Mary Astell

“We must Think what we Say, and Mean what we Profess.”

“Hitherto I have courted Truth with a kind of Romantick Passion, in spite of all Difficulties and Discouragements: for knowledge is thought so unnecessary an Accomplishment for a Woman, that few will give themselves the Trouble to assist us in the Attainment of it.”

“But, alas! what poor Woman is ever taught that she should have a higher Design than to get her a Husband?”

“We may not commit a lesser Sin under pretence to avoid a greater, but we may, nay we ought to endure the greatest Pain and Grief rather than commit the least Sin.”

“To all the rest of his Absurdities, (for vice is always unreasonable,) he adds one more, who expects that Vertue from another which he won't practise himself.”

“The Span of Life is too short to be trifled away in unconcerning and unprofitable Matters.”

“Why is Slavery so much condemn'd and strove against in one Case, and so highly applauded and held so necessary and so sacred in another?”

“Women are from their very infancy debarred those Advantages with the want of which they are afterwards reproached.”

“Although it has been said by men of more wit than wisdom, and perhaps more malice than either, that women are naturally incapable of acting prudently, or that they are necessarily determined to folly, I must by no means grant it.”

“To plead for the Oppress'd and to defend the Weak seem'd to me a generous undertaking; for tho' it may be secure, 'tis not always Honourable to run over to the strongest party.”

“None of us whether Men or Women but have so good an Opinion of our own Conduct as to believe we are fit, if not to direct others, at least to govern our selves.”

“For certainly there cannot be a higher pleasure than to think that we love and are beloved by the most amiable and best Being.”

“None of God's Creatures absolutely consider'd are in their own Nature Contemptible; the meanest Fly, the poorest Insect has its Use and Vertue.”

“Unhappy is that Grandeur which makes us too great to be good; and that Wit which sets us at a distance from true Wisdom.”

“Women are not so well united as to form an Insurrection. They are for the most part wise enough to love their Chains, and to discern how becomingly they fit.”

“The design of Rhetoric is to remove those Prejudices that lie in the way of Truth, to Reduce the Passions to the Government of Reasons; to place our Subject in a Right Light, and excite our Hearers to a due consideration of it.”

“Every Body has so good an Opinion of their own Understanding as to think their own way the best.”

“If none were to Marry, but Men of strict Vertue and Honour, I doubt the World would be but thinly peopled.”

“Truth is strong, and sometime or other will prevail.”

“Whilst our Hearts are violently set upon any thing, there is no convincing us that we shall ever be of another Mind.”