Margaret Cavendish Quotes
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, was an English philosopher, poet, and prose writer and the first woman to attend a meeting of the Royal Society. Working in the thick of the seventeenth-century philosophical debates, she developed an original materialist and vitalist natural philosophy in which all of nature, including matter, is rational and self-moving. The quotes below are attributed to Margaret Cavendish, organized by topic.
Margaret Cavendish on Freedom
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Attributed to Margaret Cavendish:
“If I cannot be Henry the Fifth, I will be Margaret the First.”
Margaret Cavendish on Knowledge
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Attributed to Margaret Cavendish:
“All knowledge is gained through reflection on experience.”
Margaret Cavendish on Mind
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Attributed to Margaret Cavendish:
“Thought is matter; and matter, rightly understood, is rational.”
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Attributed to Margaret Cavendish:
“Reason is corporeal, for it acts in matter and through matter.”
Margaret Cavendish on Nature
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Attributed to Margaret Cavendish:
“Nature is one infinite body, made of an infinite number of parts.”
Margaret Cavendish on Virtue
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Attributed to Margaret Cavendish:
“I had rather die in the adventure of noble achievements than live in obscure and sluggish security.”