Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
For any kind of reading I think better than leaving a blank still a blank, because the mind must receive a degree of enlargement and obtain a little strength by a slight exertion of its thinking powers; besides, even the productions that are only addressed to the imagination, raise the reader a little above the gross gratification of appetites, to which the mind has not given a shade of delicacy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Reading enriches the mind and promotes intellectual growth, even when the material is not profound.
Mary Wollstonecraft argues that engaging with any type of reading, even if it is light or frivolous, is preferable to not reading at all. She believes this engagement challenges the mind, expands its capabilities, and elevates our thoughts beyond mere basic desires, encouraging deeper reflections and intellectual refinement.
Themes
ReadingMindIntellectual GrowthImaginationThinking Powers
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of education, one might quote Wollstonecraft to advocate for the benefits of reading.
More from Mary Wollstonecraft
All quotes →Make women rational creatures, and free citizens, and they will quickly become good wives; - that is, if men do not neglect the duties of husbands and fathers.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
But what a weak barrier is truth when it stands in the way of an hypothesis!
Mary WollstonecraftRead
The divine right of husbands, like the divine right of kings, may, it is hoped, in this enlightened age, be contested without danger.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
Women are degraded by the propensity to enjoy the present moment, and, at last, despise the freedom which they have not sufficient virtue to struggle to attain.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
Perhaps the seeds of false-refinement, immorality, and vanity, have ever been shed by the great. Weak, artificial beings, raised above the common wants and defections of their race, in a premature and unnatural manner, undermine the very foundation of virtue, and spread corruption through the whole mass of society!
Mary WollstonecraftRead
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A good example is the best sermon.
Benjamin FranklinRead