A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

by Mary Wollstonecraft

I really think that women ought to have representatives, instead of being arbitrarily governed without having any direct share allowed them in the deliberations of government.

There seems to be an indolent propensity in man to make prescription always take place of reason, and to place every duty on an arbitrary foundation.

when they are obliged to submit to authority blindly, their faculties are weakened, and their tempers rendered imperious or abject.

I have before had occasion to observe, that a right always includes a duty, and I think it may, likewise fairly be inferred, that they forfeit the right, who do not fulfil the duty.

It is one of the most sublime virtues of maturity that leads us to be severe with respect to ourselves, and forbearing to others;

Few, I believe, have had much affection for mankind, who did not first love their parents, their brothers, sisters, and even the domestic brutes, whom they first played with.

i.e. pets.

They cannot be injured by the experiment; for it is not in the power of man to render them more insignificant than they are at present.

it will be a long time, I fear, before the world is so enlightened, that parents, only anxious to render their children virtuous, will let them choose companions for life themselves.

Society can only be happy and free in proportion as it is virtuous;

those who can see pain, unmoved, will soon learn to inflict it.

only by the jostlings of equality can we form a just opinion of ourselves.