;
; Quotes by Women
;
; These are all quotes by women. Many of them
; have to do with work, the women's suffrage 
; movement, or women's history.

My mother told me stories all the time... And in 
all of those stories she told me who I was, who I 
was supposed to be, whom I came from, and who would 
follow me... That's what she said and what she showed 
me in the things she did and the way she lives.
--Paula Gunn Allen, in The Sacred Hoop

Black women have not historically stood in the 
pulpit, but that doesn't undermine the fact that 
they built the churches and maintain the pulpits.
--Maya Angelou, poet/author

Cautious, careful people, always casting about 
to preserve their reputation and social standing, 
never can bring about reform.
--Susan Brownell Anthony, 1860

Reconciliation should be accompanied by justice, 
otherwise it will not last. While we all hope for 
peace it shouldn't be peace at any cost but peace 
based on principle, on justice.
--Corazon Aquino

Ladies, we must remind ourselves that the weapon of 
the vote will be for us, just as it is for man, the 
only means of obtaining the reforms we desire. As long 
as we remain excluded from civic life, men will attend 
to their own interests rather than to ours.
--Hubertine Auclert, France, 1879

Women were brought up to believe that men were the 
answer. They weren't. They weren't even one of the 
questions.
--Julian Barnes, English, novelist

When women are depressed they either eat or go 
shopping. Men invade another country.
--Elayne Boosler

The secret of joy in work is contained in one 
word: excellence. To know how to do something 
well is to enjoy it.
--Pearl Buck

The state of the world today demands that women 
become less modest and dream/plan/act/risk on a 
larger scale.
--Charlotte Bunch

You don't just luck into things as much as 
you'd like to think you do. You build step 
by step, whether it's friendships or 
opportunities.
--U.S. First Lady Barbara Bush

Parliaments have stopped laughing at woman 
suffrage, and politicians have begun to dodge! 
It is the inevitable premonition of coming 
victory.
--Carrie Chapman Catt, International Woman Suffrage Association, 1913

Remember our heritage is our power; we can 
know ourselves and our capacities by seeing 
that other women have been strong.
--Judy Chicago, feminist artist

To reclaim our past and insist that it become a part 
of our human history is the task that lies before us. 
For the future requires that women, as well as men, 
shape the world destiny.
--Judy Chicago, feminist artist

Nothing in life is to be feared. 
It is only to be understood.
--Marie Curie, scientist

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, 
abstains from giving us worthy evidence of the 
fact.
--George Eliot, writer

A girl should not expect special privileges 
because of her sex but neither should she 
adjust to prejudice and discrimination.
--Betty Friedan, feminist

My grandfather once told me that there are two 
kinds of people: those who work and those who 
take the credit. He told me to try to be in the 
first group; there was less competition there.
--Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India

Women have the right to mount the scaffold; 
they should likewise have the right to mount 
the rostrum.
--Olympe de Gouges

Security is mostly a superstition. It does 
not exist in nature... Life is either a daring 
adventure or nothing.
--Helen Keller, author, The Open Door

It is not power that corrupts, but fear. 
Fear of losing power corrupts.
--Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma (Myanmar), 1991

Women's history is the primary tool for 
women's emancipation.
--Gerda Lerner

The history of an oppressed people is hidden 
in the lies and the agreed-upon myth of its 
conquerors.
--Meridel Le Sueur, author

They say that women talk too much. If you 
have worked in Congress, you know that the 
filibuster was invented by men.
--Clare Booth Luce

It's far more impressive when others 
discover your good qualities without 
your help.
--Judith S. Marin

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful 
committed people can change the world: indeed 
it's the only thing that ever has!
--Margaret Mead, anthropologist

For women there are, undoubtedly, great 
difficulties in the path, but so much more 
to overcome. First, no woman should say, 
"I am but a woman!" But a woman! What more 
can you ask to be?
--Astronomer Maria Mitchell, 1896

Whoever said, "It's not whether you win 
or lose that counts," probably lost.
--Martina Navritalova

Why have women passion, intellect, moral 
activity--these three--and a place in society 
where no one of the three can be exercised?
--Florence Nightingale

I don't know that there are any shortcuts 
to doing a good job.
--Sandra Day O'Connor

Remember the dignity of your womanhood. 
Do not appeal, do not beg, do not grovel. 
Take courage, join hands, stand beside us, 
fight with us.
--Christabel Pankhurst, British suffragette, 1880-1950

I always feel the movement is a sort of mosaic. 
Each of us puts in one little stone, and then 
you get a great mosaic at the end.
--Alice Paul, pioneer suffragist

You can no more win a war than you can 
win an earthquake.
--Montana Representative Jeannette Rankin

People grow through experience if they meet 
life honestly and courageously. This is how 
character is built.
--U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, in My Day

The future belongs to those who believe in 
the beauty of their dreams.
--U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt

The liberated woman is not that modern doll 
who wears make-up and tasteless clothes... The 
liberated woman is a person who believes that 
she is as human as a man. The liberated woman 
does not insist on her freedom so as to abuse it.
--Ghada Samman, Syrian writer, 1961

Men have singled out women of outstanding 
merit and put them on a pedestal to avoid 
recognizing the capabilities of all women.
--Huda Shaarawi, Egyptian writer, 1924

If you want anything said, ask a man. 
If you want anything done, ask a woman.
--English Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

If it is true that men are better than women 
because they are stronger, why aren't our sumo 
wrestlers in the government?
--Kishida Toshiko, 19th century Japanese feminist

A good idea will keep you awake during 
the morning, but a great idea will keep 
you awake during the night.
--Marilyn Vos Savant

I myself have never been able to find out 
precisely what feminism is; I only know 
that people call me a feminist whenever I 
express sentiments that differentiate me 
from a doormat.
--Rebecca West, The Clarion, 1913, England

I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, 
simple things of life which are the real ones 
after all.
--Laura Ingalls Wilder, pioneer and writer

All of my life I have always had the urge 
to do things better than anybody else.
--Babe Didrikson Zaharias