MARY ASTELL

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.

To all the rest of his Absurdities, (for vice is always unreasonable,) he adds one more, who expects that Vertue from another which he won't practise himself.

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

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.

'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.

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.

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

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.

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?

Truth is strong, and sometime or other will prevail.

We all agree that its fit to be as Happy as we can, and we need no Instructor to teach us this Knowledge, 'tis born with us, and is inseparable from our Being, but we very much need to be Inform'd what is the true Way to Happiness.

If none were to Marry, but Men of strict Vertue and Honour, I doubt the World would be but thinly peopled.

We must Think what we Say, and Mean what we Profess.

None of God's Creatures absolutely consider'd are in their own Nature Contemptible; the meanest Fly, the poorest Insect has its Use and Vertue.

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.

The Span of Life is too short to be trifled away in unconcerning and unprofitable Matters.

Your glass will not do you half so much service as a serious reflection on your own minds.

The Soul debases her self, when she sets her affections on any thing but her creator.

That Man indeed can never be good at heart, who is full of himself and his own Endowments.

He who will be just, must be forc'd to acknowledge, that neither Sex are always in the right.

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

Marry for Love, an Heroick Action, which makes a mighty noise in the World, partly because of its rarity, and partly in regard of its extravagancy.

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.

Certain I am, that Christian Religion does no where allow Rebellion.

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