I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a door mat or a prostitute. – Rebecca West, “Mr Chesterton in Hysterics: A Study in Prejudice,” The Clarion, 1

I would have girls regard themselves not as adjectives but as nouns. – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Our Girls”

The blood of generations of honoured women boiled in my veins. – Sarah Grand (1854–1943), “The Condemned Cell,” Emotional Moments, 1908