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Daily Inspiration Quote by Sally Quinn

"I think, certainly in the more civilized societies, women's roles are growing in power all of the time"

About this Quote

There’s a genteel confidence to Sally Quinn’s line that doubles as a quiet provocation. “More civilized societies” sounds like praise, but it’s also a sorting mechanism: a single phrase that flatters certain cultures while gently shaming others, and that frames women’s progress not as contested political struggle but as a natural byproduct of refinement. Quinn’s journalist’s instinct shows in the hedging - “I think,” “certainly,” “in the more…” - the kind of soft qualifiers that protect the speaker from absolutes while still landing the point. It’s an opinion posed as common sense.

The intent is optimistic, even reassuring: a reminder that power can accumulate gradually, that history bends in the right direction if you’re looking from the right vantage point. The subtext is where it gets sharper. “Roles” implies sanctioned positions within an existing order, not liberation from it. It’s power described as an expansion of assigned lanes rather than a re-drawing of the map. And “growing” suggests inevitability, which can be comforting to people who benefit from believing change is already underway - and therefore doesn’t require urgency, conflict, or discomfort.

Context matters: Quinn is a Washington media fixture, formed in a world where social change often arrives as a shift in etiquette, institutions, and elite consensus. Read that way, the line reflects a particular liberal establishment faith: progress as a marker of societal sophistication. It works rhetorically because it makes women’s rising power sound like the reasonable, civilized default - and dares the listener to object without sounding backward.

Quote Details

TopicEquality
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Quinn, Sally. (2026, January 15). I think, certainly in the more civilized societies, women's roles are growing in power all of the time. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-certainly-in-the-more-civilized-societies-153243/

Chicago Style
Quinn, Sally. "I think, certainly in the more civilized societies, women's roles are growing in power all of the time." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-certainly-in-the-more-civilized-societies-153243/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I think, certainly in the more civilized societies, women's roles are growing in power all of the time." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-certainly-in-the-more-civilized-societies-153243/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.

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Women's Roles Growing in More Civilized Societies
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About the Author

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Sally Quinn (born July 1, 1941) is a Journalist from USA.

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