To die would have been beautiful. But I belong to those who do not die for the sake of beauty.
AGNES SMEDLEYFor the first week of the Sian events I was a first aid worker in the streets of Sian.
More Agnes Smedley Quotes
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I feel like a person living on the brink of a volcano crater.
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I have no objection to a man being a man, however masculine that may be.
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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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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 -
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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Professors could silence me then; they had figures, diagrams, maps, books.
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When I was a girl, the West was still young, and the law of force, of physical force, was dominant.
AGNES SMEDLEY -
She said little, especially when my father or the men who worked for him were about I remember her instinctive and unhesitating sympathy for the miners.
AGNES SMEDLEY -
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 SMEDLEY -
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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I have always detested the belief that sex is the chief bond between man and woman.
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Friendship is far more human.
AGNES SMEDLEY -
Much that we read of Russia is imagination and desire only.
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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.
AGNES SMEDLEY -
It is not a national question concerning India any longer; it is purely international.
AGNES SMEDLEY