No woman should say, 'I am but a woman!' But a woman! What more can you ask to be?
In plain words
Mitchell told women never to say 'I am only a woman'. Being a woman was already something to be proud of.
Where these words come from
- 95% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
- Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals (comp. Phebe Mitchell Kendall, 1896) — Project Gutenberg #10202, dated 1874 in her own notes, from her Vassar teaching years.
- Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals (comp. Phebe Mitchell Kendall, 1896) — Project Gutenberg #10202
- 1874 · Vassar College · from her Vassar teaching notes on women and self-worth
More from Maria Mitchell
See allBesides learning to see, there is another art to be learned,—not to see what is not.
Maria MitchellEvery formula which expresses a law of nature is a hymn of praise to God.Maria MitchellAside from the study of astronomy, there is the same enjoyment in a night upon the housetop, with the stars, as in the midst of other grand scenery; there is the same subdued quiet and grateful seriousness; a calm to the troubled spirit, and a hope to the desponding.Maria MitchellI wonder that I have so long been insensible to this charm in the skies, the tints of the different stars are so delicate in their variety.Maria MitchellNothing comes out more clearly in astronomical observations than the immense activity of the universe.Maria MitchellThe Aurora Borealis is always a pleasant companion; a meteor seems to come like a messenger from departed spirits; and the blossoming of trees in the moonlight becomes a sight looked for with pleasure.Maria Mitchell
Maria MitchellEvery formula which expresses a law of nature is a hymn of praise to God.Maria MitchellAside from the study of astronomy, there is the same enjoyment in a night upon the housetop, with the stars, as in the midst of other grand scenery; there is the same subdued quiet and grateful seriousness; a calm to the troubled spirit, and a hope to the desponding.Maria MitchellI wonder that I have so long been insensible to this charm in the skies, the tints of the different stars are so delicate in their variety.Maria MitchellNothing comes out more clearly in astronomical observations than the immense activity of the universe.Maria MitchellThe Aurora Borealis is always a pleasant companion; a meteor seems to come like a messenger from departed spirits; and the blossoming of trees in the moonlight becomes a sight looked for with pleasure.Maria MitchellMore on individuality
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
Oscar WildeNot all who wander are lost.
J.R.R. Tolkien'Know thyself' was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, 'Be thyself' shall be written.Oscar WildeWe will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds.
Ralph Waldo EmersonThe imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity.Ralph Waldo EmersonAlways be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.
Judy Garland
Oscar WildeNot all who wander are lost.J.R.R. Tolkien'Know thyself' was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, 'Be thyself' shall be written.Oscar WildeWe will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds.Ralph Waldo EmersonThe imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity.Ralph Waldo EmersonAlways be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.Judy Garland