An open library of thought
Educate women as rational beings, not as ornaments.
Reason is a gift bestowed on every human being; if women possess it, their duties must be grounded in their own understanding rather than imposed by men acting as exclusive judges.
A rule that a pupil obeys without understanding it trains habit, not the judgment that virtue requires.
The delicacy, vanity and cunning attributed to women are produced by an education aimed at pleasing and by economic dependence, not by nature.
A girl kept from exercise and serious study, and praised only for her looks, learns to rely on charm rather than strength.
Personal and economic independence is, in Wollstonecraft’s words, the grand blessing of life and the basis of every virtue, because dependence breeds servility in the governed and tyranny in those who govern.
A woman able to earn her living in a trade or profession can marry from affection rather than necessity.
Marriage should rest on mutual esteem between rational companions, a bond that outlasts passion and allows both spouses to fulfil their duties as parents and citizens.
Spouses who discuss their reading and the education of their children build a bond that does not depend on youthful beauty.