Tea and truth

The words on my Celestial Seasoning tea-bag tag this afternoon are from Elizabeth Cady Stanton: “Truth is the only safe ground to stand upon.”

Unlike so many “famous quotes,” this one is genuine, and it seems particularly timely. From The Woman’s Bible (1898):

How can woman’s position be changed from that of a subordinate to an equal, without opposition, without the broadest discussion of all the questions involved in her present degradation? For so far-reaching and momentous a reform as her complete independence, an entire revolution in all existing institutions is inevitable.

Let us remember that all reforms are interdependent, and that whatever is done to establish one principle on a solid basis, strengthens all. Reformers who are always compromising, have not yet grasped the idea that truth is the only safe ground to stand upon.

The Woman’s Bible was published as the work of Stanton and a “revising committee” of Stanton and twenty-five other women. The introduction in which this passage appears is credited to Stanton.