How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Girls are from the earliest infancy fond of dress. Not content with being pretty, they are desirous of being thought so; we see, by all their little airs, that this thought engages their attention. (5.11)
Young women are fond of dress, but not just because they want to be pretty. The most important thing in the world is for people to think they're pretty. Women are taught to seek out affirmation of their beauty, instead of being content with simply being beautiful.
Quote #8
It is this system of dissimulation, throughout the volume, that I despise. Women are always to seem to be this and that. (5.96)
One thing that Wollstonecraft hates is the way women are taught to value seeming above being. If the way people see you is seen as the ultimate accomplishment, you'll never spend any time thinking about who you are on the inside.
Quote #9
How much more respectable is the woman who earns her own bread by fulfilling any duty, than the most accomplished beauty! (9.30)
Wollstonecraft states repeatedly that beauty is transient, but a solid skill set is permanent. Furthermore, the "accomplishment" of beauty can never be internalized and can only be understood through outside affirmation. If you're really good at, say, carpentry, you can say to yourself "Dang, I built a really nice cabinet." You can't get the same sense of accomplishment by being a pretty face.