Harriet Martineau
English social theorist and writer (1802 to 1876); translator of works by Auguste Comte, who earned enough by writing to be self-supporting; author of How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838).
Harriet Martineau did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
-
Their wordsThe traveller must not generalize on the spot, however true may be his apprehension—however firm his grasp, of one or more facts.
↗How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838)gutenberg.org 1st of 6 in this piece
-
Our reading
In judging a society, every consideration is subordinate to the relative amount of human happiness
Their wordsThe two considerations just mentioned must be subordinated to the grand one,—the only general one,—of the relative amount of human happiness. Every element of social life derives its importance from this great consideration.
↗How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838)gutenberg.org 2nd of 6 in this piece
-
Their wordsTo test one people by another, is to argue within a very small segment of a circle; and the observer can only pass backwards and forwards at an equal distance from the point of truth. To test the morals and manners of a nation by a reference to the essentials of human happiness, is to strike at once to the centre, and to see things as they are.
↗How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838)gutenberg.org 3rd of 6 in this piece
-
Our reading
How far women are degraded is as good a test as any of the state of domestic morals in a country
Their wordsThe traveller everywhere finds woman treated as the inferior party in a compact in which both parties have an equal interest. Any agreement thus formed is imperfect, and is liable to disturbance; and the danger is great in proportion to the degradation of the supposed weaker party. The degree of the degradation of woman is as good a test as the moralist can adopt for ascertaining the state of domestic morals in any country.
↗How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838)gutenberg.org 4th of 6 in this piece
-
Their wordsFrom a condition of slavery like this, women are found rising to the highest condition in which they are at present seen, in France, England, and the United States,—where they are less than half-educated, precluded from earning a subsistence, except in a very few ill-paid employments, and prohibited from giving or withholding their assent to laws which they are yet bound by penalties to obey.
↗How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838)gutenberg.org 5th of 6 in this piece
-
Their wordsThe charge of their own maintenance is thrown upon large numbers of women, without the requisite variety of employments having been opened to them, or the needful education imparted. A natural consequence of this is, that women are educated to consider marriage the one object in life, and therefore to be extremely impatient to secure it.
↗How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838)gutenberg.org 6th of 6 in this piece
The line under a date fills as the words age, a quarter at a time: past a month, six months, a year, and three years. Empty means said within the last month; full, more than three years ago. It says when, not whether it still holds — a change of mind is marked on the claim itself.
Dashed means we only know the words existed by that date; they may be older.