Sophia Loren: “I have my own peculiar yardstick for measuring a man.”

“I have my own peculiar yardstick for measuring a man: Does he have the courage to cry in a moment of grief? Does he have the compassion not to hunt an animal? In his relationship with a woman, is he gentle? Real manliness is nurtured in kindness and gentleness, which I associate with intelligence, comprehension, tolerance, justice, education, and high morality. If only men realized how easy it is to open a woman’s heart with kindness, and how many women close their hearts to the assaults of the Don Juans.”

– Sophia Loren

Sophia Loren portrait, 1979
Sophia Loren, 1979

“Sophia Loren: ‘I have my own peculiar yardstick for measuring a man.'” sources: ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv / Fotograf: Jules Vogt / Com L28-0277-0001-0001 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (no changes made) – Wikimedia Commons