet she will be woman still.
All that I can tell you is, that I used my humble powers to the uttermost, and raised my voice in behalf of Human Rights in general, and the elevation and Rights of Woman in particular, nearly all my life.
Slavery and freedom cannot exist together.
Similar quotes
If people who cherish freedom, who know the importance of mutual respect and are aware of the imperative necessity to establish a constructive and critical debate, if these people are not ready to speak out, to be more committed and visible, then we can expect sad, painful tomorrows. The choice is ours.
All the things and events we usually consider as irreconcilable, such as cause and effect, past and future, subject and object, are actually just like the crest and trough of a single wave, a single vibration. For a wave, although itself a single event, only expresses itself through the opposites of crest and trough, high point and low point. For that very reason, the reality is not found in the crest nor the trough alone, but in their unity.
I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and glue them together again and tell myself that the mended whole was as good as new. What is broken is broken - and I'd rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken places as long as I lived.
Dispassionate objectivity is itself a passion, for the real and for the truth.
The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving.
Ugly is attractive, ugly is exciting. Maybe because it is newer. The investigation of ugliness is, to me, more interesting than the bourgeois idea of beauty. And why? Because ugly is human.