Suffragette Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old suffragette quotes, suffragette sayings, and suffragette proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

The young women of today, free to study, to speak, to write, to choose their occupation, should remember that every inch of this freedom was bought for them at a great price. It is for them to show their gratitude by helping onward the reforms of their own times, by spreading the light of freedom and of truth still wider. The debt that each generation owes to the past it must pay to the future Abigail Scott Duniway
There will never be a new world order until women are a part of it. Alice Paul
The great constitutional corrective in the hands of the people against usurpation of power, or corruption by their agents is the right of suffrage; and this when used with calmness and deliberation will prove strong enough. Andrew Jackson
Everybody counts in applying democracy. And there will never be a true democracy until every responsible and law-abiding adult in it, without regard to race, sex, color or creed has his or her own inalienable and unpurchasable voice in government. Carrie Chapman Catt
People say, what is the sense of our small effort? They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time. A pebble cast into a pond causes ripples that spread in all directions. Each one of thoughts, words, and deeds is like that. No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do. Dorothy Day
If society will not admit of woman's free development, then society must be remodeled. Elizabeth Blackwell
I would rather be a rebel than a slave. Emmeline Pankhurst
The argument of the broken window pane is the most valuable argument in modern politics. Emmeline Pankhurst
You have to make more noise than anybody else, you have to make yourself more obtrusive than anybody else, you have to fill all the papers more than anybody else, in fact you have to be there all the time and see that they do not snow you under. Emmeline Pankhurst
During the Suffragette revolt of 1913 I[urged] that what was needed was not the vote, but a constitutional amendment enactingthat all representative bodies shall consist of women and men in equal numbers, whether elected or nominated or coopted or registered or picked up in the street like a coroner's jury. In the case of elected bodies the only way of effecting this is by the Coupled Vote. The representative unit must not be a man or a woman but a man and a woman. George Bernard Shaw
The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them. Ida B. Wells
All that separates, whether of race, class, creed, or sex, is inhuman, and must be overcome. Kate Sheppard
The first organised opposition by women to women's suffrage in England dates from 1889, when a number of ladies led by Mrs Ward appealed against the proposed extension of the Parliamentary suffrage to women. Millicent Fawcett
What is true of Mr. Mill's influence on the women's-suffrage question is true also of the other political movements in which he took an active interest. Millicent Fawcett
Women suffrage is going to prevail it is not merely because women are discontented. It is because the women have seen visions of duty, and that is something which we not only cannot resist, but if we be true Americans, we do not resist. I come here to fight with you…and to congratulate you that there is a force behind you that will beyond any peradventure be triumphant. President Woodrow Wilson
The suffragettes were women of action. Their motto was "Deeds not Words," and the film reflects that with a number of big set pieces, from the smashing of windows in central London to a riot at the Houses of Parliament. Sarah Gavron
I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand. Susan B. Anthony
Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation. Susan B. Anthony
I think the girl who is able to earn her own living and pay her own way should be as happy as anybody on earth. The sense of independence and security is very sweet. Susan B. Anthony
Suffrage is the pivotal right. Susan B. Anthony
There shall never be another season of silence until women have the same rights men have on this green earth. Susan B. Anthony
Change always follows the same pattern. If you come up with something new they try and put you off. If that doesn't work they call you stark raving bonkers. If that doesn't work they lock you up like the suffragettes. Then, after a pause, the change happens and you can't find anyone that doesn't claim to have been fighting for it with you. Tony Benn
Nothing-was more degrading than for a woman to have to marry for a home. Love should be the sole reason. Surely those with a brain-to think, eyes to see and a mind-to reason must realise that the capitalist system must cease and a co-operative system prevail in its place. Vida Goldstein
Be wicked, be brave, be drunk, be reckless, be dissolute, be despotic, be a suffragette, be anything you like, but for pity's sake be it to the top of your bent. Violet Trefusis