Authors: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

76 Great Quotes By Germaine Greer, The Radical Feminist

Famous As: Writer
Born On: January 29, 1939
Born In: Melbourne, Australia
Age: 84 Years
The feminist Germaine Greer is a writer and journalist who is famous for writing to assure the liberty of women and to solve gender issues. Greer did her graduation from the ‘University of Melbourne and Sydney’ and obtained her PhD from ‘Cambridge University’. After completing her education she acted on television, wrote journals and gave lectures on liberation of women. She wrote her first book ‘The Female Eunuch’ which discussed women’s sexuality and other gender issues. This book was an international bestseller and was translated in eleven languages. Her famous debate with the popular author Norman Miller on women liberation was adapted by the documentary ‘Town Bloody Hall’. She further wrote many books like ‘The Obstacle Race: The Fortunes of Women Painters and Their Work’ and the ‘Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility’ which nurtured her reputation as a feminist. She also served as a columnist for ‘The Sunday Times’ and ‘The Guardian’. She is known for her outspoken nature and for influencing the lives of many women by her thoughts and life. A lot of what she has said or written has become popular as her quotes and is frequently quoted by people. Go through these quotations and thoughts by Germaine Greer, the great feminist that will compel you to respect women.
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A library is a place where you can lose your innocence without losing your virginity.

A library is a place where you can lose your innocence without losing your virginity.

Germaine Greer
Loneliness is never more cruel than when it is felt in close propinquity with someone who has ceased to communicate.

Loneliness is never more cruel than when it is felt in close propinquity with someone who has ceased to communicate.

Germaine Greer
The house wife is an unpaid employee in her husband's house in return for the security of being a permanent employee.

The house wife is an unpaid employee in her husband's house in return for the security of being a permanent employee.

Germaine Greer
Man is jealous because of his amour propre; woman is jealous because of her lack of it.

Man is jealous because of his amour propre; woman is jealous because of her lack of it.

Germaine Greer
The compelled mother loves her child as the caged bird sings. The song does not justify the cage nor the love the enforcement.

The compelled mother loves her child as the caged bird sings. The song does not justify the cage nor the love the enforcement.

Germaine Greer
All societies on the verge of death are masculine. A society can survive with only one man; no society will survive a shortage of women.

All societies on the verge of death are masculine. A society can survive with only one man; no society will survive a shortage of women.

Germaine Greer
Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release.

Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release.

Germaine Greer
I think that testosterone is a rare poison.

I think that testosterone is a rare poison.

Germaine Greer
Libraries are reservoirs of strength, grace and wit, reminders of order, calm and continuity, lakes of mental energy, neither warm nor cold, light nor dark.

Libraries are reservoirs of strength, grace and wit, reminders of order, calm and continuity, lakes of mental energy, neither warm nor cold, light nor dark.

Germaine Greer
Women have very little idea of how much men hate them.

Women have very little idea of how much men hate them.

Germaine Greer
What we ought to see in the agonies of puberty is the result of the conditioning that maims the female personality in creating the feminine.

What we ought to see in the agonies of puberty is the result of the conditioning that maims the female personality in creating the feminine.

Germaine Greer
Developing the muscles of the soul demands no competitive spirit, no killer instinct, although it may erect pain barriers that the spiritual athlete must crash through.

Developing the muscles of the soul demands no competitive spirit, no killer instinct, although it may erect pain barriers that the spiritual athlete must crash through.

Germaine Greer
If a person loves only one other person, and is indifferent to his fellow men, his love is not love but a symbiotic attachment, or an enlarged egotism.

If a person loves only one other person, and is indifferent to his fellow men, his love is not love but a symbiotic attachment, or an enlarged egotism.

Germaine Greer
The real theater of the sex war is the domestic hearth.

The real theater of the sex war is the domestic hearth.

Germaine Greer
Until women themselves reject stigma and refuse to feel shame for the way others treat them, they have no hope of achieving full human stature.

Until women themselves reject stigma and refuse to feel shame for the way others treat them, they have no hope of achieving full human stature.

Germaine Greer
We in the West do not refrain from childbirth because we are concerned about the population explosion or because we feel we cannot afford children, but because we do not like children.

We in the West do not refrain from childbirth because we are concerned about the population explosion or because we feel we cannot afford children, but because we do not like children.

Germaine Greer
Revolution is the festival of the oppressed.

Revolution is the festival of the oppressed.

Germaine Greer
The tragedy of machismo is that a man is never quite man enough.

The tragedy of machismo is that a man is never quite man enough.

Germaine Greer

Rescuing women from their burden of unwarranted guilt is going to require 'educational practices and socializing agents' even more effective than the ones that have been relentlessly loading female humans with responsibility for other people's behavior from their earliest childhood.

Germaine Greer
The surest guide to the correctness of the path that women take is joy in the struggle. Revolution is the festival of the oppressed.

The surest guide to the correctness of the path that women take is joy in the struggle. Revolution is the festival of the oppressed.

Germaine Greer
The management of fertility is one of the most important functions of adulthood.

The management of fertility is one of the most important functions of adulthood.

Germaine Greer
Psychoanalysis is the confession without absolution.

Psychoanalysis is the confession without absolution.

Germaine Greer

It strikes me as very strange that whereas Tennyson could support most of Mr. Buckley's propositions about free trade, and the private sector, and private enterprise, Tennyson found no difficulty also in lending intellectual support to the idea of Women's Liberation.

Germaine Greer
Security is when everything is settled, when nothing can happen to you; security is the denial of life.

Security is when everything is settled, when nothing can happen to you; security is the denial of life.

Germaine Greer
English culture is basically homosexual in the sense that the men only really care about other men.

English culture is basically homosexual in the sense that the men only really care about other men.

Germaine Greer
Act quickly, think slowly.

Act quickly, think slowly.

Germaine Greer
Never advise anyone to go to war or to get married. Write down the advice of him who loves you, though you like it not at present. He that has no children brings them up well.

Never advise anyone to go to war or to get married. Write down the advice of him who loves you, though you like it not at present. He that has no children brings them up well.

Germaine Greer
One may not reach the dawn save by the path of the night.

One may not reach the dawn save by the path of the night.

Germaine Greer
There is no such thing as security. There never has been.

There is no such thing as security. There never has been.

Germaine Greer
Evolution is what it is. The upper classes have always died out; it's one of the most charming things about them.

Evolution is what it is. The upper classes have always died out; it's one of the most charming things about them.

Germaine Greer
Only one thing is certain: if pot is legalized, it won't be for our benefit but for the authorities. To have it legalized will also be to lose control of it.

Only one thing is certain: if pot is legalized, it won't be for our benefit but for the authorities. To have it legalized will also be to lose control of it.

Germaine Greer
The sight of women talking together has always made men uneasy; nowadays it means rank subversion.

The sight of women talking together has always made men uneasy; nowadays it means rank subversion.

Germaine Greer
The principle of the brotherhood of man is narcissistic... for the grounds for that love have always been the assumption that we ought to realize that we are the same the whole world over.

The principle of the brotherhood of man is narcissistic... for the grounds for that love have always been the assumption that we ought to realize that we are the same the whole world over.

Germaine Greer
I have always been principally interested in men for sex. I've always thought any sane woman would be a lover of women because loving men is such a mess. I have always wished I'd fall in love with a woman. Damn.

I have always been principally interested in men for sex. I've always thought any sane woman would be a lover of women because loving men is such a mess. I have always wished I'd fall in love with a woman. Damn.

Germaine Greer
Perhaps catastrophe is the natural human environment, and even though we spend a good deal of energy trying to get away from it, we are programmed for survival amid catastrophe.

Perhaps catastrophe is the natural human environment, and even though we spend a good deal of energy trying to get away from it, we are programmed for survival amid catastrophe.

Germaine Greer
You're only young once, but you can be immature forever

You're only young once, but you can be immature forever

Germaine Greer
Perhaps women have always been in closer contact with reality than men: it would seem to be the just recompense for being deprived of idealism.

Perhaps women have always been in closer contact with reality than men: it would seem to be the just recompense for being deprived of idealism.

Germaine Greer
Women are reputed never to be disgusted. The sad fact is that they often are, but not with men; following the lead of men, they are most often disgusted with themselves.

Women are reputed never to be disgusted. The sad fact is that they often are, but not with men; following the lead of men, they are most often disgusted with themselves.

Germaine Greer
Even crushed against his brother in the Tube the average Englishman pretends desperately that he is alone.

Even crushed against his brother in the Tube the average Englishman pretends desperately that he is alone.

Germaine Greer
Every woman knows that, regardless of all her other achievements, she is a failure if she is not beautiful.

Every woman knows that, regardless of all her other achievements, she is a failure if she is not beautiful.

Germaine Greer
Australia is a huge rest home, where no unwelcome news is ever wafted on to the pages of the worst newspapers in the world.

Australia is a huge rest home, where no unwelcome news is ever wafted on to the pages of the worst newspapers in the world.

Germaine Greer
Marriage made more sense when it was indissoluble. It's the woman trying to cope with the strains of a one-parent family who will suffer most from the relaxation of the divorce laws.

Marriage made more sense when it was indissoluble. It's the woman trying to cope with the strains of a one-parent family who will suffer most from the relaxation of the divorce laws.

Germaine Greer
Sadness is the matrix from which wit and irony spring; sadness is uncomfortable and creative, which is why consumer society cannot tolerate it.

Sadness is the matrix from which wit and irony spring; sadness is uncomfortable and creative, which is why consumer society cannot tolerate it.

Germaine Greer
Reading was my first solitary vice (and led to all others). I read while I ate, I read in the loo, I read in the bath. When I was supposed to be sleeping, I was reading.

Reading was my first solitary vice (and led to all others). I read while I ate, I read in the loo, I read in the bath. When I was supposed to be sleeping, I was reading.

Germaine Greer
Yet if a woman never lets herself go, how will she ever know how far she might have got? If she never takes off her high-heeled shoes, how will she ever know how far she could walk or how fast she could run?

Yet if a woman never lets herself go, how will she ever know how far she might have got? If she never takes off her high-heeled shoes, how will she ever know how far she could walk or how fast she could run?

Germaine Greer
Bras are a ludicrous invention; but if you make bralessness a rule, you're just subjecting yourself to yet another repression.

Bras are a ludicrous invention; but if you make bralessness a rule, you're just subjecting yourself to yet another repression.

Germaine Greer
Security is the denial of life

Security is the denial of life

Germaine Greer
Supergroupies don't have to hang around hotel corridors. When you are one, as I have been, you get invited backstage.

Supergroupies don't have to hang around hotel corridors. When you are one, as I have been, you get invited backstage.

Germaine Greer
It takes a great deal of courage and independence to decide to design your own image instead of the one that society rewards, but it gets easier as you go along.

It takes a great deal of courage and independence to decide to design your own image instead of the one that society rewards, but it gets easier as you go along.

Germaine Greer
Is it too much to ask that women be spared the daily struggle for superhuman beauty in order to offer it to the caresses of a subhumanly ugly mate?

Is it too much to ask that women be spared the daily struggle for superhuman beauty in order to offer it to the caresses of a subhumanly ugly mate?

Germaine Greer
Many a housewife staring at the back of her husband's newspaper, or listening to his breathing in bed is lonelier than any spinster in a rented room.

Many a housewife staring at the back of her husband's newspaper, or listening to his breathing in bed is lonelier than any spinster in a rented room.

Germaine Greer

It's absolutely philistine not to recognize what a great book 'An American Dream' is. Norman Mailer is his own worst enemy, and if you don't catch him in a defensive position, he'll admit it. I'd really like to help that man.

Germaine Greer
Human beings have an inalienable right to invent themselves.

Human beings have an inalienable right to invent themselves.

Germaine Greer
Status ought not to be measured by a woman's ability to attract and snare a man.

Status ought not to be measured by a woman's ability to attract and snare a man.

Germaine Greer
I find that those men who are personally most polite to women, who call them angels and all that, cherish in secret the greatest contempt for them.

I find that those men who are personally most polite to women, who call them angels and all that, cherish in secret the greatest contempt for them.

Germaine Greer
Those miserable women who blame the men who let them down for their misery and isolation enact every day the initial mistake of sacrificing their personal responsibility for themselves.

Those miserable women who blame the men who let them down for their misery and isolation enact every day the initial mistake of sacrificing their personal responsibility for themselves.

Germaine Greer
...the consequences of militancy do not disappear when the need for militancy is over. Freedom is fragile and must be protected. To sacrifice it, even as a temporary measure, is to betray it.

...the consequences of militancy do not disappear when the need for militancy is over. Freedom is fragile and must be protected. To sacrifice it, even as a temporary measure, is to betray it.

Germaine Greer

Women live lives of continual apology. They are born and raised to take the blame for other people's behavior. If they are treated without respect, they tell themselves that they have failed to earn respect. If their husbands do not fancy them, it is because they are unattractive.

Germaine Greer
Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It has no mother.

Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It has no mother.

Germaine Greer
I didn't fight to get women out from behind vacuum cleaners to get them onto the board of Hoover.

I didn't fight to get women out from behind vacuum cleaners to get them onto the board of Hoover.

Germaine Greer
Every human body has its optimum weight and contour, which only health and efficiency can establish. Whenever we treat women's bodies as aesthetic objects without function we deform them.

Every human body has its optimum weight and contour, which only health and efficiency can establish. Whenever we treat women's bodies as aesthetic objects without function we deform them.

Germaine Greer
If you think you are emancipated, you might consider the idea of tasting your own menstrual blood - if it makes you sick, you've got a long way to go, baby.

If you think you are emancipated, you might consider the idea of tasting your own menstrual blood - if it makes you sick, you've got a long way to go, baby.

Germaine Greer
A housewife's work has no results: it simply has to be done again. Bringing up children is not a real occupation, because children come up just the same, brought up or not.

A housewife's work has no results: it simply has to be done again. Bringing up children is not a real occupation, because children come up just the same, brought up or not.

Germaine Greer
Gillard is as likeable as Rudd is charmless. She is self-deprecating; he is ludicrously vainglorious. She is a mistress of understatement; he is a ranter.

Gillard is as likeable as Rudd is charmless. She is self-deprecating; he is ludicrously vainglorious. She is a mistress of understatement; he is a ranter.

Germaine Greer
The patterns of gratification are simple, and seem to fall into two patterns, the Great Bitch and the Poison Maiden.

The patterns of gratification are simple, and seem to fall into two patterns, the Great Bitch and the Poison Maiden.

Germaine Greer
The occupational hazard of being a Playboy Bunny is the aching facial muscles brought on by obligatory smiles.

The occupational hazard of being a Playboy Bunny is the aching facial muscles brought on by obligatory smiles.

Germaine Greer
If she is efficient and capable or ambitious, it is assumed that she has failed to find satisfaction as a normal woman, even to the extent of implying a glandular abnormality or sexual perversion.

If she is efficient and capable or ambitious, it is assumed that she has failed to find satisfaction as a normal woman, even to the extent of implying a glandular abnormality or sexual perversion.

Germaine Greer
Above all, for his merciless, contemptuous treatment of Clifford Chatterley, blown to bits in Flanders in 1918, Lawrence can be damned to hell. Damned but not banned.

Above all, for his merciless, contemptuous treatment of Clifford Chatterley, blown to bits in Flanders in 1918, Lawrence can be damned to hell. Damned but not banned.

Germaine Greer
It was not until much later when, after a deep and satisfying orgasm, I suddenly realised the true meaning of the fairy tale and the nature of the magic kiss of which it speaks.

It was not until much later when, after a deep and satisfying orgasm, I suddenly realised the true meaning of the fairy tale and the nature of the magic kiss of which it speaks.

Germaine Greer
The essence of pleasure is spontaneity.

The essence of pleasure is spontaneity.

Germaine Greer
Men are the enemy in much the same way that some crazed boy in uniform was the enemy of another like him in most respects except the uniform. One possible tactic is to try to get the uniforms off.

Men are the enemy in much the same way that some crazed boy in uniform was the enemy of another like him in most respects except the uniform. One possible tactic is to try to get the uniforms off.

Germaine Greer
Guilt is one side of a nasty triangle; the other two are shame and stigma. This grim coalition combines to inculpate women themselves of the crimes committed against them.

Guilt is one side of a nasty triangle; the other two are shame and stigma. This grim coalition combines to inculpate women themselves of the crimes committed against them.

Germaine Greer
It [childbearing] was never intended to be as time-consuming and self-conscious a process as it is. One of the deepest evils in our society is tyrannical nurturance.

It [childbearing] was never intended to be as time-consuming and self-conscious a process as it is. One of the deepest evils in our society is tyrannical nurturance.

Germaine Greer
We can only afford two children' is a squalid argument, but more acceptable in our society than 'we don't like children'.

We can only afford two children' is a squalid argument, but more acceptable in our society than 'we don't like children'.

Germaine Greer
It is agreed that 'girls take more bringing up' than boys: what that really means is that girls must be more relentlessly supervised and repressed if the desired result is to ensue.

It is agreed that 'girls take more bringing up' than boys: what that really means is that girls must be more relentlessly supervised and repressed if the desired result is to ensue.

Germaine Greer
Sexual religion is the opiate of the supermenial.

Sexual religion is the opiate of the supermenial.

Germaine Greer