"Movet me ingens scientiarum admiratio, seu legis communis aequitas,
ut in nostro sexu, rarum non esse feram, id quod omnium votis
dignissimum est. Nam cum sapientia tantum generis humani ornamentum
sit, ut ad omnes et singulos (quoad quidem per sortem cujusque
liceat) extendi jure debeat, non vidi, cur virgini, in qua excolendi
sese ornandique sedulitatem admittimus, non conveniat mundus hic
omnium longè pulcherrimus."--ANNAE MARIAE À SCHURMAN EPISTOLAE.
(1638.)
"A great reverence for knowledge and the natural sense of justice
urge me to encourage in my own sex that which is most worthy the
aspirations of all. For, since wisdom is so great an ornament of the
human race that it should of right be extended (so far as
practicable) to each and every one, I have not perceived why this
fairest of ornaments should not be appropriate for the maiden, to
whom we permit all diligence in the decoration and adornment of
herself."