Marilyn French Quotes

A collection of quotes by Marilyn French.

Marilyn French was an American author, activist, and feminist born in New York City on November 21, 1929. She gained international recognition and acclaim for her landmark feminist novel "The Women's Room," published in 1977. French not only broke new ground in feminist literature but also played a significant role in shaping the feminist movement of the 20th century.

She obtained a Ph.D. in English from Harvard University and went on to teach at various universities, including Hofstra University, where she served as a professor of English for nearly two decades. French's writing challenged and critiqued societal norms and gender roles, advocating for the equality and liberation of women from oppressive structures.

In addition to "The Women's Room," French authored numerous other works, including novels like "The Bleeding Heart" and "Her Mother's Daughter," as well as non-fiction books examining topics such as religion and politics. She skillfully explored themes of sexuality, motherhood, power dynamics, and independence throughout her writing.

French's contributions to feminism extended beyond her literary achievements. In her activism, she actively campaigned against sexism, violence against women, and various other forms of oppression. Marilyn French passed away on May 2, 2009, leaving behind a powerful legacy as a pioneer in feminist literature and an influential advocate for gender equality.

Fear is a question. What are you afraid of and why? Our fear

Fear is a question. What are you afraid of and why? Our fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if we explore them.

To nourish children and raise them against odds is in any ti

To nourish children and raise them against odds is in any time, any place, is more valuable than to fix bolts in cars or design nuclear weapons.

Marriage accustomed one to the good things, so one came to t

Marriage accustomed one to the good things, so one came to take them for granted, but magnified the bad things, so they came to feel as painful as a grain in one's eye. An open window, a forgotten quart of milk, a TV set left blaring, socks on the bathroom floor could become occasions for incredible rage. And something happened sexually in marriage --the swearing to forsake all others, despite its slight observance, had a profound effect. Some people felt trapped by it, impelled to assert what they called freedom. Some accepted it like a rein, and in the effort to avoid pain in the form of hopeless desire, cut off occasions of desire, avoided having long talks at parties with attractive members of the opposite sex. In time, all feeling for the opposite sex was cut off, and intercourse limited to the barest politesses. But something happened to you when you did that, a kind of death seeped up from the genitals to the rest of the body, till it showed in the eyes, the gestures, in a certain lifelessness.

To nourish and raise children against odds is in any time, a

To nourish and raise children against odds is in any time, any place, more valuable than to fix bolts in cars or design nuclear weapons.

Nothing is ever simple. What do you do when you discover you

Nothing is ever simple. What do you do when you discover you like parts of the role you're trying to escape?

Well, love is insanity. The ancient Greeks knew that. It is

Well, love is insanity. The ancient Greeks knew that. It is the taking over of a rational and lucid mind by delusion and self-destruction. You lose yourself, you have no power over yourself, you can't even think straight.

One thing that makes art different from life is that in art

One thing that makes art different from life is that in art things have a shape... it allows us to fix our emotions on events at the moment they occur, it permits a union of heart and mind and tongue and tear.

I hate discussions of feminism that end up with who does the

I hate discussions of feminism that end up with who does the dishes, she said. So do I. But at the end, there are always the damned dishes.

Whatever they may be in public life, whatever their relation

Whatever they may be in public life, whatever their relations with men, in their relations with women, all men are rapists and that's all they are. They rape us with their eyes, their laws, their codes.

Men's need to dominate women may be based in their own sense

Men's need to dominate women may be based in their own sense of marginality or emptiness we do not know its root, and men are making no effort to discover it.