Ida Tarbell, All in the Day's Work (1939)
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I had always resented the pains that militant suffragists took to belittle the work that woman had done in the past in the world, picturing her as a meek and prostrate "doormat." They refused, I felt, to pay proper credit to the fine social and economic work that women had done in the building of America. And in 1909, after we took over the American Magazine, I burst out with a series of studies of leading American women from the Revolution to the Civil War, including such stalwarts as Mercy Warren, Abigail Adams, Esther Reed, Mary Lyon, Catharine Beecher, the fighting antislavery leaders-not omitting two for whom I had warm admiration, if I was not in entire agreement with them, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

— Ida Tarbell

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "I had always resented the pains that militant suffragists took to belittle the work that woman had done in the past in the world, picturing her as a meek and prostrate "doormat." They refused, I felt, to pay proper credit to the fine social and economic work that women had done in the building of America. And in 1909, after we took over the American Magazine, I burst out with a series of studies of leading American women from the Revolution to the Civil War, including such stalwarts as Mercy Warren, Abigail Adams, Esther Reed, Mary Lyon, Catharine Beecher, the fighting antislavery leaders-not omitting two for whom I had warm admiration, if I was not in entire agreement with them, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony." in the context of "Ida Tarbell, All in the Day's Work (1939)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Abigail Adams" (Quotes about Abigail Adams) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Abigail Adams

About Abigail Adams

Abigail Smith Adams (November 11, 1744 – October 28, 1818) was the wife of John Adams, the second president of the United States, and is retrospectively perceived as the second First Lady of the United States; the term was not coined until after she had died. She was also the mother of John Quincy Adams.