Mary Astell Quotes
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Certain I am, that Christian Religion does no where allow Rebellion.
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Every Body has so good an Opinion of their own Understanding as to think their own way the best.
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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.
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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.
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But, alas! what poor Woman is ever taught that she should have a higher Design than to get her a Husband?
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God is His own Design and End, and that there is no other Worthy of Him.
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The Span of Life is too short to be trifled away in unconcerning and unprofitable Matters.
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If all men are born free, why is it that all women are born slaves?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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It is not the Head but the Heart that is the Seat of Atheism.
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Whilst our Hearts are violently set upon any thing, there is no convincing us that we shall ever be of another Mind.
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The Soul debases her self, when she sets her affections on any thing but her creator.
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Truth is strong, and sometime or other will prevail.
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How can a Man respect his Wife when he has a contemptible Opinion of her and her Sex?
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That Man indeed can never be good at heart, who is full of himself and his own Endowments.
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friendship is a virtue which comprehends all the rest; none being fit for this, who is not adorned with every other virtue.
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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.
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Women are from their very infancy debarred those advantages with the want of which they are aftewards reproached, and nursed up in those vices which will hereafter be upbraided to them. So partial are men as to expect bricks when they afford no straw.
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If none were to Marry, but Men of strict Vertue and Honour, I doubt the World would be but thinly peopled.
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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.
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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.
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For certainly there cannot be a higher pleasure than to think that we love and are beloved by the most amiable and best Being.
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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.
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Fetters of gold are still fetters, and the softest lining can never make them so easy as liberty.
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He who will be just, must be forc'd to acknowledge, that neither Sex are always in the right.
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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.
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. . . he who only or chiefly chose for Beauty, will in a little Time find the same Reason for another Choice.
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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.
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