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Mary Astell [1666-1731] English

Rank: 103
Writer

Mary Astell was an English feminist writer and rhetorician. Her advocacy of equal educational opportunities for women has earned her the title "the first English feminist."

Design, Wisdom, Women, Education, Government, Power, Truth

Quote	Tags	Rank
Truth is strong, and sometime or other will prevail.	Truth	101
The scum of the People are most Tyrannical when they get the Power, and treat their Betters with the greatest Insolence.	Power	102
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.	Women	103
If all men are born free, how is it that all women are born slaves?	Women	104
How can you be content to be in the world like tulips in a garden, to make a fine show, and be good for nothing.		105
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.		106
He who will be just, must be forc'd to acknowledge, that neither Sex are always in the right.		107
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.	Design, Government	108
The Span of Life is too short to be trifled away in unconcerning and unprofitable Matters.		109
Upon the principles of reason, the good of many is preferable to the good of a few or of one; a lasting good is to be preferred before a temporary, the public before the private.		110
Ignorance and a narrow education lay the foundation of vice, and imitation and custom rear it up.	Education	111
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.		112
We ought as much as we can to endeavour the Perfecting of our Beings, and that we be as happy as possibly we may.		113
But, alas! what poor Woman is ever taught that she should have a higher Design than to get her a Husband?	Design, Women	114
It is not the Head but the Heart that is the Seat of Atheism.		115
'Tis very great pity that they who are so apt to over-rate themselves in smaller matters, shou'd, where it most concerns them to know, and stand upon their Value, be so insensible of their own worth.		116
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.	Wisdom	117
Every one knows, that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves in the midst of crowds and business. Hence come those frequent absences, so observable in conversation; for whilst the body is confined to present company, the mind is flown to that which it delights in.		118
Marry for Love, an Heroick Action, which makes a mighty noise in the World, partly because of its rarity, and partly in regard of its extravagancy.		119
Nor can the Apostle mean that Eve only sinned; or that she only was Deceived, for if Adam sinned willfully and knowingly, he became the greater Transgressor.		120
The Relation we bear to the Wisdom of the Father, the Son of His Love, gives us indeed a dignity which otherwise we have no pretence to. It makes us something, something considerable even in God's Eyes.	Wisdom	121
Unhappy is that Grandeur which makes us too great to be good; and that Wit which sets us at a distance from true Wisdom.	Wisdom	122
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.		123
Your glass will not do you half so much service as a serious reflection on your own minds.		124
Certain I am, that Christian Religion does no where allow Rebellion.		125
Every Body has so good an Opinion of their own Understanding as to think their own way the best.		126
For certainly there cannot be a higher pleasure than to think that we love and are beloved by the most amiable and best Being.		201
God is His own Design and End, and that there is no other Worthy of Him.	Design	202
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.		203
How can a Man respect his Wife when he has a contemptible Opinion of her and her Sex?		204
If a Woman can neither Love nor Honour, she does ill in promising to Obey.		205
If God had not intended that Women shou'd use their Reason, He wou'd not have given them any, 'for He does nothing in vain.'		206
If none were to Marry, but Men of strict Vertue and Honour, I doubt the World would be but thinly peopled.		207
That Man indeed can never be good at heart, who is full of himself and his own Endowments.		208
That which has not a real excellency and value in it self, entertains no longer than the giddy Humour which recommended it to us holds.		209
The Soul debases her self, when she sets her affections on any thing but her creator.		210
The Steps to Folly as well as Sin are gradual, and almost imperceptible, and when we are once on the Decline, we go down without taking notice on't.		211
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.		212
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.		213
We all agree that its fit to be as Happy as we can, and we need no Instructor to teach us this Knowledge, 'tis born with us, and is inseparable from our Being, but we very much need to be Inform'd what is the true Way to Happiness.		214
We must Think what we Say, and Mean what we Profess.		215
Whilst our Hearts are violently set upon any thing, there is no convincing us that we shall ever be of another Mind.		216
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?		217
Women are from their very infancy debarred those Advantages with the want of which they are afterwards reproached.		218
Women need not take up with mean things, since (if they are not wanting to themselves) they are capable of the best.		219

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