Mary Wollstonecraft

"Girls are taught to look beautiful, not to become learned or virtuous."

"How grossly do they insult us who thus advise us only to render ourselves pleasing."

"The great art of pleasing is to render ourselves useful and agreeable to those with whom we converse."

"I am not fond of the company of men—nor have I found any to equal my female friends."

"Women, in fact, are everywhere to be seen, not because they are inferior, but because they have been despised."

"To render women truly virtuous, they must not be dependent on men."

"In order to gain the affections of a rational being, we must make ourselves rational."

"It is a farce to call any being virtuous whose virtues do not result from knowledge."

"How can we expect women to possess knowledge if they are denied education?"

"Virtue can only be acquired by knowledge."

"The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand."

"Women have been made subordinate by the ignorance and selfishness of men."

"Strength of mind is exercised by contending with difficulties."

"If we be really lovers of virtue, we shall not want precept to teach us to act rightly."

"The only way women can improve their condition is through education and economic independence."

"I regard women who are conducted with a due mixture of dignity and weakness as the most respectable."

"A woman who has a husband and a master will never be independent."

"Why must women be educated? Because they are human beings."

"The education of women should be entirely within their own hands, or they will never be truly free."

"Mankind will be free when women are free, for until then, half of humanity is enslaved."

"Patience is the capacity to bear pain without losing temper."

"I have not yet begun to fight for women's rights—I have merely started a conversation."

"Virtue is not an article of faith, but the basis of rational conduct."

"Women are all virgins, in the sense that they are unused and unformed."

"Great minds are always formed by the discipline of adversity."

"It is better to be alone than in bad company."

"The true foundation of all virtue must be knowledge."

"Women should be educated as rational beings and as human beings."

"Dependence is the great misery of human life."

"The exercise of reason improves the understanding; not the mere recital of facts."