Mary Beard

I receive something we might euphemistically call an 'inappropriately hostile' response - that is to say, more than fair criticism or even…

— Mary Beard

We have never escaped a certain male cultural desire for women's silence.

— Mary Beard

“defend women’s right to be wrong, at least occasionally.”

— Mary Beard

You don't overturn x-thousand years of patriarchy in a generation.

— Mary Beard

“we have no template for what a powerful woman looks like, except that she looks rather like a man.”

— Mary Beard

“(In the Afghan parliament, apparently, they disconnect the mics when they don’t want to hear the women speak).”

— Mary Beard

I've chosen to be this way because that's how I feel comfortable with myself. That's how I am. It's about joining up…

— Mary Beard

People who exploit others come to spend an enormous amount of energy wondering about and justifying that exploitation.

— Mary Beard

Wherever possible, I try to see things from the other side of the dividing line and to read civilisation 'against the grain.'

— Mary Beard

I remember plastering the kitchen with Black Power pictures of Angela Davis.

— Mary Beard

“thinking about power as an attribute or even a verb (‘to power’), not as a possession.”

— Mary Beard

If women are not perceived to be fully within the structures of power, surely it is power that we need to redefine…

— Mary Beard

When it comes to silencing women, Western culture has had thousands of years of practice.

— Mary Beard

I think that what will help women get into positions of power - well, day nurseries, equal pay, family-friendly working hours. And…

— Mary Beard

“One of its (civilisations) most powerful weapons has always been 'barbarity': 'we' know that 'we' are civilised by contrasting ourselves with those…

— Mary Beard

It's great fun being an academic because you have a certain licence to be a bit of a joker.

— Mary Beard

There is no way, absolutely no way, that I would want people to stop reading the 'Odyssey.' But I want them to…

— Mary Beard

I have lots of heroes and heroines, mostly unsung and including my husband.

— Mary Beard

One of its most powerful weapons has always been 'barbarity': 'we' know that 'we' are civilised by contrasting ourselves with those we…

— Mary Beard

I'm an academic. I argue; I engage with people.

— Mary Beard

However judicious academics may be - not like me - they are all taught to see through crap.

— Mary Beard

What is the role of an academic - no matter what they're teaching - within political debate? It has to be that…

— Mary Beard

I'd quite like to be in Caligula's court - living in the back room somewhere and just being able to observe.

— Mary Beard

When I am making a TV show, I am looking for engagement, not admiration.

— Mary Beard

The reason why the British theatrical tradition is world-leading in Greek drama is because there is a flourishing tradition of people rethinking…

— Mary Beard