1001Philosophers

Margaret Fuller Quotes

Margaret Fuller was a 19th-century American journalist, critic, and women's rights advocate, the first major figure of American feminist political thought and a central figure of the Transcendentalist movement. She edited The Dial, the principal Transcendentalist journal, from 1840 to 1842, and served as the literary critic of the New-York Tribune from 1844, becoming the first full-time book reviewer in American journalism. The quotes below are attributed to Margaret Fuller, organized by topic.

Margaret Fuller on Freedom

  • Attributed to Margaret Fuller:

    “Let them be sea-captains, if you will.”

  • Attributed to Margaret Fuller:

    “What woman needs is not as a woman to act or rule, but as a nature to grow, as an intellect to discern, as a soul to live freely and unimpeded.”

Margaret Fuller on Knowledge

  • Attributed to Margaret Fuller:

    “If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.”

  • Attributed to Margaret Fuller:

    “Genius will live and thrive without training, but it does not the less reward the watering pot.”

  • Attributed to Margaret Fuller:

    “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.”

Margaret Fuller on Life

  • Attributed to Margaret Fuller:

    “Men for the sake of getting a living forget to live.”

Margaret Fuller on Love

  • Attributed to Margaret Fuller:

    “We need not give up our peculiarities, our characteristic differences, in order to be one.”

Margaret Fuller on Virtue

  • Attributed to Margaret Fuller:

    “Beware of over-great pleasure in being popular or even beloved.”

Read all Margaret Fuller quotes on Virtue