Freedom is for man alone—woman must ever seek a protector, since nature made her incapable to defend herself.
 Walter Scott, Quentin Durward (1823). copy citation

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Author Walter Scott
Source Quentin Durward
Topic freedom women
Date 1823
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7853/7853-h/7853-h.htm

Context

“, want, are all Summ'd up within the name of thrall.” [from Barbour's Bruce] She listened with a melancholy smile to her guide's tirade in praise of liberty, and then answered, after a moment's pause. “Freedom is for man alone—woman must ever seek a protector, since nature made her incapable to defend herself. And where am I to find one?—In that voluptuary Edward of England—in the inebriated Wenceslaus of Germany—in Scotland?—Ah, Durward, were I your sister, and could you promise me shelter in some of those mountain glens which you love to describe where, for charity, or for the few jewels I have preserved, I might lead an unharrassed life, and forget the lot I was born to—could you promise me the protection of some honoured matron of the land—of some baron whose heart was as true as his sword—that were indeed a prospect, for which it were worth the risk of farther censure to wander farther and wider.”” source