Annie Besant Quotes

Annie Besant was a prominent British social reformer, feminist, and theosophist. She advocated for women's rights, workers' rights, and education reform. Besant played a crucial role in the trade union movement and was actively involved in Indian independence efforts. As a theosophist, she sought to promote spiritual and philosophical teachings that emphasized universal brotherhood and the pursuit of knowledge. Besant's tireless activism and intellectual contributions made her a significant figure in social and philosophical discourse during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Muhammadan law in its relation to women, is a pattern to European law. Look back to the history of Islam, and you will find that women have often taken leading places - on the throne, in the battle-field, in politics, in literature, poetry, etc.

I have ever been the queerest mixture of weakness and strength, and have paid heavily for the weakness.

The soul grows by reincarnation in bodies provided by nature, more complex, more powerful, as the soul unfolds greater and greater faculties. And so the soul climbs upward into the light eternal. And there is no fear for any child of man, for inevitably he climbs towards God.

A myth is far truer than a history, for a history only gives a story of the shadows, whereas a myth gives a story of the substances that cast the shadows.

Quick condemnation of all that is not ours, of views with which we disagree, of ideas that do not attract us, is the sign of a narrow mind, of an uncultivated intelligence. Bigotry is always ignorant, and the wise boy, who will become the wise man, tries to understand and to see the truth in ideas with which he does not agree.

Strange indeed would it be if all the space around us be empty, mere waste void, and the inhabitants of Earth the only forms in which intelligence could clothe itself.

Refusal to believe until proof is given is a rational position; denial of all outside of our own limited experience is absurd.

Debating clubs among boys are very useful, not only as affording pleasant meetings and interesting discussions, but also as serving for training grounds for developing the knowledge and the qualities that are needed in public life.

There is far more misunderstanding of Islam than there is, I think, of the other religions of the world. So many things are said of it by those who do not belong to that faith.

What is a philosophy? It Is an answer satisfactory to the reason to all the great problems of life. That is what is meant by philosophy. It must satisfy the reason, and it must show the unity underlying the endless diversity of the facts that science observes.

A people can prosper under a very bad government and suffer under a very good one, if in the first case the local administration is effective and in the second it is inefficient.

Men are at every stage of evolution, from the most barbarous to the most developed; men are found of lofty intelligence, but also of the most unevolved mentality; in one place there is a highly developed and complex civilisation, in another a crude and simple polity.

I was a wife and mother, blameless in moral life, with a deep sense of duty and a proud self-respect; it was while I was this that doubt struck me, and while I was in the guarded circle of the home, with no dream of outside work or outside liberty, that I lost all faith in Christianity.

What, after all, is the object of education? To train the body in health, vigor and grace, so that it may express the emotions in beauty and the mind with accuracy and strength.

The true basis of morality is utility; that is, the adaptation of our actions to the promotion of the general welfare and happiness; the endeavour so to rule our lives that we may serve and bless mankind.

Beauty is no dead thing. It is the manifestation of God in nature. There is not one object in nature untouched by man that is not beautiful, for God's manifestation is beauty. It shines through all His works, and not only in those that may give pleasure to man.

India is a country in which every great religion f... -Annie Besant

India is a country in which every great religion finds a home.

Discovering the context

This quote highlights the cultural diversity and religious inclusivity of India. It suggests that India serves as a welcoming and embracing nation that provides a space for various religions to coexist and thrive, emphasizing India's reputation as a land where multiple religious traditions have flourished throughout history.

It is not monogamy when there is one legal wife, a... -Annie Besant

It is not monogamy when there is one legal wife, and mistresses out of sight.

Discovering the context

This quote suggests that the speaker does not consider a relationship to be truly monogamous when a person has a legally recognized wife but also maintains mistresses in secret. It implies a perspective that monogamy involves exclusivity and fidelity, and any extramarital relationships undermine the true essence of monogamous commitment.

Among the various vernaculars that are spoken in different parts of India, there is one that stands out strongly from the rest, as that which is most widely known. It is Hindi. A man who knows Hindi can travel over India and find everywhere Hindi-speaking people.

There can be no wise politics without thought befo... -Annie Besant

There can be no wise politics without thought beforehand.

Discovering the context

The quote emphasizes the importance of thoughtful deliberation and planning in politics, suggesting that wise political decisions require careful consideration and foresight.

Death consists, indeed, in a repeated process of unrobing, or unsheathing. The immortal part of man shakes off from itself, one after the other, its outer casings, and - as the snake from its skin, the butterfly from its chrysalis - emerges from one after another, passing into a higher state of consciousness.

There is much, of course, in the exclusive claims of Christianity which make it hostile to other faiths.

After death we live for some time in the astral world in the astral body used during our life on earth, and the more we learn to control and use it wisely now the better for us after death.

Man is a spiritual intelligence, who has taken flesh with the object of gaining experience in worlds below the spiritual, in order that he may be able to master and to rule them, and in later ages take his place in the creative and directing hierarchies of the universe.

Sun-worship and pure forms of nature-worship were, in their day, noble religions, highly allegorical but full of profound truth and knowledge.

Annie Besant Quotes

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