For my part I distrust all generalizations about women, favourable and unfavourable, masculine and feminine, ancient and modern; all alike, I should say, result from paucity of experience.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Russell distrusts all generalizations about women, seeing them as stemming from limited experience.
- In plain terms
- He doubts any broad statements about women because they arise from insufficient experience.
- What can you take from it?
- Generalizations about gender often reflect ignorance.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How can we improve gender understanding?
- What evidence is needed to make reliable statements?
Another view
Some patterns may emerge from robust data despite limited anecdote.
More from Bertrand Russell
Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.
Permalink to quote #168 Aristotle could have avoided the mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than men, by the simple device of asking Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth open…
Permalink to quote #170 As soon as we abandon our own reason, and are content to rely upon authority, there is no end to our troubles.
Permalink to quote #167
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