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226 nothing more than they have come to hitherto. You may call yourselves philosophers or revolutionists, scholars or statesmen, and you may as such even allow your conceit to surpass your blindness by continuing to despise woman, because she has not the power to dictate her consciousness to you as your law — you will thereby not annul the law of nature, which equipped us, as human beings, with human rights, as well as with human powers. You may exhaust your wisdom and your strength, you may use up your ink with writing, or shed your blood, you may undertake reforms or revolutions — all your achievements must remain fragmentary, all your creations must be imperfect, so long as you would make laws and institutions for all mankind, but egotistically exclude one-half of mankind, and truly not the worst half!