Mary Beard Quotes
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It's great fun being an academic because you have a certain licence to be a bit of a joker.
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Barring some sociopaths, probably, there is nobody who doesn't care about their appearance.
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My day job is working on Roman history and ancient Roman history.
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I knew that Trump was ghastly. I knew I'd vote for Hillary if I had a vote.
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What interests me is the idea that classics is actually quite democratic. It isn't only the toff, upper-class subject it's often thought to be. Every generation enjoys rediscovering it.
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Roman military tactics were much over-rated. All the clever ones had the same idea, which was to go round the back.
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The history of art is not just the history of artists; it is also the history of the people who viewed art. And that wider perspective can help us see some of the reasons why the art of the ancient world should still matter to us.
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Gender is a key marker of power and powerlessness. Most of the structures of how our world works are biased in terms of men.
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In general, I never think it is a good idea to try to recreate past successes. You have to strike out on your own, for better or worse.
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My fantasy is going into a men's loo. And listening to what they say.
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There's a basic rule of thumb that the more a culture oppresses women, or oppresses anyone, the more culturally preoccupied they are with that.
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I was 11 when I started Latin - not like boys, who start early at prep school. At 14, you had to choose whether to start Greek and drop German, but my mum made a fuss, and I took Latin, Greek, French, and German at O-level, which meant I didn't do much science.
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History is how we have learnt to think about ourselves. It's not as though the Greeks and Romans are static entities out there to be discovered and translated. We make them speak, we talk to them, and they inform what we say.
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If women are not perceived to be fully within the structures of power, surely it is power that we need to redefine rather than women?
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One of the downsides of working in antiquity is that you don't have many female voices, but you certainly have a lot of male terror about the potential of women's power. It shows you very clearly that the most oppressive cultures tend to be afraid of those whom they oppress.
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The gloomiest way of describing the ancient world is it is misogyny from A to Z, really.
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There is no way, absolutely no way, that I would want people to stop reading the 'Odyssey.' But I want them to read it with their eyes open. To notice it and then to think what it says about us.
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We are sold the idea of a refugee as a tiny child sitting crying, as a way of raising money, but elderly ladies and kids largely can't move. The demographic is mostly young men.
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Whatever you say about popular culture, people like people who know things, who are experts, and it doesn't particularly matter what they look like.
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I don't want to see a world in which women can communicate on Twitter, but their actual voices are not heard.
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You cannot easily fit women into a structure that is already coded as male; you have to change the structure.
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I think that what will help women get into positions of power - well, day nurseries, equal pay, family-friendly working hours. And I think all that's important. I used to think it was the solution. I now think it's enabling, and it's important, but still we have got head work to do about this.
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A lot of sexism is just very silly... and the best response is laughter and ridicule.
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I was into Black Power, and my practice Oxbridge essay was a rant. The headmistress said I'd never get in with that, but she was probably wrong. I was the ideal combination: a swot who was also a bad girl.