Mary Astell Quotes
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The Span of Life is too short to be trifled away in unconcerning and unprofitable Matters.
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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.
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But, alas! what poor Woman is ever taught that she should have a higher Design than to get her a Husband?
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The Steps to Folly as well as Sin are gradual, and almost imperceptible, and when we are once on the Decline, we go down without taking notice on't.
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How can a Man respect his Wife when he has a contemptible Opinion of her and her Sex?
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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.
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Every one knows, that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves in the midst of crowds and business. Hence come those frequent absences, so observable in conversation; for whilst the body is confined to present company, the mind is flown to that which it delights in.
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The scum of the People are most Tyrannical when they get the Power, and treat their Betters with the greatest Insolence.
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We may not commit a lesser Sin under pretence to avoid a greater, but we may, nay we ought to endure the greatest Pain and Grief rather than commit the least Sin.
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Some Reflections upon Marriage, Preface (1706), Appendix (post 1706)
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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.
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That Man indeed can never be good at heart, who is full of himself and his own Endowments.
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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.
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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?
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Women are from their very infancy debarred those Advantages with the want of which they are afterwards reproached.
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Although it has been said by men of more wit than wisdom, and perhaps more malice than either, that women are naturally incapable of acting prudently, or that they are necessarily determined to folly, I must by no means grant it.
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Ignorance and a narrow education lay the foundation of vice, and imitation and custom rear it up.
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God is His own Design and End, and that there is no other Worthy of Him.
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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.
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The Relation we bear to the Wisdom of the Father, the Son of His Love, gives us indeed a dignity which otherwise we have no pretence to. It makes us something, something considerable even in God's Eyes.
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Unhappy is that Grandeur which makes us too great to be good; and that Wit which sets us at a distance from true Wisdom.
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Truth is strong, and sometime or other will prevail.
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To plead for the Oppress'd and to defend the Weak seem'd to me a generous undertaking; for tho' it may be secure, 'tis not always Honourable to run over to the strongest party.
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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.