... what is especially insufferable in a woman is a restless, bold, domineering manner, for this manner goes against nature.... [ellipsis in source] No matter what her worth, no matter that she never forgets that she could be a man by virtue of her superiority of mind and the force of her will, on the outside she must be a woman! She must present herself as that creature made to please, to love to seek support, that being who is inferior to man and who approaches the angels.
ATTRIBUTION:
Elisabeth-Felicite Bayle-Mouillard (1796–1865), French author. As quoted in Victorian Women, ch. 19, by Erna Olafson Hellerstein, Leslie Parker Hume, and Karen M. Offen (1981).
From an 1834 advice manual, first published in French under the title, Manuel de la bonne compagnie, ou guide de la politesse et de la bienseance.
