Thwarted Ambition Quotes

“Sarah had come into service here at Queen Street following the death of her parents, the local minister finding this position for her as he was an old friend of Dr. Simpson. Her premature departure from the parish school had no doubt been a relief to her schoolmaster, who was becoming increasingly wearied by her arguments regarding her exclusion from subject deemed suited only to boys, such as Classics and mathematics. He was convinced that her grasp of reading, writing, and arithmetic was sufficient for a girl of her station, insisting that knitting and sewing would be of more use to her and would open up the possibility of industrial work in the future. As though a factory job or work in a mill should be the culmination of all her ambition. If one was capable of carrying out a task or learning a body of knowledge, then why should it matter whether one be male or female? Her fury at this injustice had cooled little since.”
― Ambrose Parry, The Way of All Flesh