Mary Wollstonecraft — "The most respectable women are the most oppressed."

"How can a being be noble who is only good because she is afraid of being wicked?"

"Women are told from their infancy, and taught by the example of their mothers, that a little knowledge of human weakness, justly termed cunning, softness of temper, outward obedience, and a scrupulous…"

"Taught from their 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."

"I am not a philosopher, but a woman of feeling."

"Men have been more anxious to make women alluring mistresses than affectionate wives and rational mothers."