Freedom and Justice, Have Fun, Be Outrageous, Molly Ivins

“So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce.” - Molly Ivins

Found in Quotes for Nasty Women: Empowering Wisdom from Women Who Break the Rules, by Linda Picone, page 34.

Clever, Change the World, Wise, Changing Myself, Rumi

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” ― Rumi

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/875661.Rumi.

Reject, Race or Religion, Political Correctness, What Makes Us Strong, Diversity, Barack Obama

"We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isn't a matter of political correctness. It's a matter of understanding what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith." - Barack Obama

Found on Brainy Quote. Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/barack_obama_733946.

No Person, Friend, Silence, Right to Grow, Alice Walker

“No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.” - Alice Walker

Found in Quotes for Nasty Women: Empowering Wisdom from Women Who Break the Rules, by Linda Picone, page 89.

Peaceful Revolution, John F. Kennedy

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” - John F. Kennedy

Found in Great Quotes from Great Leaders, by Peggy Anderson, page 84.

Broom of Anger, Beast of Fear, Zora Neale Hurston

"Grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear." - Zora Neale Hurston

From BrainyQuote. Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/zora_neale_hurston_158891.

Books, Perfect Entertainment, Stephen King

“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn't carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.” ― Stephen King

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3389.Stephen_King.

Change Things, Make a Fuss, Elizabeth Janeway

“If one is going to change things, one has to make a fuss and catch the eye of the world.” - Elizabeth Janeway

Found on Inspiring Quotes at https://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/4109-elizabeth-janeway.

Vote, Most Powerful Nonviolent Change Agent, John Lewis

“The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society.” - The late Rep. John Lewis

Found on page 1, Ms. Magazine, Fall 2020

Dance, Free, Rumi

“Dance, when you're broken open. Dance, if you've torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you're perfectly free.” ― Rumi

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/875661.Rumi.

Fight, Government, Save the Environment, Ansel Adams

"It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment." - Ansel Adams

Found on Brainy Quote at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/ansel_adams_161651.

Known Joy, Pain, Friendship, Served and Been Served, Zora Neale Hurston

“I have known the joy and pain of friendship. I have served and been served. I have made some good enemies for which I am not a bit sorry. I have loved unselfishly, and I have fondled hatred with the red-hot tongs of Hell. That's living.” ― Zora Neale Hurston

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/15151.Zora_Neale_Hurston.

No Man, Good Enough, Govern Any Woman, Susan B. Anthony

"No man is good enough to govern any woman without her consent." - Susan B. Anthony

Found on Brainy Quote. Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/susan_b_anthony_399720.

Agonize, Organize, Florynce Kennedy

“Don't agonize. Organize.” - Fleet-tongued Florynce Kennedy. Fortunately, the Ur-activist of the Sixties and Seventies seldom stayed down in the dumps for long.

Found in Loose Cannons: Devastating Dish from the World's Wildest Women, complied by Autumn Stephens, page 70.

Any Human Relationship, Motherhood, Instantly Interruptible, Tillie Olsen

“More than in any human relationship, overwhelmingly more, motherhood means being instantly interruptible. It is distraction, not meditation, that becomes habitual; interruption, not continuity.” ― Tillie Olsen, Silences

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/89863.Tillie_Olsen.

Born With Wings, Crawl, Rumi

“You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?” ― Rumi

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/875661.Rumi.

Humor, Antidote to Isolation, Elizabeth Janeway

“Humor is an antidote to isolation.” - Elizabeth Janeway

Found on Inspiring Quotes at https://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/4109-elizabeth-janeway.

Bitterness, Coward's Revenge, Zora Neale Hurston

“Bitterness is the coward's revenge on the world for having been hurt.” ― Zora Neale Hurston

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/15151.Zora_Neale_Hurston.

Message, Above the Law, Tarana Burke, Fatima Goss Graves, Al-Jen Poo, Monica Ramirez, #MeToo Movement

“The verdict sends a resound message. ...To perpetrators, it is proof that no one is above the law, not even those with power, money or visibilty.” - #MeToo Movement leaders Tarana Burke, Fatima Goss Graves, Al-Jen Poo and Monica Ramirez, in a statement released after a New York jury found once-powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein guilty of sexual assault and third-degree rape.

Found in Ms. Magazine, Spring 2020, page 6.

Most Powerful Woman, Misogyny, Nancy Pelosi

“Every time I get introduced as the most powerful woman, I almost cry, because I wish that were not true. I so wish that we had a woman president of the United States, and we came very close to doing that. ...I do think there’s a certain element of misogyny.” - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the highest-raning woman ever to serve in the U.S. government, speaking at her weekly news conference after Sen. Elizabeth Warren ended her presidential bid.

Found in Ms. Magazine, Spring 2020, page 6.

Hold Each Other Accountable, Standing Up Against Racism, Discrimination, Dayonna Carson

“We need to hold each other accountable for standing up against racism and discrimination of any kind. We must not let the progress of our ancestors have been in vain.” - High school senior Dayonna Carson during her valedictorian speech at Central High School in Chattanooga, Tenn.; the school’s administrators turned off her mic as she finished her speech with “No justice, no peace”.

Found in Ms. Magazine, Fall 2020, page 6.

Biggest Sin, Sitting, Florynce Kennedy

“The biggest sin is sitting on your ass.” - Fleet-tongued Florynce Kennedy. Fortunately, the Ur-activist of the Sixties and Seventies seldom stayed down in the dumps for long.

Found in Loose Cannons: Devastating Dish from the World's Wildest Women, complied by Autumn Stephens, page 70.

Justice, What Love Looks Like, Public, Cornel West

“Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.” ― Cornel West

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/6176.Cornel_West.

Understand a Person, Point of View, Atticus Finch, Harper Lee

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” (Atticus Finch) ― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Found on Goodreads, at https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/3275794-to-kill-a-mockingbird.

Black Woman Writer, Bell Hooks

“No black woman writer in this culture can write 'too much.' Indeed, no woman writer can write 'too much.'...No woman has ever written enough.” - Bell Hooks

Found in The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Rebellion, by Gloria Steinem, page 53.

Nogogo, Grandma, Same Amount of Money, Same Kind of Work, Same Kind of Training, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

“I want, in a few years, in my lifetime, to have my child and my grandchildren say to me, ‘Nogogo (which means “grandma” in my language), is it true that moms and dads did not get the same amount of money when they were doing the same kind of work with the same kind of training?’ And I would say, ‘Yes,’ and they’d say, ‘No, Nogogo, you’re joking, that can’t be true,’ because it would sound so impossible to our grandchildren.” - Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of U.N. Women, at the G7 ministerial meeting on gender equality and women’s empowerment in Paris.

Found in Ms. Magazine, Winter 2020, page 6.

Test, Hold a Job, Chromosomes, Bella Abzug

“The test for whether or not you can hold a job should not be the arrangement of your chromosomes.” - Bella Abzug, three-term U.S. Congresswoman from New York, known both for the unconventional contents of her cranium and her penchant for placing ladylike chapeaux on it.

Found in Wild Words from Wild Women: An Unbridled Collection of Candid Observations & Extremely Opinionated Bon Mots, Compiled by Autumn Stephens, page 55.

Can't Say Anything Good, Sit Right Here, Alice Roosevelt Longsworth

“If you can't say anything good about someone, sit right here by me.” - Alice Roosevelt Longsworth

Found in Women's Lip: Outrageous, Irreverent and Just Plain Hilarious Quotes, edited by Roz Warren, page 47.

Leave Something Behind, Ray Bradbury

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there.

"It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.” ― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Found on Goodreads. Click here to see this and other Ray Bradbury quotes.

Optimist, Prisoner of Hope, Cornel West

“I cannot be an optimist but I am a prisoner of hope.” ― Cornel West

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/6176.Cornel_West.

Majority Rule, Person's Conscience, Harper Lee

“The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.” - Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Found in The Last Word: A Treasury of Women's Quotes, by Carolyn Warner, page 54.