But, alas! what poor Woman is ever taught that she should have a higher Design than to get her a Husband?
Mary AstellRead
How can a Man respect his Wife when he has a contemptible Opinion of her and her Sex?
Interpretation
Respect in marriage is fundamental and cannot coexist with negative views.
Mary Astell's quote emphasizes the importance of respect within a marriage, suggesting that a man cannot truly respect his wife if he holds a low opinion of her or women in general. It highlights the detrimental effects of misogyny on relationships, pointing out that mutual respect is essential for a healthy partnership.
In practice
This quote could serve as a poignant reminder during a discussion on gender equality.
But, alas! what poor Woman is ever taught that she should have a higher Design than to get her a Husband?
Hitherto I have courted Truth with a kind of Romantick Passion, in spite of all Difficulties and Discouragements: for knowledge is thought so unnecessary an Accomplishment for a Woman, that few will give themselves the Trouble to assist us in the Attainment of it.
Although it has been said by men of more wit than wisdom, and perhaps more malice than either, that women are naturally incapable of acting prudently, or that they are necessarily determined to folly, I must by no means grant it.
If God had not intended that Women shou'd use their Reason, He wou'd not have given them any, 'for He does nothing in vain.
When you write about animals, of course, you are really writing about the people who love and live with them. Animals mirror and reveal us. Dogs in particular are often reflections of us, and what we need them to be.
If you wish to be brothers, drop your weapons.
The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists of listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to his word, so the beginning of love for our brothers and sisters is learning to listen to them.
My great hope for us as young women is to start being kinder to ourselves so that we can be kinder to each other. To stop shaming ourselves and other people for things we don't know the full story on - whether someone is too fat, too skinny, too short, too tall, too loud, too quiet, too anything. There's a sense that we're all βtooβ something, and we're all not enough.
I can never close my lips where I have opened my heart
When I look at relationships, my own and others, I see a wide range of reasons for people to be together and ways in which they are together. I see ways in which a relationship - which means something that exists between two or more people - for the most part reinforces people's separateness as individual entities.
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