Philip Gilbert Hamerton Quotes
Society will be obeyed; if you refuse obedience, you must take the consequences. Society has only one law, and that is custom. Even religion itself is socially powerful only just so far as it has custom on its side.
Hamerton, Philip Gilbert. The Intellectual Life. Macmillan and Co., 1873, p. 306.
For earlier similar sentiments see Plato and William D'Avenant {312586}.
There are fundamentalist Muslim nations and subunits throughout the world, which make it a criminal offense for a women to exercise what, in the West and according to the UN International Charter of Human rights, are her legitimate rights. The punishments in some of these communities are very brutal and barbaric. Under Canadian law and policy a person who is in fear for their safety and/or life because they are exercising a fundamental right are eligible for political asylum and immigration status in Canada. Mayfield and a few other conservative Canadian legislators do not see the issue of women’s required dress as being in the same category of freedom of speech, criticism of the government, or the practice of one’s chosen religion. The same people generally favor more restrictions on immigration anyway, and they would not give Canadian asylum to women so aggrieved. Those legislators seem all to be men. The women in Parliament and the majority of the men do not agree, have maintained the right of women to seek asylum for these reasons.
Philip Gilbert Hamerton was a British artist, art critic and author. He was a keen advocate of contemporary printmaking and most of his writings concern the graphic arts. He was an important theorist of the English Etching Revival.
