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: 1698

"The lively Image of a Crucify'd Saviour then exhibited, could not but make very moving impressions on a mind of so much pious Warmth and Tenderness."

— Atterbury, Francis (1663-1732)

Date: 1698

"In this Glass [her journal] she every Day dress'd her Mind, to this faithful Monitor she repair'd for Advice and Direction, compar'd the past with the present, judg'd of what would be by what had been, observ'd nicely the several successive Degrees of Holiness She got, and of humane Infirmity sh...

— Atterbury, Francis (1663-1732)

Date: 1698

"You have paid Your sad Respects to Her; be not now wanting to Your selves: but 'Gird up the Loins of Your Mind', and be Ye comforted!"

— Atterbury, Francis (1663-1732)

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)