A Vindication of the Rights of Woman - Mary Wollstonecraft

I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.

My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone.

[I]f we revert to history, we shall find that the women who have distinguished themselves have neither been the most beautiful nor the most gentle of their sex.

It is vain to expect virtue from women till they are in some degree independent of men.