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
It is the preservation of the species, not of individuals, which appears to be the design of Deity throughout the whole of nature.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes that nature focuses on the survival of species rather than individual lives.
Mary Wollstonecraft's quote suggests that the overarching intention of nature, and by extension the Deity, is to ensure the continuation and survival of species rather than prioritizing the lives of individual organisms. This reflects a broader perspective on existence, highlighting the interconnectedness of all life and the evolutionary processes that favor species survival over individual survival.
Themes
NatureSpeciesSurvivalDeityEvolution
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on environmental conservation, this quote can illustrate the importance of protecting ecosystems for the sake of species.
More from Mary Wollstonecraft
All quotes βMake 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
Similar quotes
Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees, So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and pray For the Glory of the Garden, that it may not pass away!
Rudyard KiplingRead
I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.
Emily DickinsonRead
Love is a powerful tool, and maybe, just maybe, before the last little town is corrupted and the last of the unroaded and undeveloped wildness is given over to dreams of profit, maybe it will be love, finally, love for the land for its own sake and for what it holds of beauty and joy and spiritual redemption that will make [wilderness] not a battlefield but a revelation.
T. H. WatkinsRead
We have a responsibility to protect the rights of generations, of all species, that cannot speak for themselves today. The global challenge of climate change requires that we ask no less of our leaders, or ourselves.
Wangari MaathaiRead
The divine communicates to us primarily through the language of the natural world. Not to hear the natural world is not to hear the divine.
Thomas BerryRead
Nature never deserts the wise and pure; no plot so narrow, be but nature there; no waste so vacant, but may well employ each faculty of sense, and keep the heart awake to love and beauty.
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeRead