Date: 1694

"An obliging Design, which wou'd procure them inward Beauty, to whom Nature has unkindly denied the outward; and not permit those Ladies who have comely Bodies, to tarnish their Glory with deformed Souls."

— Astell, Mary (1666-1731)

Date: 1694

"Your Glass will not do you half so much service as a serious reflection on your own Minds; which will discover Irregularities more worthy your Correction, and keep you from being either too much elated or depress'd by the representations of the other."

— Astell, Mary (1666-1731)

Date: 1694

"No solicitude in the adornation of your selves is discommended, provided you employ your care about that which is really your self; and do not neglect that particle of Divinity within you, which must survive, and may (if you please) be happy and perfect when it’s unsuitable and much inferiour Co...

— Astell, Mary (1666-1731)

Date: 1694

"What your own sentiments are, I know not, but I cannot without pity and resentment reflect, that those Glorious Temples on which your kind Creator has bestow'd such exquisite workmanship, shou'd enshrine no better than Egyptian Deities; be like a garnish'd Sepulchre, which for all it's glitterin...

— Astell, Mary (1666-1731)

Date: 1700

"Affliction, the sincerest Friend, the frankest Monitor, the best Instructer and indeed the only useful School that Women are ever put to, rouses her understanding, opens her Eyes, fixes her Attention, and diffuses such a Light, such a Joy into her Mind, as not only Informs her better, but Entert...

— Astell, Mary (1666–1731)

Date: 1700

"Now what is it that strikes a judicious Tast? Not that to be sure which injures the absent, or provokes the Company, which poisons the Mind under pretence of entertaining it, proceeding from or giving Countenance to false Ideas, to dangerous and immoral Principles."

— Astell, Mary (1666–1731)

Date: 1700

"Wit indeed is distinct from Judgment but it is not contrary to it; 'tis rather its Handmaid, serving to awaken and fix the Attention, that so we may Judge rightly."

— Astell, Mary (1666–1731)

Date: 1700

"She who Elects a Monarch for Life, who gives him an Authority she cannot recall however he misapply it, who puts her Fortune and Person entirely in his Power; nay even the very desires of her Heart according to some learned Casuists, so as that it is not lawful to Will or Desire any thing but wh...

— Astell, Mary (1666–1731)

Date: 1700

"What can be the Object of Love but amiable Qualities, the Image of the Deity impress'd upon a generous and god-like Mind, a Mind that is above this World, to be sure above all the Vices, the Tricks and Baseness of it; a Mind that is not full of it self, nor contracted to little private Interests...

— Astell, Mary (1666–1731)

Date: 1700

"As it can't but be uneasie to the Person who pays it, so he who receives it will be sometimes disappointed when he expects to find it, for that Woman must be endow'd with a Wisdom and Goodness much above what we suppose the Sex capable of, I fear much greater than e're a Man can pretend to, who ...

— Astell, Mary (1666–1731)