--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: … as we submit to be dressed like dolls…" description: "\"“… as we submit to be dressed like dolls, we never can rise to the stations of duty and usefulness from which they desire to exclude us; and they are w..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/279/sarah-grimke-101397_conformity_as-we-submit-to-be-dressed-like-dolls-we_1989826.jpg" --- # … as we submit to be dressed like dolls, we never can rise… ![“… as we submit to be dressed like dolls, we never can rise to the stations of duty and usefulness from which they desire to exclude us; and they are willing to grant us paltry indulgences, which forward their own design of keeping us out of our appropriate sphere, while they deprive us of…” quote by Sarah Grimké](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/279/sarah-grimke-101397_conformity_as-we-submit-to-be-dressed-like-dolls-we_1989826.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/279/sarah-grimke-101397_conformity_as-we-submit-to-be-dressed-like-dolls-we_1989826.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/279/sarah-grimke-101397_conformity_as-we-submit-to-be-dressed-like-dolls-we_1989826.jpg) > ““… as we submit to be dressed like dolls, we never can rise to the stations of duty and usefulness from which they desire to exclude us; and they are willing to grant us paltry indulgences, which forward their own design of keeping us out of our appropriate sphere, while they deprive us of essential rights. here are few things which present greater obstacles to the improvement and elevation of woman to her appropriate sphere of usefulness and duty, than the laws which have been enacted to destroy her independence, and crush her individuality; laws which, although they are framed for her government, she has had no voice in establishing, and which rob her of some of her essential rights.”” Sarah Grimké ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Societal laws and norms restrict women's autonomy, limiting their freedom and individuality. **In simple terms:** Laws limit women's independence. Key Takeaway Advocate for equitable rights. Themes gender equality law freedom individuality social justice Mood determined serious Type advice analysis When to use this quote - legal reforms - activism - education programs Key Concepts feminist theory political philosophy human rights Questions to Reflect On - What legal changes would most empower women? - How can individuals challenge oppressive norms? A Different Perspective Change can be slow and face resistance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Conformity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conformity/) [Dress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dress/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Inequality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inequality/) [Responsibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/responsibility/) ## Related quotes > [As a political tool, the laws are like two-edged knives. Draconian laws can cause untold sufferings to the people. Loosely worded laws framed without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-joseph-benziger/as-a-political-tool-the-laws-are-like-two-edged-knives-draconian-laws/) [T Joseph Benziger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-joseph-benziger/) > [All laws which can be violated without doing any one any injury are laughed at. Nay, so far are they from doing anything to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baruch-spinoza/all-laws-which-can-be-violated-without-doing-any-one-any-injury-are/) [Baruch Spinoza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baruch-spinoza/) > [The thing to keep in mind is that laws are framed by those who happen to be in power and for the purpose of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-thing-to-keep-in-mind-is-that-laws-are-framed-by-those-who-happen/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Parenthetically, I have to say, I don't particularly like dolls, nor have I ever liked them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-simmons/parenthetically-i-have-to-say-i-don-t-particularly-like-dolls-nor/) [Laurie Simmons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-simmons/) > [ The challenge has always been to wrest emotion out of a \[doll's\] face that we think of as only having one emotion. It's moving… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-simmons/the-challenge-has-always-been-to-wrest-emotion-out-of-a-doll-s-face/) [Laurie Simmons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-simmons/) > [I should say I am far more cleverer than any of the people who put me here. As a matter of fact, I could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grant-morrison/i-should-say-i-am-far-more-cleverer-than-any-of-the-people-who-put-me/) [Grant Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grant-morrison/) > [Statues are too much like dolls, and dolls are creepy. You keep expecting them to blink. And the ones that smile, like this?" Eve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/statues-are-too-much-like-dolls-and-dolls-are-creepy-you-keep/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“It’s hard to feel alone when you’re me, sometimes. Sometimes even the houses crowd me in. I can imagine the people in them, still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-ewell/it-s-hard-to-feel-alone-when-you-re-me-sometimes-sometimes-even-the/) [Katherine Ewell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-ewell/) > [“To Amalie people were like dolls.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willow-rose/to-amalie-people-were-like-dolls/) [Willow Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willow-rose/) > [“People?" As though she'd never heard of such a thing. "They're like dolls. Plastic and shiny and fake.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dia-reeves/people-as-though-she-d-never-heard-of-such-a-thing-they-re-like-dolls/) [Dia Reeves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dia-reeves/) > [If sex were all, then every trembling hand Could make us squeak, like dolls, the wished-for words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/if-sex-were-all-then-every-trembling-hand-could-make-us-squeak-like/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [To me synchronised swimming is a metaphor for the job of being a girl. They have to fake their smiles, they're made up like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/celine-sciamma/to-me-synchronised-swimming-is-a-metaphor-for-the-job-of-being-a-girl/) [Celine Sciamma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/celine-sciamma/) > [“They weren’t like dolls, because dolls had no feelings. Kids had feelings, just not any remotely related to yours.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-lipsyte/they-weren-t-like-dolls-because-dolls-had-no-feelings-kids-had/) [Sam Lipsyte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-lipsyte/) > [What we ask is to be human individuals, however peculiar and unexpected. It is no good saying: "You are a little girl and therefore…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-l-sayers/what-we-ask-is-to-be-human-individuals-however-peculiar-and/) [Dorothy L. Sayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-l-sayers/) > [Girls for me are like dolls, when you're finish playing with them, just leave them somewhere. Well, Real men don't play dolls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franc/girls-for-me-are-like-dolls-when-you-re-finish-playing-with-them-just/) Franc ## More by Sarah Grimké > [“Whatsoever it is morally right for a man to do, it is morally right for a woman to do. She is clothed by her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-grimke/whatsoever-it-is-morally-right-for-a-man-to-do-it-is-morally-right-2/) Sarah Grimke Explore all 2 Sarah Grimké quotes ## More Conformity quotes > [“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned by a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-supertramp-chris-mccandless/so-many-people-live-within-unhappy-circumstances-and-yet-will-not/) Alexander Supertramp Chris McCandless > [“All to often, on the long road up, young leaders become servants of what is rather than shapers of what might be.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gardner/all-to-often-on-the-long-road-up-young-leaders-become-servants-of/) [John Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gardner/) > [The Chains of conformity click in tiresomely monotonous unison.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-sweet/the-chains-of-conformity-click-in-tiresomely-monotonous-unison/) [Leonard Sweet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-sweet/) > [No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/no-shepherd-and-one-herd-everybody-wants-the-same-everybody-is-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [A self is a frightening thing to waste, it's the lens through which one's whole life is viewed, and few people are willing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/a-self-is-a-frightening-thing-to-waste-it-s-the-lens-through-which/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [Ideation is not a synonym for innovation, conformity is not its simple antonym, and innovation is not the automatic consequence of "creative thinking.".](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-levitt/ideation-is-not-a-synonym-for-innovation-conformity-is-not-its-simple/) [Theodore Levitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-levitt/) > [“I lead with the knowingness that my reality conforms to my wishes and desires instantly.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-s-baker/i-lead-with-the-knowingness-that-my-reality-conforms-to-my-wishes-and/) [Robin S. Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-s-baker/) > [Alas, everything that men say to one another is alike; the ideas they exchange are almost always the same, in their conversation. But inside…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-de-musset/alas-everything-that-men-say-to-one-another-is-alike-the-ideas-they/) [Alfred de Musset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-de-musset/) > [The search for truth is a cooperative, unending endeavor. We can, and should, engage in it to the extent we can and encourage others…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-search-for-truth-is-a-cooperative-unending-endeavor-we-can-and/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [Seeds have the power to preserve species, to enhance cultural as well as genetic diversity, to counter economic monopoly and to check the advance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-pollan/seeds-have-the-power-to-preserve-species-to-enhance-cultural-as-well/) [Michael Pollan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-pollan/) > [“Brontë was attempting to depict a character that adheres to the unchanging principles of her faith though she refused conformity to the particular practices…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-swallow-prior/bront-was-attempting-to-depict-a-character-that-adheres-to-the/) [Karen Swallow Prior](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-swallow-prior/) > [Officers conditioned to conformity in peacetime cannot be expected to behave boldly and flexibly in combat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-yingling/officers-conditioned-to-conformity-in-peacetime-cannot-be-expected-to/) Paul Yingling > [The more civilized a nation, the more conformed its population, until that civilization's last age arrives, when multiplicity wages war with conformity. The former…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-erikson/the-more-civilized-a-nation-the-more-conformed-its-population-until/) [Steven Erikson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-erikson/) > [Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/society-everywhere-is-in-conspiracy-against-the-manhood-of-every-one/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Deaths, births, and marriages, considering how much they are separately dependent on the freedom of the human will, should seem to be subject to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/immanuel-kant/deaths-births-and-marriages-considering-how-much-they-are-separately/) [Immanuel Kant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/immanuel-kant/) [Browse all 937 Conformity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conformity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“… as we submit to be dressed like dolls, we never can rise to the stations of duty and usefulness from which they desire to exclude us; and they are willing to grant us paltry indulgences, which forward their own design of keeping us out of our appropriate sphere, while they deprive us of essential rights. here are few things which present greater obstacles to the improvement and elevation of woman to her appropriate sphere of usefulness and duty, than the laws which have been enacted to destroy her independence, and crush her individuality; laws which, although they are framed for her government, she has had no voice in establishing, and which rob her of some of her essential rights.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sarah Grimké" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-grimke/as-we-submit-to-be-dressed-like-dolls-we-never-can-rise-to-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Conformity" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-grimke/as-we-submit-to-be-dressed-like-dolls-we-never-can-rise-to-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/279/sarah-grimke-101397_conformity_as-we-submit-to-be-dressed-like-dolls-we_1989826.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/279/sarah-grimke-101397_conformity_as-we-submit-to-be-dressed-like-dolls-we_1989826.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/279/sarah-grimke-101397_conformity_as-we-submit-to-be-dressed-like-dolls-we_1989826.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“… as we submit to be dressed like dolls, we never can rise to the stations of duty and usefulness from which…” — Sarah Grimké", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Sarah Grimké", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-grimke/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“… as we submit to be...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-grimke/as-we-submit-to-be-dressed-like-dolls-we-never-can-rise-to-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-grimke/as-we-submit-to-be-dressed-like-dolls-we-never-can-rise-to-the/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```