Shrines! Shrines! Surely you don't believe in the gods. What's your argument? Where's your proof?
AristophanesRead
Calonice: My dear Lysistrata, just what is this matter you've summoned us women to consider.What's up? Something big? Lysistrata: Very big. Calonice: (interested) Is it stout too? Lysistrata: (smiling) Yes, indeed -- both big and stout. Calonice: What? And the women still haven't come? Lysistrata: It's not what you suppose; they'd come soon enough for that.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the camaraderie and intrigue among women discussing an important matter.
In this exchange from Aristophanes' play, the characters Calonice and Lysistrata engage in a humorous yet insightful conversation that encapsulates the themes of women's solidarity and the importance of unity in addressing significant issues. They express anticipation and curiosity about an essential matter, implying that the collective voice of women can influence change, particularly in the context of societal struggles.
In practice
In a women's empowerment workshop to inspire action towards community issues.
Shrines! Shrines! Surely you don't believe in the gods. What's your argument? Where's your proof?
[Y]ou [man] are fool enough, it seems, to dare to war with [woman=] me, when for your faithful ally you might win me easily.
Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.
Open your mouth and shut your eyes and see what Zeus will send you.
When men drink, then they are rich and successful and win lawsuits and are happy and help their friends. Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.
These impossible women! How they do get around us! The poet was right: Can't live with them, or without them.
Being employed is like being loved: you know that somebody's thinking about you the whole time.
I still think it's important for people to have a sharp, ongoing critique of marriage in patriarchal society — because once you marry within a society that remains patriarchal, no matter how alternative you want to be within your unit, there is still a culture outside you that will impose many, many values on you whether you want them to or not.
And with each step my heart broke for the person I would never find, the person who'd love me. And then I would remember I had a wife at home who loved me, or later that my wife had left me and I was terrirfied, or again later that I had a beautiful alcoholic girlfriend who would make me happy forever. But every time I entered the place there were veiled faces promising everything and then clarifying quickly into the dull, the usual, looking up at me and making the same mistake.
A chord, stronger or weaker, is snapped asunder in every parting, and time's busy fingers are not practiced in re-splicing broken ties. Meet again you may; will it be in the same way? With the same sympathies? With the same sentiments? Will the souls, hurrying on in diverse paths, unite once more, as if the interval had been a dream? Rarely, rarely!
When I was a boy I used to do what my father wanted. Now I have to do what my boy wants. My problem is: When am I going to do what I want?
The truest mark of your success in life will be the quality of your marriage
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