Washington Irving on Women

“A woman is more considerate in affairs of love than man; because love is more the study and business of her life.”

“I profess not to know how women's hearts are wooed and won. To me they have always been matters of riddle and admiration.”

“A woman’s whole life is a history of the affections. The heart is her world; it is there her ambition strives for empire; it is there her avarice seeks for hidden treasures. She sends forth her sympathies on adventure; she embarks her whole soul in the traffick of affection; and if shipwrecked, her case is hopeless — for it is a bankruptcy of the heart.”