Mary Astell quotes

Mary Astell was an English writer, philosopher, and advocate for women's rights in the early modern period. Often called the first English feminist, her works argued for women's education and autonomy. She challenged traditional gender roles and inspired future generations of thinkers. Here are 53 of her quotes:

If all men are born free, how is it that all women are born slaves? (Mary Astell)
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. View quote
Mary Astell
Truth is strong, and sometime or other will prevail. View quote
Mary Astell
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. View quote
Mary Astell
He who will be just, must be forc'd to acknowledge, that neither Sex are always in the right. View quote
Mary Astell
Is it the being tied to One that offends us? Why this ought rather to recommend it to us, and would really do so, were we guided by reason, and not by humor and brutish passion. He who does not make friendship the chief inducement of his choice, and prefer it before any other consideration does not deserve a good wife, and therefore should not complain if he goes without one... The Christian institution of marriage provides the best that may be for domestic quiet and content, and for the education of children. View quote
Mary Astell
Thus, whether it be wit or beauty that a man's in love with, there are no great hopes of a lasting happiness; beauty, with all the helps of arts, is of no long date; the more it is, the sooner it decays; and he, who only or chiefly chose for beauty, will in a little time find the same reason for another choice. View quote
Mary Astell
The better our lot is in this world, and the more we have of it, the greater is our leisure to prepare for the next; we have the more opportunity to exercise that God-like quality, to taste that divine pleasure, doing good to the bodies and souls of those beneath us. View quote
Mary Astell
She must be a fool with a witness, who can believe a man, proud and vain as he is, will lay his boasted authority, the dignity and prerogative of his sex, on moment at her feet, but in prospect of taking it up again to more advantage; he may call himself her slave a few days, but it is only in order to make her his all the rest of his life. View quote
Mary Astell
An ill husband may deprive a wife of the comfort and quiet of her life, give occasion of exercising her virtue, try her patience and fortitude to the utmost, which is all he can do; it is herself only that can accomplish her ruin. View quote
Mary Astell
Again, if Absolute Sovereignty be not necessary in a State, how comes it to be so in a family? Or if in a Family why not in a State; since no Reason can Be alle'd for the one that will not hold more strongly for the other? (Mary Astell)
But, alas! what poor Woman is ever taught that she should have a higher Design than to get her a Husband? View quote
Mary Astell
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. View quote
Mary Astell
The Span of Life is too short to be trifled away in unconcerning and unprofitable Matters. View quote
Mary Astell
Ignorance and a narrow education lay the foundation of vice, and imitation and custom rear it up. View quote
Mary Astell
If a Woman can neither Love nor Honour, she does ill in promising to Obey. View quote
Mary Astell
Women need not take up with mean things, since (if they are not wanting to themselves) they are capable of the best. View quote
Mary Astell
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. View quote
Mary Astell
God is His own Design and End, and that there is no other Worthy of Him. View quote
Mary Astell
We ought as much as we can to endeavour the Perfecting of our Beings, and that we be as happy as possibly we may. View quote
Mary Astell
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. (Mary Astell)
Women are from their very infancy debarred those Advantages with the want of which they are afterwards reproached. View quote
Mary Astell
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. View quote
Mary Astell
The scum of the People are most Tyrannical when they get the Power, and treat their Betters with the greatest Insolence. View quote
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. View quote
Mary Astell