When lovely woman stoops to folly,
And finds too late that men betray,
What charm can soothe her melancholy?
What art can wash her guilt away?
Mankind, from Adam, have been women's fools;
Women, from Eve, have been the devil's tools:
Heaven might have spar'd one torment when we fell;
Not left us women, or not threatened hell.
Vente quid levius? fulgur. Quid fulgure? flamma
Flamma quid? mulier. Quid mulier? nihil.
What is lighter than the wind? A feather.
What is lighter than a feather? fire.
What lighter than fire? a woman.
What lighter than a woman? Nothing.
De wimmin, dey does de talkin' en de flyin', en de mens, dey does de walkin en de pryin', en betwixt en betweenst umj dey ain't much dat don't come out.</poem>
That the woman was made of a rib out of the
side of Adam; not out of his feet to be trampled
upon by him, but out of his side to be equal
with him, under his arm to be protected, and
near his heart to be loved.
Matthew Henry—Note on Genesis II. 21
and 22. Also in Chattcer—Persones Tale.
| seealso = (See also Dixon)
| topic =
| page = 890
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>First, then, a woman will, or won't,—depend on't;
If she will do't, she will; and there's an end on't.
But, if she won't, since safe and sound your trust
is,
Fear is affront: and jealousy injustice.
Aaron Hill—Epilogue to Zara.
| seealso = (See also Burroughs)
| topic =
| page = 890
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>Where is the man who has the power and skill
To stem the torrent of a woman's will?
For if she will, she will, you may depend on't;
And if she won't, she won't; so there's an end on't.
From the Pillar Erected on the Mount in the
Dane John Field, Canterbury. Examiner,
May 31, 1829.
| seealso = (See also Hill)
| topic =
| page = 890
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>Women may be whole oceans deeper than we
are, but they are also a whole paradise better.
She may have got us out of Eden, but as a compensation she makes the earth very pleasant.
John Oliver Hobbes—The Ambassador.
Act III.
Man has his will,—but woman has her way.
Holmes—Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. Prologue.
She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen.
Homer—Iliad. Bk. III. L. 208
| note = Pope's trans.
O woman, woman, when to ill thy mind
Is bent, all hell contains no fouler fiend.
' Homer—Odyssey. Bk. XI. L. 531
| note = Pope's trans.
12 What mighty woes
To thy imperial race from woman rose.
Homer—Odyssey. Bk. XI. L. 541
| note = Pope's trans.
But, alas! alas! for the woman's fate,
Who has from a mob to.choose a mate!
'Tis a strange and painful mystery!
But the more the eggs the worse the hatch;
The more the fish, the worse the cateh;
The more the sparks the worse the match;
Is a fact in woman's history.
Hood—Miss Kilmansegg. Her Courtship. St. 7
God in his harmony has equal ends
For cedar that resists and reed that bends;
For good it is a woman sometimes rules,
Holds inherhand the power, and manners, schools.
And laws, and mind; succeeding master proud,
With gentle voice and smiles she leads the crowd,
The somber human troop.
Victor Hugo—Eviradnus. V.
O woman! thou wert fashioned to beguile:
So have all sages said, all poets sung.
Jean Ingelow—The Four Bridges. St. 68.
In that day seven women shall take hold of
one man.
Isaiah. IV. 1.
Wretched, un-idea'd girls.
| author = Samuel Johnson
| work = Boswell's Life of Johnson.
(1752)
| topic =
| page = 890
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>I am very fond of the company of ladies. I
like their beauty, I like their delicacy, I like
their vivacity, and I like their silence.
Samuel Johnson. Seward's Johnsoniana.
617.
Ladies, stock and tend your hive,
Trifle not at thirty-five;
For, howe'er we boast and strive,
Life declines from thirty-five;
He that ever hopes to thrive
Must begin by thirty-five.
| author = Samuel Johnson
| work = To Mrs. Thrale, when
Thirty-five. L. 11.
One woman reads another's character
Without the tedious trouble of deciphering.
Ben Jonson—New Inn. Act J_V.
And where she went, the flowers took thickest
root,
As she had sow*d them with her odorous foot.
Ben Jonson—The Sad Shepherd. Act I. Sc. 1.
{{Hoyt quote
| num = | text = <poem>Nulla fere causa est in qua non femina litem
moverit. There's scarce a case comes on but you shall find A woman's at the bottom. Juvenal—Satires. VI. 242.
| seealso = (See also {{sc|Dumas)
