And the differences thence arising [between the constitution of men and women] are no ways sufficient to argue more natural strength in the one than in the other, to qualify them more for military labors. Aren't the Women of different degrees of strength, like the Men? Are there not strong and weak of both sexes? Men educated in sloth and softness are weaker than Women; and Women, become harden'd by necessity, are often more robust than Men. (...) Woman may be ensured to all the hardships of a campaign, and to meet all the terrors of it, as well as the bravest of the opposite sex.

— Lady Sophia Fermor

As I walked over the loose fragments of stone, which lay scattered and surveyed the sublimity and grandeur of the ruins, I recurred, by a natural association of ideas, to the times when these walls stood proudly in their original splendor, when the halls were the scenes of hospitality and festive magnificence, and when they resounded with the voices of those whom death had long since swept from earth. "Thus," said I, "shall the present generation - he who now sink in misery - and he who now swim in pleasure, alike pass away and be forgotten.

— Ann Radcliffe

Bare strength entitles the Men to no superiority above us

— Lady Sophia Fermor

But where have [the Men] proved that we are not as capable of guarding ourselves from dangers, as they are of guarding us; had we the same power and advantages allowed us, which they have? (...) Are we safer under their conduct than our own? (...) There is scarce an instance in a million among Women, of one Woman of a middling capacity, who does not, or would not, govern herself better than most Men in parallel circumstances, if the circumvention, treachery, and baseness of that sex did not interfere. (...) Most Women are ruin'd, instead of being improve'd in heart or mind under the conduct of the Men. And therefore, since we are at most in no greater safety under their government than our own, there can be no solid reason assign'd why we show'd be subject to it.

— Lady Sophia Fermor

History is philosophy teaching by examples.

— Thomas Jefferson

(...) How many ladies have there been, and still are, who deserve place among the learned; and who are more capable of teaching the sciences than those who now fill most of the university chairs? The age we live in has produced as many, as any heretofore (...) And as our sex, when it applies to learning, may be said at least to keep pace with the Men, so are they more to be esteem'd for their learning than the latter: Since they are under a necessity of surmounting the softness they were educated in (...) to which cruel custom seem'd to condemn them; to overcome the external impediments in their way to study; and to conquer the disadvantageous notions, which the vulgar of both sexes entertain of learning in Women. (...) it is self-evident, that many of our sex have far outstrip the Men. Why then are we not as fit to learn and teach the sciences, at least to our own sex, as they fancy themselves to be?

— Lady Sophia Fermor

I begin with writing the first sentence—and trusting to Almighty God for the second.

— Laurence Sterne

I can't help suspecting, that there is, or may be some regurgitation from the bath into the cistern of the pump. In that case, what a delicate Beveridge is quaffed by the drinkers; medicated with the sweat and the dirt, and dandruff; and the abominable of various kinds, from twenty different diseased bodies, parboiling in the kettle below.

— Tobias Smollett

If from memorable time, the Men had been so little envious, and so very impartial, as to do justice to our talents, by admitting us to our right of sharing with them in public action; they you'd have been as accustomed to see us filling public offices, as we are to see them disgrace them; (...) A Schulman, with a thesis in her hand, displaying nature in its most innocent useful lights, you'd have been as familiar a sight, as a Physician in his chariot (...): And an Amazon, with a helmet on her head, animating her embattled troops, you'd have been no more a matter of surprise than a milliner behind a counter with a thimble on her finger (...). Not reason then, but error and ignorance cased in custom, makes these superficial creatures think it is an unnatural sight.

— Lady Sophia Fermor

I find that the old Roman baths of this quarter, were found covered by an old burying ground, belonging to the Abbey; through which, in all probability, the water drains in its passage; so that as we drink the decoction of the living bodies at the Pump-room, we swallow the straining of rotten bones and carcasses at the private bath - I vow to God, the very idea turns my stomach!

— Tobias Smollett