Straight from today’s Quotle — here’s who really said it, and the story behind it. Play again

Who really said it

No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death, but oh, thrice guilty is he who, for selfish gratification, heedless of her prayers, indifferent to her fate, drove her to the desperation that impelled her to the crime!

Attribution unconfirmed Unknown Anonymous writer signing A
Disputed Free to reuse

The paragraph was signed “A” in The Revolution; that initial does not establish Susan B. Anthony’s authorship.

Last verified 9 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

For presentations

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death, but oh, thrice guilty is he who, for selfish gratification, heedless of her prayers, indifferent to her fate, drove her to the desperation that impelled her to the crime!” — Anonymous writer signing “A,” The Revolution (1869); Susan B. Anthony’s authorship is not established

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Susan B. Anthony. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

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In context

Evoking the themes of character and justice. Theme: "No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death, but oh, thrice guilty is he who, for selfish gratification, heedless of her prayers, indifferent to her fate, drove her to the desperation that impelled her to the crime!". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death, but oh, thrice guilty is he who, for selfish gratification, heedless of her prayers, indifferent to her fate, drove her to the desperation that impelled her to the crime!". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The source

Source
Marriage and Maternity, signed A, The Revolution, July 8, 1869; primary page not independently inspected
Source date
1869

We want prevention, not merely punishment.

The essay’s wording as reproduced by Feminists for Life; the original newspaper page was not independently inspected.

Read the attribution evidence

How we verified this

  • Wikiquote identifies an anonymous essay and records scholarly objections to the Anthony credit. Other checked accounts identify Marriage and Maternity in The Revolution, July 8, 1869; Wikiquote’s August date conflicts with those accounts. The museum and original journal pages could not be fetched, so this dossier does not claim independent primary-page inspection. The disputed Anthony credit ↗
  • The account identifies the July 8,1869 essay and documents disagreements over the author’s identity. Authorship research and journal citation ↗
Public domain

The identified English source was published before 1931 and is public domain in the United States.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Attribution remains unconfirmed

The paragraph was signed “A” in The Revolution; that initial does not establish Susan B. Anthony’s authorship.

Susan B. Anthony Authorship unconfirmed

Wikiquote identifies an anonymous essay and records scholarly objections to the Anthony credit. Other checked accounts identify Marriage and Maternity in The Revolution, July 8, 1869; Wikiquote’s August date conflicts with those accounts. The museum and original journal pages could not be fetched, so this dossier does not claim independent primary-page inspection. Evidence ↗

The paragraph was signed “A” in The Revolution; that initial does not establish Susan B. Anthony’s authorship. Source trail ↗

Context

Why it mattered

The passage comes from an essay signed “A.” in The Revolution, the newspaper associated with Anthony. Editorial association is different from a confirmed byline, and the inspected later transcriptions do not settle who wrote the anonymous essay.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Character Justice

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

The disputed Anthony crediten.wikiquote.org

Wikiquote prints the passage under Misattributed and reports that the initial A is not established as Anthony’s signature.
Authorship research and journal citationen.wikipedia.org

The account identifies the July 8,1869 essay and documents disagreements over the author’s identity.
Compare the attribution claimfeministsforlife.org

The advocacy organization reproduces the passage but itself labels the A attribution “Attributed”; this is not primary proof of Anthony’s authorship.
Compare an identified Anthony speechgutenberg.org

The 1874 trial account contains Anthony’s direct courtroom speech; a separate document, not evidence that she wrote the unsigned newspaper essay.

The author

About Unknown

Unknown

Anonymous writer signing A

The writer behind the signature “A.” has not been securely identified in the evidence inspected here. Susan B. Anthony’s connection with the newspaper explains the later attribution but does not establish personal authorship.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

The documented evidence

Marriage and Maternity, signed A, The Revolution, July 8, 1869; primary page not independently inspected (1869).

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death, but oh, thrice guilty is he who, for selfish gratification, heedless of her prayers, indifferent to her fate, drove her to the desperation that impelled her to the crime!’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/no-matter-what-the-motive-love-of-ease-or-a-desire-to-save/

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