“As Friends we seek to do away with violence both in seed and branch, in language and in deed. Should it be our goal then to do away with every vestige of master-submission patterns among ourselves, and consistently oppose them in the world at large? Unfortunately this seems not to be possible. A notable example can be found in adult-child relations [….]”
“Credit not the old fashioned absurdity, that woman’s is a secondary lot, ministering to the necessities of her lord and master! It is a higher destiny I would award you [….]
I would charge you to water the undying bud, and give it healthy culture, and open its beauty to the sun—and then you may hope, that when your life is bound up with another, you will go on equally, and in a fellowship that shall pervade every earthly interest.”
“We tend to think historically that Friends have been out in front in all areas of social change, the abolition of slavery, rights for women, prison reform, and all the rest, but Margaret Bacon points out in an article that it was only a few Friends who were out in front. The John Woolmans and the Lucretia Motts were very lonely in their own meetings, in their own days, and the Elizabeth Frys also. They were eldered by their meetings and looked on as a little bit too far out for the general populace.”
“It wasn’t easy because I had a young child and we were separated. I couldn’t hold him in my arms. But I think what kept me going was the belief that I was contributing to something that would change for our people: demanding that we get a better education, demanding that we get the right to vote, demanding that we were citizens in our country. And as somebody who had to overcome not only racial discrimination in my country, but also gender discrimination, we demanded that women should be present in large enough numbers in the peace talks, in the structures that were writing our constitution.”
“We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
“With the change of leadership here in the US, many people are scared. They are facing threats to their security, their health, and their freedom and looking toward an uncertain future. They find themselves in “an ocean of darkness,” as George Fox wrote, though he also wrote that “an infinite ocean of light,” of God’s love, flowed over the ocean of darkness. Our faith does not tell us we will not face challenges, but that we can trust in the guidance of Spirit to show us how to love one another in ways that make a difference.”
April 2025: This is a collection of quotes by Quaker Women. We learn from the wisdom of 400 years of ministry from women and folx with marginalized genders and identities. We read about the inspiring lives of Quaker martyrs, mystics, and leaders, and listen directly to people whose voices are not always heard.
“‘The children’s meeting’ of 1663 is famous among Friends. In 1906, some Friends made a book about it, [a fictionalized account] told in the words of fourteen-year-old Judith, who was there in 1663.
At the end of that first week, on Saturday, with their parents still in jail, Judith’s friend Maria came to visit and asked:
‘Who will gather the meeting tomorrow?'”
“One day Winnie the Pooh went to visit his friend Rabbit. Rabbit, always the consummate host, offered Pooh some honey which Pooh gladly accepted. Pooh, true to form, ate rather too much honey and as he was leaving got stuck in Rabbit’s door.
Pooh was stuck half in and half out. He couldn’t go back in and he couldn’t get out. He was stuck so tight he couldn’t even sigh.
(That’s what grief feels like for many people.)”
The plow has savaged this sweet field / Misshapen clods of earth kicked up / Rocks and twisted roots exposed to view / Last year’s growth demolished by the blade.
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