In fact, it is a farce to call any being virtuous whose virtues do not result from the exercise of its own reason.

To be a good mother, a woman must have sense, and that independence of mind which few women possess who are taught to depend entirely on their husbands. Meek wives are, in general, foolish mothers; wanting their children to love them best, and take their part, in secret, against the father, who is held up as a scarecrow.

The mind will ever be unstable that has only prejudices to rest on, and the current will run with destructive fury when there are no barriers to break its force.

It appears to me impossible that I should cease to exist, or that this active, restless spirit, equally alive to joy and sorrow, should only be organised dust - ready to fly abroad the moment the spring snaps, or the spark goes out, which kept it together. Surely something resides in this heart that is not perishable - and life is more than a dream.

How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?

Only that education deserves emphatically to be termed cultivation of the mind which teaches young people how to begin to think.

Till women are more rationally educated, the progress in human virtue and improvement in knowledge must receive continual checks.