Mary Wollstonecraft Quotes

but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart

Increase of knowledge only discovered to me more clearly what a wretched outcast I was.

What did this mean? Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination?

The blood flowed freely in my veins, but a weight of despair and remorse pressed on my heart, which nothing could remove.

"Natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate; I desire, therefore, in this narration, to state those facts which led to my predilection for that science. When I was thirteen years of age, we all went on a party of pleasure to the baths near Thonon: the inclemency of the weather obliged us to remain a day confined to the inn. In this house I chanced to find a volume of the works of Cornelius Agrippa. I opened it with apathy; the theory which he attempts to demonstrate, and the wonderful facts which he relates, soon changed this feeling into enthusiasm. A new light seemed to dawn upon my mind; and, bounding with joy, I communicated my discovery to my father. My father looked carelessly at the title page of my book, and said, "Ah! Cornelius Agrippa! My dear Victor, do not waste your time upon this; it is sad trash."

If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded, and that a modern system of science had been introduced, which possessed much greater powers than the ancient, because the powers of the latter were chimerical, while those of the former were real and practical; under such circumstances, I should certainly have thrown Agrippa aside, and have contented my imagination, warmed as it was, by returning with greater ardour to my former studies. It is even possible that the train of my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse that led to my ruin. But the cursory glance my father had taken of my volume by no means assured me that he was acquainted with its contents; and I continued to read with the greatest avidity."

The sound of the river raging among the rocks, and the dashing of the waterfalls around, spoke of a power mighty as Omnipotence – and I ceased to fear or to bend before any being less almighty than that which had created and ruled the elements, here displayed in their most terrific guise.

¿ Era el hombre, efectivamente, tan poderoso, tan virtuoso y magnífico, y no obstante tan depravado y tan bajo? Unas veces parecía un mero vástago del principio del mal; otras,lo más noble y divino que cabe imaginar.

Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all humankind sinned against me?

Nuestras almas están formadas de muy extraña manera y nuestras vidas penden solo de leves lazos, cuya rotura puede arrojarlas a la prosperidad o la ruina.

hall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man

I am by birth a Genevese, and my family is one of the most distinguished of that republic. My ancestors had been for many years counsellors and syndics, and my father had filled several public situations with honour and reputation. He was respected by all who knew him for his integrity and indefatigable attention to public business. He passed his younger days perpetually occupied by the affairs of his country; a variety of circumstances had prevented his marrying early, nor was it until the decline of life that he became a husband and the father of a family.

My courage and my resolution is firm; but my hopes fluctuate, and my spirits are often depressed.

There is love in me the likes of which you've never seen. There is rage in me the likes of which should never escape. If I am not satisfied int he one, I will indulge the other.

The agonies of remorse poison the luxury there is otherwise sometimes found in the excess of grief.

voyage to render their seeming eccentricities consistent forever. I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of ma