Mary Astell
Mary Astell
Mary Astellwas an English feminist writer and rhetorician. Her advocacy of equal educational opportunities for women has earned her the title "the first English feminist."...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth12 November 1666
distance unhappy wit
Unhappy is that Grandeur which makes us too great to be good; and that Wit which sets us at a distance from true Wisdom.
apt concerns great pity smaller themselves
'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.
few good lasting preferable preferred public
Upon the principles of reason, the good of many is preferable to the good of a few or of one; a lasting good is to be preferred before a temporary, the public before the private.
born men women
If all men are born free, how is it that all women are born slaves?
There is not anything so excellent, but some will carp at it. . .
slavery sacred cases
Why is Slavery so much condemn'd and strove against in one Case, and so highly applauded and held so necessary and so sacred in another?
heart mind convincing
Whilst our Hearts are violently set upon any thing, there is no convincing us that we shall ever be of another Mind.
self soul affection
The Soul debases her self, when she sets her affections on any thing but her creator.
mean needs ifs
Women need not take up with mean things, since (if they are not wanting to themselves) they are capable of the best.
people scum insolence
The scum of the People are most Tyrannical when they get the Power, and treat their Betters with the greatest Insolence.
wise fit enough
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.
matter pity rate
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.
states sovereignty ifs
If absolute sovereignty be not necessary in a State, how comes it to be so in a family?
sex acknowledge
He who will be just, must be forc'd to acknowledge, that neither Sex are always in the right.