The home is the centre and circumference, the start and the finish, of most of our lives.
Charlotte Perkins GilmanRead
As for mother Eve - I wasn't there and can't deny the story, but I will say this. If she brought evil into the world, we men have had the lion's share of keeping it going ever since.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the ongoing nature of evil and accountability in humanity.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman comments on the biblical figure of Eve, suggesting that while she may have introduced evil into the world, men have played a significant role in perpetuating it. This statement challenges the narrative that blames women solely for moral failures, highlighting a broader discussion about gender and responsibility in societal issues.
In practice
Use this quote in a discussion on gender roles in history.
The home is the centre and circumference, the start and the finish, of most of our lives.
To swallow and follow, whether old doctrine or new propaganda, is a weakness still dominating the human mind.
Woman" in the abstract is young, and, we assume, charming. As they get older they pass off the stage, somehow, into private ownership mostly, or out of it altogether.
We all need one another; much and often. Just as every human creature needs a place to be alone in, a sacred, private "home" of his own, so all human creatures need a place to be together in, from the two who can show each other their souls uninterruptedly, to the largest throng that can throb and stir in unison.
Death is the essential condition of life, not an evil.
When the mother of the race is free, we shall have a better world, by the easy right of birth and by the calm, slow, friendly forces of evolution.
Memories are like mulligatawny soup in a cheap restaurant. It is best not to stir them.
Today I know that all things are watching, that nothing goes unseen, that even wallpaper has a better memory than human beings.
America is a nation that conceives many odd inventions for getting somewhere but it can think of nothing to do once it gets there.
Life's errors cry for the merciful beauty that can modulate their isolation into a harmony with the whole.
If a man will comprehend the richness and variety of the universe, and inspire his mind with a due measure of wonder and awe, he must contemplate the human intellect not only on its heights of genius but in its abysses of ineptitude.
Tall, aren't you?" she said. "I didn't mean to be." Her eyes rounded. She was puzzled. She was thinking. I could see, even on that short acquaintance, that thinking was always going to be a bother to her.
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