well behaved women seldom make history
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Women who conform to traditional norms often do not achieve great things
Literally: women who behave well rarely make history
Examples
She believed that well-behaved women seldom make history, so she took a stand
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “well behaved women seldom make history” mean?
Women who conform to traditional norms often do not achieve great things Literally: women who behave well rarely make history
Is “well behaved women seldom make history” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.