Charlotte Perkins Gilman

"We are not here to do what has already been done."

"The labor we do gladly and with full heart is the labor that makes us happy."

"There is no female mind. The brain is not an organ of sex."

"One cannot be deeply responsive to the world without being saddened very often."

"The more truly we see and feel the world around us, the more truly human we are."

"We inherit the earth. We do not own it. We merely have the use of it, temporarily."

"Human life consists in mutual service. No grief, sorrow, misfortune or 'broken heart' is excuse for cutting off one's life while any power of service remains."

"The duty of a woman is to make the world better, not merely to bear children."

"What is religion, after all, but an effort to hold on to the goodness of our ancestors?"

"The rightly constituted human being should be the highest possible pleasure to his race."

"We fail in our duty as human beings, if we do not use our strength for the good of all."

"True happiness is found in doing, not in dreaming."

"We are not bound by the dead hand of tradition; we make traditions."

"The world needs more women with sense and fewer with sensibility."

"Civilization means cooperation."

"The true democratic spirit is always calm and temperate, ready to listen and to weigh evidence."

"A housekeeper cannot do all the work her family demands. A human cannot do all the work their conscience demands."

"The most important thing about our civilization is not that we can do wonderful things, but that we can enjoy doing them."

"Women in their present position are not free to develop their full humanity."

"Growth requires change and change is always painful at first."

"To truly know yourself, you must understand your connection to society."

"A woman's sphere should be bounded only by her abilities and her conscience."

"Time spent on genuine work is never wasted, even if the results seem small."

"The pain of advancing in thought is but the growing pains of becoming fully human."

"We teach by example far more than by precept."

"Peace comes not from the absence of conflict, but from our ability to resolve it fairly."

"The imagination is what sets us free - not from reality, but within it."

"Service to humanity is the highest calling any person can answer."

"We must be willing to lose our lives to gain the world that should be."

"The strength of a society is measured by how it treats those who cannot defend themselves."