Mary Wollstonecraft Quotes

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

Mary Wollstonecraft

Life, Strong Women, Independent

"The original suffragette: the extraordinary Mary Wollstonecraft" by Bee Rowlatt, www.theguardian.com. October 5, 2015.

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The more equality there is established among men, the more virtue and happiness will reign in society.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Equality, Men, Reign

Mary Wollstonecraft (2013). “Vindication of the Rights of Women”, p.12, Lulu.com

55 Copy quote
Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Women, Mother And Daughter, Mind

1792 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, pt.1, ch.2.

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The beginning is always today.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Inspiring, New Beginnings, Divorce

69 Copy quote
Let woman share the rights and she will emulate the virtues of man; for she must grow more perfect when emancipated.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Men, Rights, Perfect

1792 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, pt.1, ch.13.

31 Copy quote
Only that education deserves emphatically to be termed cultivation of the mind which teaches young people how to begin to think.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Education, Thinking, People

Mary Wollstonecraft (2015). “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”, p.202, Booklassic

59 Copy quote
Women do not want power over men, they want power over themselves.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Men, Want

64 Copy quote
Men, in general, seem to employ their reason to justify prejudices...rather than to root them out.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Men, Roots, Justice

1792 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, pt.1, ch.1.

22 Copy quote
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.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Beauty, Women, Infancy Is

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman ch. 3 (1792)

76 Copy quote
Men and women must be educated, in a great degree, by the opinions and manners of the society they live in.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Education, Men, Degrees

Mary Wollstonecraft (1793). “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects”, p.19

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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.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Sex, Women, Thinking

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman ch. 4 (1792)

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When we feel deeply, we reason profoundly.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Reason, Feels

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No man chooses evil because it's evil. He only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Happiness, Mistake, Men

Mary Wollstonecraft (2008). “A Vindication of the Rights of Women & a Vindication of the Rights of Men”, Cosimo, Inc.

59 Copy quote
The appetites will rule if the mind is vacant.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Mind, Appetite, Vacant

Mary Wollstonecraft (1988). “A vindication of the rights of woman: an authoritative text, backgrounds, the Wollstonecraft debate, criticism”, W. W. Norton & Company

6 Copy quote
People thinking for themselves have more energy in their voice, than any government, which it is possible for human wisdom to invent; and every government not aware of this sacred truth will, at some period, be suddenly overturned.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Thinking, Government, Voice

Mary Wollstonecraft, Janet Todd (1999). “A Vindication of the Rights of Men; A Vindication of the Rights of Woman; An Historical and Moral View of the French Revolution”, p.357, Oxford Paperbacks

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

Mary Wollstonecraft

Women, Government, Share

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman ch. 9 (1792)

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

Mary Wollstonecraft

Justice, Diversity, World

Mary Wollstonecraft, Sylvana Tomaselli (1995). “Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Men and a Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Hints”, p.149, Cambridge University Press

21 Copy quote
Simplicity and sincerity generally go hand in hand, as both proceed from a love of truth.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Hands, Simplicity, Sincerity

Mary Wollstonecraft, Barbara H. Solomon (1983). “A Mary Wollstonecraft reader”, Signet

27 Copy quote
Judicious books enlarge the mind and improve the heart.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Book, Heart, Mind

Mary Wollstonecraft (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Mary Wollstonecraft (Illustrated)”, p.314, Delphi Classics

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Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue; and independence I will ever secure by contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Life, Single, Blessing

Mary Wollstonecraft (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Mary Wollstonecraft (Illustrated)”, p.608, Delphi Classics

48 Copy quote
Taught from their 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. Men have various employments and pursuits which engage their attention, and give a character to the opening mind; but women, confined to one, and having their thoughts constantly directed to the most insignificant part of themselves, seldom extend their views beyond the triumph of the hour.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Women, Character, Views

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman ch. 3 (1792)

32 Copy quote
The being cannot be termed rational or virtuous, who obeys any authority, but that of reason.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Atheism, Literature, Reason

Mary Wollstonecraft (2012). “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”, p.177, Courier Corporation

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You know I am not born to tread in the beaten track the peculiar bent of my nature pushes me on.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Track, Peculiar, Bent

Mary Wollstonecraft (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Mary Wollstonecraft (Illustrated)”, p.1422, Delphi Classics

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Man preys on man; and you mourn for the idle tapestry that decorated a gothic pillar, and the dronish bell that summoned the fat priest to prayer. You mourn for the empty pageant of a name, when slavery flaps her wing, ... Why is our fancy to be appalled by terrific perspectives of a hell beyond the grave? - Hell stalks abroad; - the lash resounds on the slave's naked sides; and the sick wretch, who can no longer earn the sour bread of unremitting labour, steals to a ditch to bid the world a long good night.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Good Night, Prayer, Men

30 Copy quote
Friendship is a serious affection; the most sublime of all affections, because it is founded on principle, and cemented by time. The very reverse may be said of love. In a great degree, love and friendship cannot subsist in the same bosom; even when inspired by different objects they weaken or destroy each other, and for the same object can only be felt in succession. The vain fears and fond jealousies, the winds which fan the flame of love, when judiciously or artfully tempered, are both incompatible with the tender confidence and sincere respect of friendship.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Friendship, Flames, Wind

Mary Wollstonecraft (2012). “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”, p.71, Courier Corporation

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Born: April 27, 1759
Died: September 10, 1797
Occupation: Writer
Cite this Page: Citation

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