Mary Astell

"Every Body has so good an Opinion of their own Understanding as to think their own way the best."

"The design of Rhetoric is to remove those Prejudices that lie in the way of Truth, to Reduce the Passions to the Government of Reasons to place our Subject in a Right Light, and excite our Hearers to a due consideration of it."

"But, alas! what poor Woman is ever taught that she should have a higher Design than to get her a Husband?"

"God is His own Design and End, and that there is no other Worthy of Him."

"Ignorance and a narrow education lay the foundation of vice, and imitation and custom rear it up."

"The design of Rhetoric is to remove those Prejudices that lie in the way of Truth, to Reduce the Passions to the Government of Reasons to place our Subject in a Right Light, and excite our Hearers to a due consideration of it."