Quotes by Joanna Russ

Joanna Russ

… chastity is not given once and for all like a wedding ring that is put on never to be taken off, but is a garden which each day must be weeded, watered, and trimmed anew, or soon there will be only brambles and wilderness.

Each Day

Garden

Taken

….thinking you are attacking society when you condemn or ravage the hypothetical Nice Girl Next Door is the exact equivalent of thinking that stealing from the local supermarket makes you a Communist.

Girl

Nice

Thinking

[T]here is one and only one way to possess that in which we are defective, therefore that which we need, therefore that which we want. Become it.

Needs

Want

Way

And middle-class women, although taught to value established forms, are in the same position as the working class: neither can use established forms to express what the forms were never intended to express (and may very well operate to conceal).

Class

May

Use

Anyway everyboy (sorry) knows that what women have done that is really important is not to constitute a great, cheap labor force that you can zip in when you’re at war and zip out again afterwards but to Be Mothers, to form the coming generation, to give birth to them, to nurse them, to mop floors for them, to love them, cook for them, clean for them, change their diapers, pick up after them, and mainly sacrifice themselves for them. This is the most important job in the world. That’s why they don’t pay you for it.

Jobs

Mother

Sorry

Art is collective. Always, it has a tradition behind it.

Art

Behinds

Tradition

As my mother once said: The boys throw stones at the frog in jest. But the frogs die in earnest.

Boys

Mother

Stones

How withered away one can be from a life of unremitting toil.

Toil

Withered

I didn’t and don’t want to be a ‘feminine’ version or a diluted version or a special version or a subsidiary version or an ancillary version, or an adapted version of the heroes I admire. I want to be the heroes themselves.

Hero

Special

Want

I once asked a young dissertation writer whether her suddenly grayed hair was due to ill health or personal tragedy; she answered: “It was the footnotes”.

Hair

Ill Health

Tragedy

Follow The Behaviour University in order to get the greatest quotes from the greatest people of all time so that you can tap into your own greatness.

Acting

Adventure

America

Art

Artist

Beautiful

Behinds

Believe

Boys

Class

Congress

Culture

Dies

Doe

Dying

Each Day

Earth

Facts

Fiction

Firsts

Fool

Fun

Garden

Genius

Girl

Growth

Gun

Hair

Hate

Hero

Ignorance

Ill Health

Jobs

May

Mean

Memories

Men

Mind

Mother

Needs

Nice

Ordinary

Outcomes

Persistence

Real

Repeats

Science Fiction

Sorry

Special

Stones

The Future Blueprint

Tool

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

Tool

The Autobiography

Tool

The Behaviour Diary

Tool

The Dating Diary

Tool

The Relationship Therapist

Tool

Quotes by Joanna Russ

Joanna Russ

… chastity is not given once and for all like a wedding ring that is put on never to be taken off, but is a garden which each day must be weeded, watered, and trimmed anew, or soon there will be only brambles and wilderness.

….thinking you are attacking society when you condemn or ravage the hypothetical Nice Girl Next Door is the exact equivalent of thinking that stealing from the local supermarket makes you a Communist.

[T]here is one and only one way to possess that in which we are defective, therefore that which we need, therefore that which we want. Become it.

And middle-class women, although taught to value established forms, are in the same position as the working class: neither can use established forms to express what the forms were never intended to express (and may very well operate to conceal).

Art is collective. Always, it has a tradition behind it.

As my mother once said: The boys throw stones at the frog in jest. But the frogs die in earnest.

How withered away one can be from a life of unremitting toil.

I didn’t and don’t want to be a ‘feminine’ version or a diluted version or a special version or a subsidiary version or an ancillary version, or an adapted version of the heroes I admire. I want to be the heroes themselves.

I once asked a young dissertation writer whether her suddenly grayed hair was due to ill health or personal tragedy; she answered: “It was the footnotes”.

Get Social with TBU

Topics by Joanna Russ

Popular Tools

The Future Blueprint

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

The Autobiography

The Behaviour Diary

The Dating Diary

The Relationship Therapist

Menu

Menu