Emmeline Quotes

The way to reform has always led through prison. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

The moving spirit of militancy is deep and abiding reverence for human life. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

Solitary confinement is too terrible a punishment to inflict on any human being, no matter what his crime. Hardened criminals in the men's prisons, it is said, often beg for the lash instead. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

I thought I had been a suffragist before I became a Poor Law Guardian, but now I began to think about the vote in women's hands not only as a right but as a desperate necessity. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

There is something that Governments care for far more than human life, and that is the security of property, and so it is through property that we shall strike the enemy. Be militant each in your own way. I incite this meeting to rebellion. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

My parents, especially my father, discussed the question of my brothers' education as a matter of real importance. My education and that of my sister were scarcely discussed at all. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

I was fourteen years old when I went to my first suffrage meeting. Returning from school one day, I met my mother just setting out for the meeting, and I begged her to let me go along. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

If you are ever angry at him, threaten to do something to one of his books, as calling him Fred does nothing. ~ Sarah Holman

Justice and judgement lie often a world apart."
~ Emmeline Pankhurst ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

Governments have always tried to crush reform movements, to destroy ideas, to kill the thing that cannot die. Without regard to history, which shows that no Government have ever succeeded in doing this, they go on trying in the old, senseless way. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

The heart is a strange thing," Evelyn said, staring off into space. "It can be broken easily and takes a long time to mend, yet it can also withstand so much. ~ Sarah Holman

We started getting hungry again, and some of the women started chanting, "MEAT, MEAT, MEAT!"
We were having steak tartare. It was the only appropriate main course we could think of, for such a graceless theme, and seeing as nobody in the club was confident making it, we had to order it in. I made chips to serve with it, though. I deep-fried them in beef fat.
The steak was served in little roulades, raw and minced, like horsemeat. It was topped with a raw egg yolk, chopped onions, pickled beetroot, and capers. I had wanted to use the Wisconsin version, which is served on cocktail bread and dubbed "cannibal sandwich," but Stevie insisted we go classic. Not everyone could stomach theirs with the raw egg yolk, too, and so, unusually for a Supper Club, there was quite a lot left over.
We took another break to drink and move about the room. Some of us took MDMA. Emmeline had brought a box of French macarons, tiny pastel-colored things, which we threw over the table, trying to get them into one another's mouth, invariably missing.
For our proper dessert, we had a crepe cake: a stack of pancakes bound together with melted chocolate. We ate it with homemade ice cream, which was becoming a real staple. ~ Lara Williams

She had made a cheddar-and-parsley roulade. Lina had made a lentil goulash, plus almond-and-white-chocolate blondies. Emmeline had made two different types of risotto. Erin had made lamb-and-asparagus mini pies and a strawberry-and-spinach salad. Renni had made bread-and-butter pudding using chocolate croissants. Andrea had made a hearty beef goulash plus zucchini with feta and mint. Sash had made a giant pumpkin cheesecake. The kitchen was a kaleidoscope of smells. ~ Lara Williams

Justice and judgment lie often a world apart. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

We have to free half of the human race, the women, so that they can help free the other half. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

If it is right for men to fight for their freedom, and God knows what the human race would be like today if men had not, since time began, fought for their freedom, then it is right for women to fight for their freedom and the freedom of the children they bear. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

O help me Father in heaven to overcome and resist temptation in every form or shape. ~ Emmeline B. Wells

The English prison system is altogether mediaeval and outworn. In some of its details, the system has improved since they began to send the Suffragettes to Holloway. I may say that we, by our public denunciation of the system, have forced these slight improvements. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

Better that we should die fighting than be outraged and dishonored ... Better to die than to live in slavery. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

I believe in women, especially thinking women. ~ Emmeline B. Wells

I pushed my pile of papers to one side, stroked Shadow and stared into the fire, longing for the comfort of a story where everything had been planned well in advance, where the confusion of the middle was invented only for my enjoyment, and where I could measure how far away the solution was by feeling the thickness of pages still to come. I had no idea how many pages it would take to complete the story of Emmeline and Adeline, nor even whether there would be time to complete it. ~ Diane Setterfield

The whole argument with the anti-suffragists, or even the critical suffragist man, is this: that you can govern human beings without their consent. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

There are only two forces that can withstand the force of the war's spirit when it seizes upon the world. The one is the force of an independently thinking, free, and articulate democracy. The other is the force of an instructed and enlightened public opinion. ~ Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Baroness Pethick-Lawrence

Holloway Prison is a very old place, and it has the disadvantages of old places which have never known enough air and sunshine. It reeks with the odours of generations of bad ventilation, and it contrives to be at once the stuffiest and the draughtiest building I have ever been in. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

Our sons and daughters must be trained in national service, taught to give as well as to receive. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

I realised I can't shut myself away or - crack up. Sirius wouldn't have wanted that, would he? And anyway, life's too short... look at Madam Bones, looks at Emmeline Vance... it could be me next, couldn't it? But if it is," he said fiercely, now looking straight into Dumbledore's blue eyes, gleaming in the wand-light, "I'll make sure I take as many Death Eaters with me as I can, and Voldemort too if I manage it."
"Spoken both like your mother and father's son and Sirius's true god-son!" said Dumbledore with an approving pat on Harry's back. ~ J.K. Rowling

You must make women count as much as men; you must have an equal standard of morals; and the only way to enforce that is through giving women political power so that you can get that equal moral standard registered in the laws of the country. It is the only way. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

Manchester is a city which has witnessed a great many stirring episodes, especially of a political character. Generally speaking, its citizens have been liberal in their sentiments, defenders of free speech and liberty of opinion. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline Adel.
...
"Ivy, you need to look at this."
...
Our mother? At Rookwood? ~ Sophie Cleverly

One does not expect to be comfortable in prison. As a matter of fact, one's mental suffering is so much greater than any common physical distress that the latter is almost forgotten. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

I do not remember a time when I could not read, nor any time when reading was not a joy and a solace. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

I have never advised the destruction of life, but of property, yes. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

She will not be clever, but still, I see no reason why she should not one day lead a satisfying life separately from her sister. Perhaps she might even marry. All men do not seek intelligence in a wife, and Emmeline is very affectionate. ~ Diane Setterfield

It always seems to me when the anti-suffrage members of the Government criticize militancy in women that it is very like beasts of prey reproaching gentler animals who turn in desperate resistance when at the point of death. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

I believe in women. I desire ... to do those things that would advance women in moral and spiritual, as well as educational work. ~ Emmeline B. Wells

Be militant in your own way! Those of you who can break windows, break them. Those of you who can still further attack the secret idol of property ... do so. And my last word is to the Government: I incite this meeting to rebellion. Take me if you dare! (Emmeline Pankhurst, 1912) ~ Fran Abrams

We are here, not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

From infancy, I had been accustomed to hear pro and con discussions of slavery and the American Civil War. Although the British government finally decided not to recognise the Confederacy, public opinion in England was sharply divided on the questions both of slavery and of secession. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

I want to say to you who think women cannot succeed, we have brought the government of England to this position, that it has to face this alternative: either women are to be killed or women are to have the vote ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

I have not personally suffered from the deprivations, the bitterness and sorrow which bring so many men and women to a realisation of social injustice. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

Often I have heard the taunt that suffragists are women who have failed to find any normal outlet for their emotions, and are therefore soured and disappointed beings. This is probably not true of any suffragist, and it is most certainly not true of me. My home life and relations have been as nearly ideal as possible in this imperfect world. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

My childhood was protected by love and a comfortable home. Yet, while still a very young child, I began instinctively to feel that there was something lacking, even in my own home, some false conception of family relations, some incomplete ideal. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

When you have warfare, things happen; people suffer; the noncombatants suffer as well as the combatants. And so it happens in civil war. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

As long as women consent to be unjustly governed, they will be; but directly women say: "We withhold our consent," we will not be governed any longer as long as government is unjust. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline didn't call me anything. She didn't need, for I was always there. You only need names for the absent. ~ Diane Setterfield

I am what you call a hooligan- ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

A change of heart is the essence of all other change, and it has brought about me a reeducation of the mind. ~ Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Baroness Pethick-Lawrence

I would rather be a rebel than a slave. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

It is perfectly evident to any logical mind that when you have got the vote, by the proper use of the vote in sufficient numbers, by combination, you can get out of any legislature whatever you want, or, if you cannot get it, you can send them about their business and choose other people who will be more attentive to your demands. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

Those men and women are fortunate who are born at a time when a great struggle for human freedom is in progress. It is an added good fortune to have parents who take a personal part in the great movements of their time. I am glad and thankful that this was my case. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

If men will not do us justice, they shall do us violence. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

Every principle of liberty enunciated in any civilized country on earth, with very few exceptions, was intended entirely for men, and when women tried to force the putting into practice of these principles, for women, then they discovered they had come into a very, very unpleasant situation indeed. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

I suppose I had always been an unconscious suffragist. With my temperament and my surroundings, I could scarcely have been otherwise. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

What is the use of fighting for a vote if we have not got a country to vote in? ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

We woman suffragists have a great mission - the greatest mission the world has ever known. It is to free half the human race, and through that freedom to save the rest. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst

Trust in God - she will provide. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst