another quote

[Joel S. Berson]

A couple other Johnson quotes have been passed on to me:

>Johnson also said, "Men know that women are an over-match for them,
>and therefore they choose the weakest or most ignorant. If they did
>not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as
>themselves." Boswell adds, "In a subsequent conversation, he told me
>that he was serious in what he had said."
>
>On the other hand he also said, "'Where there is no education, as in
>savage countries, men will have the upper hand of women. Bodily
>strength, no doubt, contributes to this; but it would be so,
>exclusive of that; for it is mind that always governs. When it comes
>to dry understanding, man has the better."

No wonder he was opposed to the American Revolution -- in America,
women were permitted to learn to read and write.

Joel

At 9/18/2013 10:47 AM, Baker, John wrote:
>Yes, it's from a letter to the Rev. Dr. Taylor, Aug. 18, 1763, and
>accurately quoted, see
>http://books.google.com/books?id=KYJAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA104.  Apparently
>Dr. Taylor's wife had left him.  Johnson wrote:
>
>"You enquire what the fugitive Lady has in her power.  She has, I
>think, nothing in her power but to return home and mend her
>behaviour.  To obtain a separate maintenance she must prove either
>cruelty to her person or infidelity to her bed, and I suppose
>neither charge can be supported.  Nature has given women so much
>power that the law has very wisely given them little."
>
>
>John Baker
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>Behalf Of David A. Daniel
>Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 9:03 AM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: another quote
>
>"Nature has given women so much power that the law has wisely given them
>little"
>Can the quote sleuths tell me if this is actually a Samuel Johnson quote?
>I'm about to post it for my wife's benefit and I certainly don't want to be
>in trouble for misattributing anything (aside from the other stuff I'm about
>to get in trouble for).
>DAD
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org