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.
AGNES SMEDLEYI have loved and bitterness left me for that hour. But there are times when love itself is bitter.
More Agnes Smedley Quotes
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Always before I had felt like a person, an individual, hopeful that I could mold my life according to some desire of my own.
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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 have always detested the belief that sex is the chief bond between man and woman.
AGNES SMEDLEY -
But there were years when, in search of what I thought was better, nobler things I denied these, my people, and my family.
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There are many men – such as those often to be found among the Indians – who are refined until they have qualities often attributed to the female sex. Yet they are men, and strong ones.
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Professors could silence me then; they had figures, diagrams, maps, books.
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I was learning that books and diagrams can be evil things if they deaden the mind of man and make him blind or cynical before subjection of any kind.
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But settled things were enemies to me and soon lost their newness and color. The unknown called.
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There were fifty-four women and forty little boys with the Red Army prisoners, and I went daily to take care of them also.
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Subjection of any kind and in any place is beneath the dignity of man.
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But here in New York I was ignorant, insignificant, unimportant–one in millions whose destiny concerned no one. New York did not even know of my existence. Nor did it care.
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Everybody calls everybody a spy, secretly, in Russia, and everybody is under surveillance. You never feel safe.
AGNES SMEDLEY -
I have loved and bitterness left me for that hour. But there are times when love itself is bitter.
AGNES SMEDLEY -
In the little hall leading to it was a rack holding various Socialist or radical newspapers, tracts, and pamphlets in very small print and on very bad paper.
AGNES SMEDLEY -
To die would have been beautiful. But I belong to those who do not die for the sake of beauty.
AGNES SMEDLEY