Elizabeth Missing Sewell Quotations

A young man is stirred and stimulated by the consciousness of how much depends upon his own exertions: a young girl is oppressed by it.

Obedience is the primary object of all sound education.

... health is the obstacle, which ... must stand in the way of a girl's acquiring the intellectual strength, which ... is so invaluable to a boy.

... a woman who is not feminine is a monster in creation.

Any strain upon a girl's intellect is to be dreaded, and any attempt to bring women into competition with men can scarcely escapefailure.

The aim of education is to fit children for the position in life which they are hereafter to occupy. Boys are to be sent out intothe world to buffet with its temptations, to mingle with bad and good, to govern and direct.... girls are to dwell in quiet homes, amongst a few friends; to exercise a noiseless influence, to be submissive and retiring. There is no connection between the bustling mill-wheel life of a large school and that for which they are supposed to be preparing.... to educate girls in crowds is to educate them wrongly.

... we become so accustomed to meet with injustice, and, if we are at all sincere with our own hearts, are so conscious of being guity of it ourselves, that we learn to look upon it almost as a necessity.

A boy's mind is not so easily sullied as a girl's.... Undesirable knowledge is not an equal shock to the moral nature.

Boys are sent out into the world to buffet with its temptations, to mingle with bad and good, to govern and direct - girls are to dwell in quiet homes among few friends, to exercise a noiseless influence.