Mary Beard quotes - page 2

All religions throughout history have been concerned about - and have sometimes fought over - what it means to represent God, and they have found elegant, intriguing, and awkward ways to confront that dilemma. (Mary Beard)
People who exploit others come to spend an enormous amount of energy wondering about and justifying that exploitation. View quote
Mary Beard
There is nothing inherently conservative in the ancient world. View quote
Mary Beard
There's a basic rule of thumb that the more a culture oppresses women, or oppresses anyone, the more culturally preoccupied they are with that. View quote
Mary Beard
One of the downsides of working in antiquity is that you don't have many female voices, but you certainly have a lot of male terror about the potential of women's power. It shows you very clearly that the most oppressive cultures tend to be afraid of those whom they oppress. View quote
Mary Beard
What is the role of an academic - no matter what they're teaching - within political debate? It has to be that they make issues more complicated. The role of the academic is to make everything less simple. View quote
Mary Beard
I have always thought the women's movement traded too much on outrage and not enough on ridicule. View quote
Mary Beard
One of the great things about history is that it sort of isn't a done deal - ever. The historical texts and the historical evidence that you use is always somehow giving you different answers because you're asking it different questions. View quote
Mary Beard
What politicians do is they never get the rhetoric wrong, and the price they pay is they don't speak the truth as they see it. Now, I will speak truth as I see it, and sometimes I don't get the rhetoric right. I think that's a fair trade-off. View quote
Mary Beard
One of its most powerful weapons has always been 'barbarity': 'we' know that 'we' are civilised by contrasting ourselves with those we deem to be un-civilised, with those who do not - or cannot be trusted to - share our values. View quote
Mary Beard
Democracy requires information. Plato knew that informed decision-making requires knowledge. (Mary Beard)
In real life, Oxford and Cambridge are two excellent universities, like many others in the country. They are full of highly intelligent, hard-working, and quite ordinary students and teachers. View quote
Mary Beard
English country towns are often seen as a cultural wasteland, but the more cut off you are, the more the need to create things, to make your own culture. View quote
Mary Beard
You have to do what you feel comfortable with. View quote
Mary Beard
I'd quite like to be in Caligula's court - living in the back room somewhere and just being able to observe. View quote
Mary Beard
A lot of sexism is just very silly... and the best response is laughter and ridicule. View quote
Mary Beard
You always regret upsetting people needlessly. View quote
Mary Beard
When I am making a TV show, I am looking for engagement, not admiration. View quote
Mary Beard
You can't always worry about offending people. View quote
Mary Beard
If being a decent soul is being maternal, then fine. View quote
Mary Beard
It's great fun being an academic because you have a certain licence to be a bit of a joker. (Mary Beard)
Grey is my hair colour. I really can't see why I should change it. View quote
Mary Beard
If you ask me what is civilisation, it's little more than an act of faith. View quote
Mary Beard
The thing about being a university teacher is that you're fairly tolerant about young people saying things they shouldn't have said. View quote
Mary Beard
It doesn't much matter what line of argument you take as a woman. If you venture into traditional male territory, the abuse comes anyway. It's not what you say that prompts it - it's the fact that you are saying it. View quote
Mary Beard