Welcome, wanderers of wisdom, to a riveting journey through the empowering words of none other than the trailblazing Mary Wollstonecraft! In a time when women's voices were relegated to hushed whispers, Mary stood tall as a beacon of change, shattering societal norms with her fearless pen and indomitable spirit. Born in the 18th century, this British philosopher, writer, and advocate challenged the very foundations of a male-dominated world, inspiring generations of women and men alike to break free from the shackles of oppression. Buckle up, because this blog article is not just about quotes; it's a rollercoaster ride through history, showcasing the timeless power of Mary Wollstonecraft's words to embolden, enlighten, and emancipate!
It's the 1790s, a time when women were often seen as mere ornaments, bereft of intellectual pursuits. In this era of rigid conventions, Mary Wollstonecraft emerges as a force of nature, unapologetically proclaiming that “I do not wish [women] to have power over men, but over themselves.” Her audacity is both exhilarating and intimidating, like a gust of fresh air on a stifling summer's day. Through her seminal work, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” Mary ignited a fire that continues to burn bright, urging us to challenge the status quo and champion equality with every fiber of our beings. This article is a treasure trove of 50 handpicked Mary Wollstonecraft quotes, each a lighthouse guiding us towards empowerment, resilience, and a maverick mindset that refuses to accept anything less than true liberation!
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“I do not wish [women] to have power over men, but over themselves.”
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“No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness.”
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“The beginning is always today.”
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“Taught from infancy that beauty is a woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.”
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“The more I see of the world, the more I am dissatisfied with it.”
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“It is justice, not charity, that is wanting in the world.”
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“Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience.”
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“The being cannot be termed rational or virtuous, who obeys any authority but that of reason.”
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“Make women rational creatures, and free citizens, and they will quickly become good wives.”
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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.”
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“Women becoming, consequently, weaker slaves, to render them pleasing objects for a short time to their tyrants.”
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“Innocence could not be innocent in the midst of miseries, and where nothing was respected but the person.”
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“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, unable to stand alone.”
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“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?”
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“I love my man as my fellow, but his scepter, real or usurped, extends not to me unless the reason of an individual demands my homage.”
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“Virtue can only flourish among equals.”
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“The divine right of husbands, like the divine right of kings, may, it is hoped, in this enlightened age, be contested without danger.”
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“It is vain to expect virtue from women till they are, in some degree, independent of men.”
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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.”
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“Taught from their infancy that beauty is woman's scepter, the mind shapes itself to the body and, roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.”
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“Women are told from their infancy, and taught by the example of their mothers, that a little knowledge of human weakness, justly termed cunning, softness of temper, outward obedience, and a scrupulous attention to a puerile kind of propriety will obtain for them the protection of man.”
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“To be a good mother… a woman must have sense, and that independence of mind which few women possess who are taught to depend entirely on their husbands.”
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“It is time to effect a revolution in female manners — time to restore to them their lost dignity.”
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“Taught to please, they are always bending to the opinion of man, and listening to the mistresses, through fear of displeasing them.”
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“A great proportion of the misery that wanders, in hideous forms around the world, is allowed to rise from the negligence of parents.”
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“Nothing is more disgusting than the impotent fruit of a premature and unnatural effort to please.”
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“He only understands half his nature who acknowledges only one class of affections, the love of the sexes.”
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“Men, in general, seem to employ their reason to justify prejudices, which they have imbibed, they cannot trace how, rather than to root them out.”
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“I love my fellow creatures, I love to sympathize with them; I love to alleviate the sorrows of the unhappy; I love to give to those whom nature has placed in a state of dependence.”
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“The only way to reform them is to work on their feelings, that is, by example.”
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“The being who patiently endures injustice, and silently bears insults, will soon become unjust, or unable to discern right from wrong.”
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“It is time to effect a revolution in female manners—time to restore to them their lost dignity.”
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“Reason is the simple power of improvement, or the progress of the mind from one truth to another.”
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“Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue.”
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“Women are not only treated as if they were weak, but as if they were foolish.”
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“The sweet, feminine graces, that should mitigate the commander into the friend, the husband, and the father, are turned into arts to flatter man.”
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“Women are thus rendered weak and artificial, by being allowed to acquire habits which lead to weakness and art.”
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“How can women be just or generous when they are slaves?”
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“Every woman in the course of her life will have more to do with her own mind than with any other person.”
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“Girls are then supposed to have arrived at a perfection of stupidity.”
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“Heaven will one day smile on human virtue, and, perhaps, the very men who now deprave women by the easy distinctions they acquire, will bless the change, and hail in exulting strains the philosophy, which taught their companions to unfold their faculties.”
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“I wish to persuade women to endeavor to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonymous with epithets of weakness.”
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“Men, indeed, appear to me to act in a very unphilosophical manner when they try to secure the good conduct of women by attempting to keep them always in a state of childhood.”
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“To behave like a dutiful wife, served as a pretext for inattention to every serious duty!”
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“Slavery to monarchs and ministers, which the world will be long freeing itself from, and whose deadly grasp stops the progress of the human mind, is not yet abolished.”
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“If I respect mankind, it is not for the sake of men, but for the sake of truth.”
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“A life of pleasure makes even the strongest mind frivolous at last.”
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“Women have seldom sufficient strength of mind to resist the sarcasm of a libertine.”
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“To be a good mother… a woman must have sense, and that independence of mind which few women possess who are taught to depend entirely on their husbands.”
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“Women might certainly study the art of healing, and be physicians as well as nurses.”
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