Background
Born in Philadelphia to an influential Quaker family, Smith’s background was one of high ideals, inquiring intellect and incipient feminism. This led to a rigorous education, on both sides of the Atlantic. Early on, family connections brought her into close contact with influential figures such as critic Bernard Berenson, philosopher Bertrand Russell, and Martha Carey Thomas (a relative whose unhappy love affair was fictionalized by Gertrude Stein in Fernhurst). It also set the tone for Smith’s later life: provoking, reconciling and enjoying a play of contradictory ideas.
Read more about this topic: Hannah Smith (philanthropist)
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)