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.
AGNES SMEDLEYI 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.
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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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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My mother listened to all the news from the camp during the strike.
AGNES SMEDLEY -
I forgot the songs they sung – and most of those songs are now dead; I erased their dialect from my tongue.
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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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Much that we read of Russia is imagination and desire only.
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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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To die would have been beautiful. But I belong to those who do not die for the sake of beauty.
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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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The highest joy is to fight by the side of those who for any reason of their own making or ours, are unable to develop to full human stature.
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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.
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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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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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I shot, rode, jumped, and took part in all the fights of the boys.
AGNES SMEDLEY