Mary Wollstonecraft Quotes

I do not wish women to have power over men, but over themselves.

The beginning is always today.

No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.

The more I see of the world, the more I am convinced that civilization is a conspiracy.

I love my man as my fellow; but his scorn, his bitter scorn, I detest.

It is justice, not charity, that is wanting in the world.

Women are systematically degraded by receiving the trivial attentions which men think it manly to pay to the sex, when, in fact, men are insultingly supporting their own superiority.

It is justice, not charity, that is wanting in the world.

How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?

I begin to love this little creature, and to anticipate his birth as a fresh twist to a knot, which I do not wish to untie.

Taught from infancy that beauty is woman’s sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.

I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.

Women are degraded by the propensity to enjoy the present moment, and, at last, despise the freedom which they have not sufficient virtue to struggle to attain.

The main burden of Plato’s arguments rests upon the preservation of his own sexual privilege rather than engaging us in a discussion of political prudence.

Mary Wollstonecraft Quotes part 2

Virtue can only flourish among equals.

I have no doubt that women could be brought to tolerate marriage against inclination, if they were well instructed, and thought it their duty.

If women be educated for dependence; that is, to act according to the will of another fallible being, and submit, right or wrong, to power, where are we to stop?

Women ought to have representatives, instead of being arbitrarily governed without any direct share allowed them in the deliberations of government.

I have endeavored to show that there is a way to… reconcile everything sacred, and dignified, and valuable in the system of domestic life with the liberty and mental energy that renders the complete development of human beings possible.

I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken.

Children, I grant, should be innocent; but when the epithet is applied to men, or women, it is but a civil term for weakness.

The most natural ideas of inferiority are derived from the most natural reflections; why, then, is woman to be always humored?

Women are degraded by the propensity to enjoy the present moment, and, at last, despise the freedom which they have not sufficient virtue to struggle to attain.

When the meek and patient are not trodden into the dust, they will find that women are, in general, all of the same opinion, and that the superiority of man is merely nominal.

I love my man as my fellow; but his scorn, his bitter scorn, I detest.

Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites.

Friendship is a serious affection; the most sublime of all affections, because it is founded on principle, and cemented by time.

I do earnestly wish to see the distinction of sex confounded in society.

The divine right of husbands, like the divine right of kings, may, it is hoped, in this enlightened age, be contested without danger.

Nothing, I am sure, calls forth the faculties so much as the being obliged to struggle with the world.

Women ought to have representatives, instead of being arbitrarily governed without any direct share allowed them in the deliberations of government.

How is he to acquire that fund of ideas, which will make him a resource?

My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood.

In the present state of society, it appears necessary to go back to first principles in search of the most simple truths, and to dispute with some prevailing prejudice every inch of ground.

No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.

The mind is a blank sheet; a substance capable of receiving impressions; who shall dare to assert that the sheet is defiled?

Make women rational creatures, and free citizens, and they will quickly become good wives;—that is, if men do not neglect the duties of husbands and fathers.

Nothing but extremely strong affection could have restored my tranquility so soon.

Women have seldom sufficient employment to silence their feelings; a round of little cares, or vain pursuits frittering away all strength of mind and organs, they become naturally only objects of sense.

In fact, women are so much in the situation of slaves, that is reasonable to suppose men will improve their system of manners.

Marriage is not a duty, but a luxury; a slavery, which becomes daily more destructive to morality and to the human race.

In order that we may become equal to the spirits departed, we must first become pure in heart.

I am sensual—proud—imperious—trifling—suspicious—irritable; have every bad quality.

Women, you plead for your sex; and yet, fondly cherish a principle of indignation, which would make man a despot, or woman a brute.

Where is the sex that should grow up under such a load of prejudices?