Frances E. Willard Quotes


The world is wide, and I will not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum.


Citations

Willard, Frances E. A Wheel Within a Wheel: How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle. Fleming H. Revell Company, 1895, p. 73.

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Frances E. Willard
Frances E. Willard
  • Born: September 28, 1839
  • Died: February 17, 1898
  • Nationality: American
  • Profession: Educator, Author, Temperance Women's Rights Activist, Social Reformer

Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard was an American educator, temperance reformer, and women's suffragist. Willard became the national president of Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in 1879 and remained president until her death in 1898. Her influence continued in the next decades, as the Eighteenth (Prohibition) and Nineteenth (Women Suffrage) Amendments to the United States Constitution were adopted. Willard developed the slogan "Do Everything" for the WCTU, encouraging members to engage in a broad array of social reforms through lobbying, petitioning, preaching, publishing, and education. During her lifetime, Willard succeeded in raising the age of consent in many states, as well as passing labor reforms including the eight-hour work day. Her vision also encompassed prison reform, scientific temperance instruction, Christian socialism, and the global expansion of women's rights.