Mary Astell

Writer

1666-11-12

Quotes by Mary Astell

• If all men are born free, how is it that all women are born slaves?

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• If all men are born free, how 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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• Unhappy is that Grandeur which makes us too great to be good; and that Wit which sets us at a distance from true Wisdom.

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• 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.

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• The scum of the People are most Tyrannical when they get the Power, and treat their Betters with the greatest Insolence.

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• 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.

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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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• 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.'

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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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• 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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