Professors could silence me then; they had figures, diagrams, maps, books.... I was learning that books and diagrams can be evil things if they deaden the mind of man and make him blind or cynical before subjection of any kind.
Agnes SmedleyBut I see no reason why a woman should not grow and develop in all those outlets which are suited to her nature, it matters not at all what they may be.
Agnes SmedleyThere are many men - such as those often to be found among the Indians - who are refined until they have qualities often attributed to the female sex. Yet they are men, and strong ones.
Agnes SmedleyBut settled things were enemies to me and soon lost their newness and color. The unknown called.
Agnes SmedleyNew York was a new and strange world. Vast, impersonal, merciless.... Always before I had felt like a person, an individual, hopeful that I could mold my life according to some desire of my own. But here in New York I was ignorant, insignificant, unimportant--one in millions whose destiny concerned no one. New York did not even know of my existence. Nor did it care.
Agnes Smedley