Few women would prefer an unemployed and rudderless man to an ambitious and successful one, all other things being even roughly equal; and few men would choose an obese, unattractive, and dull woman over a shapely, beautiful, sharp one.

As writer Elisabeth Elliot phrased it, "The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman."1

Don't let go of your strength or your beauty. It was given to you by God.

See a charmer and you're bound to see a snake nearby

The Olinka girls do not believe girls should be educated. When I asked a mother why she thought this, she said: A girl is nothing to herself; only to her husband can she become something. What can she become? I asked. Why, she said, the mother of his children. But I am not the mother of anybody's children, I said, and I am something.

The Lord don't like ugly, she say. And he ain't stuck on pretty.

She look me over from head to foot. Then she cackle. Sound like a death rattle. You sure is ugly, she say, like she ain't believed it.

Who told you that something was wrong with you?

She was beautiful outside, but to be honest, she was ugly inside. I never saw her the same way. A bad attitude makes you unattractive. It overrides what's outside. It's important to look good and develop our talents, to get a good education, and to stay in shape, but it's more important to keep a good attitude. Nobody wants to be around a sour, critical, condescending person.

The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 SAMUEL 16:7

it is a most severe trial for those women to be called to lay down beauty, who have nothing else to take up. It is for this sober season of life that education should lay up its rich resources.

Be satisfied with the fact that although your art or talent may never be accepted by the world as anything 'great', and may never be your career, it can be used to enrich your day by day life:enrich it for you, and for the people with whom you live.... and come to the recognition of the fact that it is important for you to BE creative in this area to the extent of your talent: important for you as a person who IS a creative creature.