It is vain to expect virtue from women till they are in some degree independent of men.

I think I love most people best when they are in adversity; for pity is one of my prevailing passions.

The same energy of character which renders a man a daring villain would have rendered him useful in society, had that society been well organized.

The endeavor to keep alive any hoary establishment beyond its natural date is often pernicious and always useless.

What, but the rapacity of the only men who exercised their reason, the priests, secured such vast property to the church, when a man gave his perishable substance to save himself from the dark torments of purgatory.

The beginning is always today.

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. Men have various employments and pursuits which engage their attention, and give a character to the opening mind; but women, confined to one, and having their thoughts constantly directed to the most insignificant part of themselves, seldom extend their views beyond the triumph of the hour.