66 Quotes by Mary Astell

We ought as much as we can to endeavour the Perfecting of our Beings, and that we be as happy as possibly we may.

But, alas! what poor Woman is ever taught that she should have a higher Design than to get her a Husband?

Ignorance and a narrow education lay the foundation of vice, and imitation and custom rear it up.

The scum of the People are most Tyrannical when they get the Power, and treat their Betters with the greatest Insolence.

None of us whether Men or Women but have so good an Opinion of our own Conduct as to believe we are fit, if not to direct others, at least to govern our selves.

It is not the Head but the Heart that is the Seat of Atheism.

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.

Unhappy is that Grandeur which makes us too great to be good; and that Wit which sets us at a distance from true Wisdom.

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.