38 Mary Wollstonecraft Quotes About Life (EQUALITY)

Top 10 Most Famous Mary Wollstonecraft Quotes (BEST)

“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

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

Simplicity and sincerity generally go hand in hand, as both proceed from a love of truth. — **Simplicity** and sincerity generally go hand in hand, as both proceed from a **love** of **truth**.

No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks. — No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for **happiness**, the good he seeks.

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

“Make women rational creatures, and free citizens, and they will quickly become good wives; – that is, if men do not neglect the duties of husbands and fathers.”
Mary Wollstonecraft

My dreams were all my own; I accounted for them to nobody; they were my refuge when annoyed — my dearest pleasure when free. — My **dreams** were all my own; I accounted for them to nobody; they were my refuge when annoyed — my dearest pleasure when free.

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

In fact, it is a farce to call any being virtuous whose virtues do not result from the exercise of its own reason.

Every political good carried to the extreme must be productive of evil.

7 Inspirational Mary Wollstonecraft Quotes About Life

“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

Friendship is a serious affection; the most sublime of all affections, because it is founded on principle, and cemented by time. — **Friendship** is a serious affection; the most sublime of all affections, because it is founded on principle, and cemented by **time**.

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

Surely something resides in this heart that is not perishable — and life is more than a dream. — Surely something resides in this heart that is not perishable — and **life** is more than a **dream**.

When we feel deeply, we reason profoundly.

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

8 Mary Wollstonecraft Quotes on Virtues

“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

Modesty is the graceful, calm virtue of maturity; bashfulness the charm of vivacious youth. — Modesty is the graceful, **calm** virtue of **maturity**; bashfulness the **charm** of vivacious youth.

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

It is vain to expect virtue from women till they are in some degree independent of men.

“For the improvement must be mutual, or the injustice which one half of the human race are obliged to submit to, retorting on their oppressors, the virtue of men will be worm-eaten by the insect whom he keeps under his feet.”
Mary Wollstonecraft

Make them free, and they will quickly become wise and virtuous, as men become more so. — Make them free, and they will quickly become **wise** and virtuous, as men become more so.

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

7 Mary Wollstonecraft Quotes to Empower Women

“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.”
Mary Wollstonecraft

Women do not want power over men, they want power over themselves.

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. — 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.

It is time to effect a revolution in female manners - time to restore to them their lost dignity. It is time to separate unchangeable morals from local manners. — It is time to effect a revolution in female manners – time to restore to them their lost dignity. It is time to separate unchangeable morals from local manners.

I wish to persuade women to endeavor to acquire strength, both of mind and body.

Women have seldom sufficient employment to silence their feelings.

Considering the length of time that women have been dependent, is it surprising that some of them hug their chains, and fawn like the spaniel?

4 Mary Wollstonecraft Quotes on Men

“I love man as my fellow; but his scepter, real, or usurped, extends not to me, unless the reason of an individual demands my homage, and even then the submission is to reason, and not to man.”
Mary Wollstonecraft

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

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

Children, I grant, should be innocent; but when the epithet is applied to men, or women, it is but a civil term for weakness.

2 Mary Wollstonecraft Quotes on Love

“Love from its very nature must be transitory. To seek for a secret that would render it constant would be as wild a search as for the philosopher’s stone or the grand panacea.”
Mary Wollstonecraft