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About this quote

What does it mean?
Woolf states that the true nature of woman cannot be known until women have fully expressed themselves across all arts and professions.
In plain terms
No one knows what a woman is until women have tried all jobs and arts.
What can you take from it?
Let women explore all fields to define themselves.

Where it applies

  • gender debates
  • career planning
  • artistic critique

Putting it to work

  • supporting female artists
  • expanding career access

Questions to consider

  • Who defines a woman?
  • What fields are closed?

Another view

It assumes expression is the only way to understand identity.

More from Virginia Woolf

  1. Lines slip easily down the accustomed grooves. The old designs are copied so glibly that we are half inclined to think them original, save for that very glibne…

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  2. Outwardly, what is simpler than to write books? Outwardly, what obstacles are there for a woman rather than for a man? Inwardly, I think, the case is very diff…

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  3. Once you begin to take yourself seriously as a leader or as a follower, as a modern or as a conservative, then you become a self-conscious, biting, and scratch…

    Permalink to quote #35

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