Mary Astell

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

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.

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.

How can a Man respect his Wife when he has a contemptible Opinion of her and her Sex?

Certain I am, that Christian Religion does no where allow Rebellion.

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.

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.

Ignorance and a narrow education lay the foundation of vice, and imitation and custom rear it up.

God is His own Design and End, and that there is no other Worthy of Him.

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

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.