"Every one knows, that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves in the midst of crowds and business. Hence come those frequent absences, so observable in conversation; for whilst the body is confined to present company, the mind is flown to that which it delights in"
About this Quote
Desire, Astell suggests, is the most efficient absentee landlord: it collects attention even when the body is paying rent in public. Her point lands with a dry, almost proto-psychological clarity. We all recognize the social glitch she names - the friend who smiles a half-beat late, the courtier whose gaze drifts, the conversationalist whose replies arrive pre-chewed. Astell reframes that as evidence of the mind's sovereignty. You can police posture and punctuality; you cannot legislate fixation.
The intent is quietly disruptive. In a culture built on decorum, where women in particular were expected to perform presence as a moral duty, "frequent absences" reads like both diagnosis and defense. What looks like rudeness or flightiness becomes a sign of interior life: thought has its own itinerary, powered by love rather than etiquette. The subtext nudges at a larger claim Astell makes across her work: the mind is not a decorative accessory but the core of personhood, and it demands room to move.
Context sharpens the edge. Writing in a period that treated female attention as something to be trained toward piety, obedience, and social harmony, Astell smuggles in an argument for mental autonomy. "Crowds and business" are the world’s demands; "that which it delights in" is the private counter-world where genuine agency forms. She isn’t romanticizing distraction so much as exposing where power really sits: not in the room, but in whatever can steal you from it.
The intent is quietly disruptive. In a culture built on decorum, where women in particular were expected to perform presence as a moral duty, "frequent absences" reads like both diagnosis and defense. What looks like rudeness or flightiness becomes a sign of interior life: thought has its own itinerary, powered by love rather than etiquette. The subtext nudges at a larger claim Astell makes across her work: the mind is not a decorative accessory but the core of personhood, and it demands room to move.
Context sharpens the edge. Writing in a period that treated female attention as something to be trained toward piety, obedience, and social harmony, Astell smuggles in an argument for mental autonomy. "Crowds and business" are the world’s demands; "that which it delights in" is the private counter-world where genuine agency forms. She isn’t romanticizing distraction so much as exposing where power really sits: not in the room, but in whatever can steal you from it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Love |
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