For the first week of the Sian events I was a first aid worker in the streets of Sian.
AGNES SMEDLEYThere 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.
More Agnes Smedley Quotes
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Thousands of women are crushed and made inarticulate by that system and never develop as their natures would force them to develop were they in a decent environment.
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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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I believe only in money, not in love or tenderness. Love and tenderness meant only pain and suffering and defeat.
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Like all my family and class, I considered it a sign of weakness to show affection; to have been caught kissing my mother would have been a disgrace, and to have shown affection for my father would have been a disaster.
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It is not a national question concerning India any longer; it is purely international.
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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.
AGNES SMEDLEY -
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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I have loved and bitterness left me for that hour. But there are times when love itself is bitter.
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Friendship is far more human.
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To die would have been beautiful. But I belong to those who do not die for the sake of beauty.
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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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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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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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When I was a girl, the West was still young, and the law of force, of physical force, was dominant.
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It was a technical Marxist subject and I did not understand it nor did I know what questions to ask.
AGNES SMEDLEY






