How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFTAfter attacking the sacred majesty of Kings, I shall scarcely excite surprise by adding my firm persuasion that every profession, in which great subordination of rank constitutes its power, is highly injurious to morality.
More Mary Wollstonecraft Quotes
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Soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste are almost synonymous with the epithets of weakness, I wish to show that elegance is inferior to virtue.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
Either nature has made a great difference between man and man, or that the world is not yet anywhere near to being fully civilized.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
My dreams were all my own; I accounted for them to nobody; they were my refuge when annoyed – my dearest pleasure when free.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
All the sacred rights of humanity are violated by insisting on blind obedience.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
Thus do we wish as we float down the stream of life, whilst chance does more to gratify our desire for knowledge than our best-laid plans.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
It is vain to expect virtue from women till they are in some degree independent of men.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
They are the men of fancy, the favourites of the sex, who outwardly respect, and inwardly despise the weak creatures whom they thus sport with.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
I have sighed when obliged to confess that either Nature has made a great difference between man and man, or that the civilization which has hitherto taken place in the world has been very partial.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
Parental affection is, perhaps, the blindest modification of perverse self-love
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
I shall not waste my time in rounding periods, nor in fabricating the turgid bombast of artificial feelings, which, coming from the head, never reach the heart.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
All power inebriates weak man; and its abuse proves that the more equality there is established among men, the more virtue and happiness will reign in society.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
Men and women must be educated, in a great degree, by the opinions and manners of the society they live in.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
Thus do we wish as we float down the stream of life, whilst chance does.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
Men who are inferior to their fellow men, are always most anxious to establish their superiority over women.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
Taught from infancy that beauty is woman’s sculpture the mind shapes itself to the body and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
Friendship and domestic happiness are continually praised; yet how little is there of either in the world, because it requires more cultivation of mind to keep awake affection, even in our own hearts, than the common run of people suppose.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
But let me now stop; I may be a little partial, and view every thing with the jaundiced eye of melancholy – for I am sad – and have cause.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
In short, women, in general, as well as the rich of both sexes, have acquired all the follies and vices of civilization, and missed the useful fruit.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
I like to see your eyes praise me and, during such recitals, there are interruptions, not ungrateful to the heart, when the honey that drops from the lips is not merely words.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
Every glance afforded colouring for the picture she was delineating on her heart.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
Rousseau exerts himself to prove that all was right originally: a crowd of authors that all is now right: and I, that all will be right.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
They may be convenient slaves, but slavery will have its constant effect, degrading the master and the abject dependent.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
It is not necessary for me always to premise, that I speak of the condition of the whole sex, leaving exceptions out of the question.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
Like the flowers that are planted in too rich a soil, strength and usefulness are sacrificed to beauty.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
The greater number of people take their opinions on trust, to avoid the trouble of exercising their own minds, and these indolent beings naturally adhere to the letter, rather than the spirit of a law, divine or human.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
Not on the score of modesty, but decency; for the care which some modest women take, making at the same time a display of that care, not to let their legs be seen, is as childish as immodest.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT