Women - like not only to conquer, but to be conquered

Who misses, or who wins the prize?
Go, lose and conquer as you can:
But if you fail, or if you rise,
Be each, pray God, a gentleman.

A woman may possess the wisdom and chastity of Minerva, and we give no heed to her, if she has a plain face. What folly will not a pair of bright eyes make pardonable? What dullness may not red lips are sweet accents render pleasant? And so, with their usual sense of justice, ladies argue that because a woman is handsome, therefore she is a fool. O ladies, ladies! there are some of you who are neither handsome nor wise.

A man -- I let the truth out --
Who's had almost every tooth out,
Cannot sing as once he sang,
When he was young as you are young,
When he was young and lutes were strung,
And love-lamps in the casement hung.

And oh, what a mercy it is that these women do not exercise their powers oftener! We can't resist them, if they do. Let them show ever so little inclination, and men go down on their knees at once: old or ugly, it is all the same. And this I set down as a positive truth. A woman with fair opportunities, and without an absolute hump, may marry whom she likes. Only let us be thankful that the darlings are like the beasts of the field, and don't know their own power. They would overcome us entirely if they did.

'Tis strange what a man may do, and a woman yet think him an angel.