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Holmes Said Quote by Virginia Woolf

“Even if they took him, she said, she would go with him. They could not separate them against their wills, she said. Shuffling the edges straight, she did up the papers, and tied the parcel almost without looking, sitting beside him, he thought, as if all her petals were about her. She was a…” quote by Virginia Woolf
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““Even if they took him, she said, she would go with him. They could not separate them against their wills, she said. Shuffling the edges straight, she did up the papers, and tied the parcel almost without looking, sitting beside him, he thought, as if all her petals were about her. She was a flowering tree; and through her branches looked out the face of a lawgiver, who had reached a sanctuary where she feared no one; not Holmes; not Bradshaw; a miracle, a triumph, the last and greatest. Staggering he saw her mount the appalling staircase, laden with Holmes and Bradshaw, men who never weighed less than eleven stone six, who sent their wives to Court, men who made ten thousand a year and talked of proportion; who different in their verdicts (for Holmes said one thing, Bradshaw another), yet judges they were; who mixed the vision and the sideboard; saw nothing clear, yet ruled, yet inflicted. “Must” they said. Over them she triumphed. “There!” she said. The papers were tied up. No one should get at them. She would put them away. And, she said, nothing should separate them. She sat down beside him and called him by the name of that hawk or crow which being malicious and a great destroyer of crops was precisely like him. No one could separate them, she said.””

Virginia Woolf

About This Quote

Source Short story: “The Lawgiver’s Sanctuary”, 1925

A woman fiercely protects her autonomy and defies legal authority, symbolizing personal agency against oppressive structures.

In simple terms: She resists being separated, asserting control

Key Takeaway

Assert personal agency against oppression

Themes

autonomy resistance gender dynamics

Mood

defiant poetic

Type

literary philosophical

When to use this quote

  • courtroom battles
  • personal relationships
  • institutional oppression

Key Concepts

legal authority personal freedom social constraints

Questions to Reflect On

  • What limits does personal defiance face?
  • How can one protect autonomy safely?
A Different Perspective

Her tactics may provoke harsher retaliation

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