2 quotations linked to The Woman's Bible by or associated with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, with source notes, explanations and related topics.
Self-development, self-respect, religious authority, individuality, women’s rights and criticism of ideals that reduce women to self-sacrifice.
Use these links when you want to inspect the wording in its wider work or edition.
“Self-development is a higher duty than self-sacrifice.”
Stanton challenges a moral standard that praises women mainly for self-denial, arguing instead that developing one’s capacities is itself an important obligation.
The Woman’s Bible, Stanton commentary; the line appears in her critique of idealizing women’s self-sacrifice and is preserved in the Project Gutenberg text.
“My first duty is to develop all the powers given to me and to make the most of myself and my own life.”
The imagined speaker refuses to let another person dispose of her life, grounding dignity in the responsibility to develop her own capacities and possibilities.
The Woman's Bible, The Book of Judges, Chapter II, Judges xi, Project Gutenberg #9880. Stanton imagines Jephthah's unnamed daughter rejecting sacrifice: ‘My first duty is to develop all the powers given to me and to make the most of myself and my own life.’ This is Stanton's invented protest voice within her commentary, not a biblical quotation or speech preserved in Judges.
