When women can support themselves, have entry to all the trades and professions, with a house of their own over their heads and a bank account, they will own their bodies and be dictators in the social realm.
Elizabeth Cady StantonRead
Whether our feet are compressed in iron shoes, our faces hidden with veils and masks; whether yoked with cows to draw the plow through its furrows, or classed with idiots, lunatics and criminals in the laws and constitutions of the State, the principle is the same; for the humiliations of the spirit are as real as the visible badges of servitude.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes that the struggles and humiliations of the spirit are just as significant as physical oppression and societal labels.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton's quote highlights the profound psychological impact of societal oppression and humiliation. She draws a parallel between visible forms of servitude, like being physically constrained or classified negatively by society, and the invisible burdens carried by the spirit when faced with humiliation. Both forms of oppression, visible and invisible, affect one's dignity and humanity, making it critical to acknowledge the internal struggles people face due to societal norms and injustices.
Themes
OppressionHumiliationSpiritServitudeSociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about social justice, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of recognizing internal struggles alongside physical inequalities.
More from Elizabeth Cady Stanton
All quotes →To live for a principle, for the triumph of some reform by which all mankind are to be lifted up to be wedded to an idea may be, after all, the holiest and happiest of marriages.
Elizabeth Cady StantonRead
The strongest reason for giving woman all the opportunities for higher education, for the full development of her faculties, her forces of mind and body... is the solitude and personal responsibility of her own individual life.
Elizabeth Cady StantonRead
Only those who have lived all their lives under the dark clouds of vague, undefined fears can appreciate the joy of a doubting soul suddenly born into the kingdom of reason and free thought.
Elizabeth Cady StantonRead
We demand in the Reconstruction suffrage for all the citizens of the Republic. I would not talk of Negroes or women, but of citizens.
Elizabeth Cady StantonRead
Come, come, my conservative friend, wipe the dew off your spectacles, and see that the world is moving.
Elizabeth Cady StantonRead
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