Mary Astell Quotes on Politics
Mary Astell was an English philosopher and one of the first advocates in English of the equal education of women. This page collects quotes attributed to Mary Astell on the topic of politics, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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“If all Men are born free, how is it that all Women are born slaves?”
Reflection upon Marriage (1700), as quoted in Astell: Political Writings , p. 18, by Mary Astell, Editor Patricia Springborg. Editorial Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN 0521428459 . -
“If absolute Sovereignty be not necessary in a State, how comes it to be so in a Family?”
As quoted in Mary Astell: Reason, Gender, Faith , p. 203, by William Kolbrener. Editor Michal Michelson. Editorial Routledge, 2016. ISBN 1317100093 . -
“Is it the being tied to One that offends us? Why this ought rather to recommend it to us, and would really do so, were we guided by reason, and not by humor and brutish passion. He who does not make friendship the chief inducement of his choice, and prefer it before any other consideration does not deserve a good wife, and therefore should not complain if he goes without one... The Christian insti”
As quoted in Women's Political & Social Thought: An Anthology , p. 112. Editors Hilda L. Smith, Berenice A. Carroll. Editorial Indiana University Press, 2000. ISBN 0253337585 . -
“Again, if Absolute Sovereignty be not necessary in a State, how comes it to be so in a family? Or if in a Family why not in a State; since no Reason can Be alle'd for the one that will not hold more strongly for the other?”
As quoted in Mary Astell: Reason, Gender, Faith , p. 203, by William Kolbrener. Editor Michal Michelson. Editorial Routledge, 2016. ISBN 1317100093 .