Taught from 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.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
Love from its very nature must be transitory. To seek for a secret that would render it constant would be as wild a search as for the philosopher’s stone or the grand panacea: and the discovery would be equally useless, or rather pernicious to mankind. The most holy band of society is friendship.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Love is inherently fleeting, and trying to make it constant can be harmful.
In this quote, Mary Wollstonecraft reflects on the transient nature of love, suggesting that the pursuit of a way to make love everlasting is as futile as seeking the mythical philosopher's stone. She argues that such a discovery would not bring any true benefit to humanity and emphasizes that friendship is the most important and sacred bond in society.
Themes
LoveTransitoryFriendshipSocietyNature
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the impermanence of romantic relationships.
More from Mary Wollstonecraft
All quotes →Make women rational creatures, and free citizens, and they will quickly become good wives; - that is, if men do not neglect the duties of husbands and fathers.
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But what a weak barrier is truth when it stands in the way of an hypothesis!
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The divine right of husbands, like the divine right of kings, may, it is hoped, in this enlightened age, be contested without danger.
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Women are degraded by the propensity to enjoy the present moment, and, at last, despise the freedom which they have not sufficient virtue to struggle to attain.
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Perhaps the seeds of false-refinement, immorality, and vanity, have ever been shed by the great. Weak, artificial beings, raised above the common wants and defections of their race, in a premature and unnatural manner, undermine the very foundation of virtue, and spread corruption through the whole mass of society!
Mary WollstonecraftRead
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