15 Quotes & Sayings By Harriet Martineau

Harriet Martineau (1776-1859) was a British social reformer and author, who was known for her books investigating society and the institutions of marriage and the family. She was one of the first writers to address questions of race relations in the United States.

1
There have been few things in my life which have had a more genial effect on my mind than the possession of a piece of land Harriet Martineau
2
[Americans] have realized many things for which the rest of the world is still struggling...[yet] the civilization and the morals of the Americans fall far below their own principles. Harriet Martineau
3
Happiness consists in the full employment of our faculties in some pursuit. Harriet Martineau
4
It is characteristic of genius to be hopeful and aspiring. Harriet Martineau
5
Who is apt on occasion to assign a multitude of reasons when one will do? This is a sure sign of weakness in argument. Harriet Martineau
6
You had better live your best and act your best and think your best today for today is the sure preparation for tomorrow and all the other tomorrows that follow. Harriet Martineau
7
A soul occupied with great ideas performs small duties. Harriet Martineau
8
But is it not the fact that religion emanates from the nature, from the moral state of the individual? Is it not therefore true that unless the nature be completely exercised, the moral state harmonized, the religion cannot be healthy? Harriet Martineau
9
Religion is a temper, not a pursuit. Harriet Martineau
10
Any one must see at a glance that if men and women marry those whom they do not love, they must love those whom they do not marry. Harriet Martineau
11
The sum and substance of female education in America, as in England, is training women to consider marriage as the sole object in life, and to pretend that they do not think so. Harriet Martineau
12
You had better live your best and act your best and think your best today for today is the sure preparation for tomorrow and all the other tomorrows that follow. Harriet Martineau
13
It is my deliberate opinion that the one essential requisite of human welfare in all ways is scientific knowledge of human nature. Harriet Martineau
14
If a test of civilization be sought, none can be so sure as the condition of that half of society over which the other half has power. Harriet Martineau