To die would have been beautiful. But I belong to those who do not die for the sake of beauty.
AGNES SMEDLEYBut there were years when, in search of what I thought was better, nobler things I denied these, my people, and my family.
More Agnes Smedley Quotes
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When I was a girl, the West was still young, and the law of force, of physical force, was dominant.
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But I see no reason why a woman should not grow and develop in all those outlets which are suited to her nature, it matters not at all what they may be.
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Everybody calls everybody a spy, secretly, in Russia, and everybody is under surveillance. You never feel safe.
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Gambling in the mark has been the great indoor sport of the capitalists for months, and consequently food has increased by 25 to 100 per cent.
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There’s something dreadfully decisive about a beheading.
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Now, being a girl, I was ashamed of my body and my lack of strength. So I tried to be a man.
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No one yet knows what a man’s province is, and how far that province, as conceived of today, is artificial.
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I was ashamed of them and their ways of life. But now – yes, I love them; they are a part of my blood; they, with all their virtues and their faults, played a great part in forming my way of looking at life.
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Much that we read of Russia is imagination and desire only.
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It was a technical Marxist subject and I did not understand it nor did I know what questions to ask.
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More and more do I see that only a successful revolution in India can break England’s back forever and free Europe itself.
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Yet it is awful to love a person who is a torture to you. And a fascinating person who loves you and won’t hear of anything but your loving him and living right by his side through all eternity!
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I joined another circle and the leader gave us a little leaflet in very small print, asking us to read it carefully and then come prepared to ask questions.
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And the woman who could win the respect of man was often the woman who could knock him down with her bare fists and sit on him until he yelled for help.
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For the first week of the Sian events I was a first aid worker in the streets of Sian.
AGNES SMEDLEY






