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If woman had no existence save in the fiction written by men, one would imagine her a person of the utmost importance (...); as great as a man, some think even greater. But this is woman in fiction. In fact, as Professor Trevelyan points out [in his History of England], she was locked up, beaten and flung about the room.

— Virginia Woolf

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More quotes by Virginia Woolf

I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.

A Room of One's Own (1929)

Fiction is like a spider's web, attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners.

A Room of One's Own (1929)

If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.

The Moment and Other Essays (1948)

The beauty of the world which is so soon to perish, has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder.

A Room of One's Own (1929)

As long as she thinks of a man, nobody objects to a woman thinking.

Orlando: A Biography (1928)

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