22 Quotes by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward

What an immense power over the life is the power of possessing distinct aims. The voice, the dress, the look, the very motion of a person, define and alter when he or she begins to live for a reason.

I believe in women; and in their right to their own best possibilities in every department of life. I believe that the methods ofdress practiced among women are a marked hindrance to the realization of these possibilities, and should be scorned or persuaded out of society.

The woman’s personal identity is a vast undiscovered country – with which Society has yet to acquaint itself, and by which it is yet to be revolutionized.

Happiness must be cultivated. It is like character. It is not a thing to be safely let alone for a moment, or it will run to weeds.

Life is moral responsibility.

The rainiest nights, like the rainiest lives, are by no means the saddest.

I can remember no time when I did not understand that my mother must write books because people would have and read them; but I cannot remember one hour in which her children needed her and did not find her.

A literary woman’s best critic is her husband...

A great idea is usually original to more than one discoverer. Great ideas come when the world needs them. Great ideas surround the world’s ignorance and press for admission.