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Amanda Foreman Quotes
Amanda Foreman Quotes
Amanda Foreman
British
Historian
Born:
1968
Book
People
War
Women
Years
You
Related authors:
A. J. P. Taylor
Antony Beevor
Arnold J. Toynbee
Arthur Helps
C. Northcote Parkinson
Linda Colley
Norman Davies
Simon Schama
For women, Neo-Confucianism placed extra emphasis on chastity, obedience, and diligence. A good wife should have no desire other than to serve her husband, no ambition other than to produce a son, and no interest beyond subjugating herself to her husband's family - meaning, among other things, she must never remarry if widowed.
Amanda Foreman
Good
Family
Obedience
Son
Women
Wife
Husband
Ambition
Extra
Other
Herself
Diligence
Must
No Desire
No Interest
Chastity
Never
Good Wife
Emphasis
Beyond
She
Than
Interest
Placed
Meaning
Produce
Should
Serve
Among
Her
Things
Desire
Widowed
When I read the news that Wonder Woman was going to be resurrected for a blockbuster movie in 2016, 'Batman vs. Superman', it made me excited - and anxious. Would the producers give her a role as fierce as her origins - and maybe some shoulder straps - or would she just be cartoon eye candy?
Amanda Foreman
News
Me
Woman
Made
Superman
Just Be
Batman
Eye
Would
Cartoon
Some
Give
Excited
She
Read
Blockbuster
Wonder
Wonder Woman
Role
Anxious
Going
Maybe
Just
Candy
Movie
Fierce
Producers
Shoulder
Origins
Her
The creators of Wonder Woman had no interest in proving an actual link to the past. In some parts of the academic world, however, the historical existence of the Amazons, or any matriarchal society, has long been a raging issue.
Amanda Foreman
Woman
World
Long
Past
Society
Some
No Interest
Had
Academic
Parts
Issue
However
Been
Existence
Historical
Proving
Link
Wonder
Wonder Woman
Any
Interest
Raging
Creators
Actual
When I read 'The Master', I felt that I had read a true classic. It's so rare nowadays that you have that feeling: it was a privilege to read it.
Amanda Foreman
You
Rare
Feeling
Master
Nowadays
Classic
Had
True
Read
Felt
Privilege
I think that once you become a parent, you cease to think of yourself as a hero or heroine.
Amanda Foreman
You
Yourself
Hero
Become
Think
Heroine
Once
Parent
Cease
When I was in my twenties, I strongly identified with Jane Austen's 'Emma' - her human failings mixed with a desire to do good.
Amanda Foreman
Good
Strongly
Failings
Identified
Mixed
Austen
Human
Jane
Twenties
Her
Desire
I was a graduate student at Oxford when I discovered Georgiana.
Amanda Foreman
Student
Discovered
Graduate
Graduate Student
Oxford
We moved around so much when I was young. I was very shy, so shy that I would walk across the street if I saw someone I knew rather than deal with talking to them.
Amanda Foreman
Walk
Young
Saw
Would
Someone
Rather
Knew
Talking
Around
Deal
Very
Than
Moved
Them
Much
Across
Street
Shy
Despite the ever-increasing financial pressures experienced by writers and the ever-decreasing space afforded by the media to books, writers are still willing to aim for quality and to take risks.
Amanda Foreman
Risks
Quality
Financial
Space
Aim
Despite
Books
Pressures
Willing
Take
Writers
Still
Afforded
Experienced
Media
Political correctness may make for smooth edges, but it does little for the imagination and nothing for the arts. Writers work best when they are exploring at the outer limits of what is traditional, acceptable, or conventional.
Amanda Foreman
Work
Best
Political
Nothing
Imagination
Correctness
Outer
Writers
Make
Edges
Acceptable
Does
Smooth
Limits
Traditional
Political Correctness
May
Arts
Conventional
Little
Exploring
It isn't enough for a book to be transporting or entertaining; it must also come from a place of knowledge and an understanding of aesthetics. Even where a longlisted book wears its craftsmanship lightly, the power of the writing shines through.
Amanda Foreman
Knowledge
Book
Writing
Power
Understanding
Enough
Must
Entertaining
Wears
Through
Lightly
Come
Also
Aesthetic
Shines
Craftsmanship
Where
Place
Transporting
Even
When women do take on traditionally male subjects, certain male colleagues can seem affronted that a woman has dared to trespass on their subject. I could given you dozens of examples, but here's one: Max Hastings's review in the 'Sunday Times' in 2009 of Miranda Carter's book 'The Three Emperors'.
Amanda Foreman
You
Woman
Women
Book
Sunday
Three
Dared
Colleagues
Carter
Seem
Examples
Given
Could
Take
Male
Subject
Review
Subjects
Times
Max
Certain
Dozens
Here
The most famous line in gastronomic history, 'Let them eat cake', turns out to have been an eighteenth-century cliche. According to Antonia Fraser, the French accused every foreign queen of saying it, beginning in 1670 with the wife of Louis XIV, Marie Theresa.
Amanda Foreman
Saying
History
Queen
Cake
Wife
Beginning
Every
Out
Eat
Most
French
Cliche
Foreign
Line
Been
According
Louis
Accused
Famous
Them
Turns
Theresa
Marie
Marie-Antoinette was born in 1755, the youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and Emperor Francis I. She was intelligent and artistic but devoid of the ambition or calculation required to survive in the fetid atmosphere of the French court. In many ways, her character was not unlike that of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Amanda Foreman
Character
Queen
Daughter
Ambition
Unlike
Francis
Ways
Born
Atmosphere
Mary
Emperor
Calculation
Devoid
French
She
Court
Austria
Intelligent
Survive
Artistic
To Survive
Required
Youngest
Many
Theresa
Her
Maria
With every generation comes a new wave of hopefuls: small-town escapees, European refugees, disaffected Londoners.
Amanda Foreman
Generation
Every
Wave
New
Refugees
European
It might sound strange to describe New Yorkers as insecure when they delight so much in the cult of success. The display of wealth here, especially new wealth, is indeed wonderfully frank, from the super-long limousines which clog up the roads to the voluptuous fur coats that adorn both men and women.
Amanda Foreman
Success
Strange
Women
Wealth
Men
Men And Women
Fur
Indeed
Frank
Insecure
Both
Both Men And Women
Adorn
Delight
Roads
Voluptuous
New
Sound
Cult
Up
Clog
Wonderfully
New Yorkers
Which
Might
Much
Coats
Describe
Display
Here
'The Marriage of Souls', like 'The Rationalist', is an exploration of humanist philosophy wrapped between the delicate leaves of an eighteenth-century tale. The story of the two novels - and they should be read as a two-volume work - centres around the old war-horse of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl. But what a boy and what a girl.
Amanda Foreman
Work
Marriage
Old
Girl
Meets
Philosophy
Finds
Wrapped
Delicate
Between
Tale
Like
Read
Around
Boy
Souls
Leaves
Loses
Story
Should
Exploration
Novels
Humanist
Two
George III's ability to step in and out of his role fed stories of commoners chancing upon a sturdy gentleman by the wayside who later turned out to be the king.
Amanda Foreman
King
Gentleman
Later
Wayside
Out
Ability
Fed
Step
George
His
Role
Stories
Turned
Who
A small foot in China, no different from a tiny waist in Victorian England, represented the height of female refinement. For families with marriageable daughters, foot size translated into its own form of currency and a means of achieving upward mobility. The most desirable bride possessed a three-inch foot, known as a 'golden lotus.'
Amanda Foreman
Own
Possessed
Small
Daughters
Foot
Most
Known
Female
Waist
Mobility
Refinement
Lotus
Families
Currency
Tiny
Golden
Different
Size
Achieving
Form
Upward
Upward Mobility
China
Victorian
Height
Translated
Means
England
Bride
Desirable
In 1874, Mary Fraser accompanied her husband Hugh to Hong Kong, arriving hours after a typhoon had wrecked the island. Some 10,000 boat families had drowned in the harbour. There was no way to avoid the bloated bodies, and when Mary disembarked, she felt her foot land on something soft.
Amanda Foreman
Husband
Hong Kong
Way
Some
Wrecked
Something
Mary
Foot
Had
Drowned
Hours
She
Felt
Island
Kong
Bloated
Accompanied
Arriving
Families
Hugh
After
Boat
Land
Bodies
Harbour
Avoid
Her
Soft
The photograph of the Queen sitting stiffly across the table from Glasgow resident Susan McCarron is so natural and expressive that it looks utterly fake. It looks like an artist's portrait, complete with symbolism, humour and poignancy. No wonder the palace and the press have interpreted it in such different ways.
Amanda Foreman
Natural
Queen
Humour
Complete
Press
Ways
Photograph
Table
Poignancy
No Wonder
Glasgow
Like
Looks
Fake
Wonder
Susan
Sitting
Artist
Different
Across
Different Ways
Palace
Expressive
Resident
Utterly
Portrait
Interpreted
Symbolism
Contrary to popular belief, Henry VIII did not divorce any of his wives. He had sought an annulment from Catherine of Aragon - which he finally awarded to himself after the pope's continued refusal. When it came to Anne's turn, Henry took the easy route by having her found guilty of treason.
Amanda Foreman
Took
Finally
Guilty
Easy
Having
Had
He
Divorce
Anne
Catherine
Himself
Sought
Wives
Came
Continue
His
Contrary
Did
Any
Refusal
After
Which
Turn
Pope
Popular
Belief
Awarded
Found
Henry
Route
Her
Treason
In 1961, an official U.S. commission oversaw thousands of events to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the American Civil War. All 50 states joined in, but not surprisingly, the biggest events took place in the 11 southern states that made up the defeated Confederacy.
Amanda Foreman
War
Celebrate
Events
Made
Took
States
Thousands
Civil
Civil War
Joined
Anniversary
Surprisingly
Up
Southern
Confederacy
Southern States
American
Commission
Official
Biggest
Place
Defeated
What makes 'The Marriage of Souls' such a wonderful book is Collins's intricate reconstruction of the late eighteenth-century world. Simplicity and philosophy are the hallmarks of eighteenth-century art and architecture. The classically pure lines look deceptively simple and unburdened by heavy symbolism or imagery.
Amanda Foreman
Art
Marriage
Book
Architecture
Wonderful
World
Simple
Simplicity
Pure
Late
Philosophy
Intricate
Reconstruction
Collins
Look
Makes
Souls
Lines
Heavy
Imagery
Symbolism
For people like me, who have got their flags and wars mixed up, I think it should be pointed out that there may have been only one War of 1812, but there are four distinct versions of it - the American, the British, the Canadian, and the Native American.
Amanda Foreman
War
Me
People
Think
Distinct
Out
Only
Pointed
Like
Got
Mixed
Been
Versions
Up
Canadian
American
Flags
May
Native
Native American
Should
Who
Wars
Four
British
I want my children to see what all my work leads to.
Amanda Foreman
Work
All My Work
See
Leads
Children
Want
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