#superiority

The last refuge of the insomniac is a sense of superiority to the sleeping world. ↗

— Leonard Cohen

#refuge #sense #sleeping #superiority #world

Look in the mirror, and don't be tempted to equate transient domination with either intrinsic superiority or prospects for extended survival. ↗

— Stephen Jay Gould

#either #equate #extended #intrinsic #look

As she grew older, Maddy discovered that she had disappointed almost everyone. An awkward girl with a sullen mouth, a curtain of hair, and a tendency to slouch, she had neither Mae's sweet nature nor sweet face. Her eyes were rather beautiful, but few people ever noticed this, and it was widely believed Maddy was ugly, a troublemaker, too clever for her own good, too stubborn - or too slack - to change. Of course, folk agreed that it was not her fault she was so brown or her sister so pretty, but a smile costs nothing, as the saying goes, and if only the girl had made an effort once in a while, or even showed a little gratitude for all the help and free advice, then maybe she would have settled down. ↗

— Joanne Harris

#hypocrisy #labeling #prejudice #scapegoating #superiority

As for my own part I care not for death, for all men are mortal; and though I be a woman yet I have as good a courage answerable to my place as ever my father had. I am your anointed Queen. I will never be by violence constrained to do anything. I thank God I am indeed endowed with such qualities that if I were turned out of the realm in my petticoat I were able to live in any place in Christendom. ↗

— Elizabeth I Tudor

#courage #death #defiance #dignity #good-governance

This pre-eminence is something [men] have unjustly arrogated to themselves. And when it's said that women must be subject to men, the phrase should be understood in the same sense as when we say we are subject to natural disasters, diseases, and all the other accidents of this life: it's not a case of being subjected in the sense of obeying, but rather of suffering an imposition, not a case of serving them fearfully, but rather of tolerating them in a spirit of Christian charity, since they have been given to us by God as a spiritual trial. ↗

— Moderata Fonte

#empowerment #feminism #gender #inequality #men

Pretensions to moral superiority are devastatingly destructive. ↗

— Mary Douglas

#moral #pretensions #superiority

All sensible Army people turned gas warfare down as being utterly insane since, in view of your superiority in the air, it would not be long before it would bring the most terrible catastrophe upon German cities, which were completely unprotected. ↗

— Albert Speer

#army #before #being #bring #catastrophe

People always make the mistake of thinking art is created for them. But really, art is a private language for sophisticates to congratulate themselves on their superiority to the rest of the world. As my artist’s statement explains, my work is utterly incomprehensible and is therefore full of deep significance. ↗

— Bill Watterson

#modern-art #sophistication #superiority #art

Quoting Samuel Johnson: "Men know that women are an overmatch for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or the most ignorant. If they did not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves. ↗

— James Boswell

#equality #fear #gender #intelligence #men

Any woman who is sure of her own wits, is a match, at any time, for a man who is not sure of his own temper. ↗

— Wilkie Collins

#control #dispute #empowerment #intelligence #men