quotes

The Words of Extraordinary Women

kristin — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

I have a confession to make. As a little baby nerd-in-training, I would spend hours in the living room reading Bartlett‘s Familiar Quotations along with various other reference works that weren‘t really meant to be read in that way. Despite my complete lack of understanding of anything resembling cool and my utter ignorance of virtually everything pop cultural, I still knew that that wasn‘t something you went around telling people unless you aspired to pariah status. Despite being years away from earning feminist street cred, I knew that there was something wrong with virtually everyone in these books being male. Where were all the quotable women?

Fortunately, for the future word nerds of the world, Carolyn Warner noticed that problem too and decided to do something about it. In The Words of Extraordinary Women, Warner collects the bon mots of than 400 famous, and occasionally infamous, women, organizing them into eleven broad categories: the arts, character, education, faith, family, humor, leadership, politics, self-image, success, and women. From Sappho to Sonia Sotomayor, from former slaves to presidents, prime ministers and princesses, the women Warner chooses fit no particular mold. Although they are drawn overwhelmingly from the United States, there is more representation of the various races, cultures and classes than one usually sees in your standard book of quotations.

It would be easy to find fault, nonetheless, in her choices. The categories are, at times, a bit too broad, so much so that one wonders how a particular quote fits at all. The quotes are given without context, depriving them, in places, of the power they wield within their proper setting. Some women, beloved by writers and readers alike, are notably absent. I find myself wondering what book of women’s quotations could possibly ignore the witticisms of the imminently quotable Molly Ivins, but surely that is merely a matter of personal taste.

However, I think overall The Words of Extraordinary Women, while not suitable as a reference tool for the advanced writer, would serve well as a young woman’s introduction to the women who came before her and the contributions they made to the sum of human wit and wisdom. Perhaps, it will inspire her to some day join them.

Written by: Melinda Barton, October 2nd 2010

The Quotable Abigail Adams

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:01:00 +0000

Edited by John P. Kaminski

Belknap Press

In an age of constant and instant communications, we have to sadly admit that letters are becoming a lost art. Gone are the times when lovers exhausted themselves writing page after page to send slowly across the sea, replaced with 140 character tweets or an iPhone vibrating with a picture message. While it’s ignorant to wish we could return to a previous era of correspondence, beautiful letters can still be read, appreciated, and celebrated for their historical and literary importance through collections like The Quotable Abigail Adams.

Edited by John Kaminski, the director of the Center for the Study of the American Constitution at the University of Wisconsin Madison, The Quotable Abigail Adams gives a glimpse into the life and letters of the amazing woman who counseled and consoled one of the most influential men in the birth of the United States. With quotes gleaned entirely from the letters Adams used to keep vital contact with her husband, children, and closest friends, Kaminski shows us the complexities and wisdom that make her an invaluable female role model from a male-dominated period of history. The book’s short biography and quotes depict a woman who is at once lacking confidence in her informal education yet one of the President’s most valued advisers; self-identified as more adapted to small, simple pleasures but an adept and experienced in foreign affairs; a mother and wife who gains strength from her family yet is able to endure years of their absence.

Any reader will be able to find quotes that speak to them as well as quotes that raise an eyebrow. Many of her words transcend time and geography, and are astutely applicable in today’s world. In a letter to her uncle, Cotton Tufts, she writes “It is high time that we had a Government who knows how to conduct our affairs with steadiness, judgment, & equity that they may not make themselves contemptible in the Eyes of all Europe.” Writing to John Adams on sexism, she chastises, “I cannot say that I think you very generous to the Ladies, for whilst you are proclaiming peace and good will to Men, Emancipating all Nations, you insist upon retaining an absolute power over Wives.” Adams intelligence shines as she quotes Alexander Pope, Thomas Paine, and Michel de Montaigne, blended with her own observations on topics ranging from bachelors to the French Revolution.

While the art of writing letters may no longer be practiced in any substantial capacity, The Quotable Abigail Adams is a time capsule in which we can escape the LOLs, SMS, and IMs of our current existence and revel in the wisdom of an icon of American history for whom words and letters were like “cold water to a thirsty soul.”

Written by: Melissa Ablett, January 29th 2010

Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History Necklace

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:35:00 +0000

By TwilightShades

"Well-behaved women seldom make history," Harvard professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich wrote in an article about Puritan funeral services. Feminists embraced the sentiment and now the phrase (as well as the misquote “well-behaved women rarely make history”) can be found on a vast array of consumer goods, from coffee mugs to t-shirts, bumper stickers to compact mirrors.

Designer Jerry Hall of the TwilightShades Etsy shop](http://www.twilightshades.etsy.com/) has created a necklace out of an oblong metal disc about the size of a nickel into which the inspirational expression has been imprinted.

The metal disc is fastened to what is described on the TwilightShades shop as a “16 inch antiqued brass chain.” The designer does not mention from what material the disc is composed, but it’s certainly not antiqued brass. The chain and the disc look markedly different. The chain is brownish in color, while the disc is silver. I am a fan of mismatched, clashing looks, so I’m not bothered by the necklace having components of different materials, but more particular folks should take heed.

I was bothered when the chain turned my neck green. I was suspicious when I saw the chain in person. While it is sturdy and well-made, it looks rather cheap, like something out of a gumball machine. Sure enough, after wearing it in the heat of early summer, my neck looked dirty and more than slightly green. I wore the necklace on several other occasions, just to make sure I wasn’t imagining my new skin tone, and even had my most honest friend confirm the unnatural color of my flesh.

I don’t know if the chain will turn everyone’s skin green, or if I am an unusual case. I typically wear silver ball chains with no adverse effects. Maybe some material in the chain reacts with my body chemistry, but whatever the cause, I won’t often wear jewelry that makes me look as if I forgot to wash up before leaving the house.

The necklace does hang a bit lower than I tend to like, but doesn’t dangle so far down that I am afraid it will get caught on something and strangle me every time I lean over. Hall offers to make adjustments to this piece for people who are more comfortable with a shorter chain.

Overall, I am impressed with the construction of this necklace. I live an active life of commuting by bike, moving books at my library job, and taking photographs outside. I’ve yet to be in a situation where I feared the necklace was in danger of being ripped from my neck or the chain might slip from the connector rings.

I’m thinking of ways to enjoy this necklace without suffering from green neck syndrome. Perhaps it would look good hanging from my rearview mirror.

Written by: Chantel C. Guidry, July 27th 2009