Carelessness, Incompetence, Deliberate, Department of Justice, Unsafe, Danielle Bensky

“I thought it was carelessness, and then I went to incompetence, and now it feels a bit deliberate. … I feel like the Department of Justice has really made us feel unsafe.” – Danielle Bensky, a former ballerina who met Jeffrey Epstein at 17, speaking to NBC News about the disclosure of victim-identifying information in the DOJ’s release of the Epstein files.

Found in Spring 2026 issue of Ms. Magazine, page 6.

Play Ostrich, Democracy, Liberty, Justice, Thurgood Marshall

“We cannot play ostrich. Democracy just cannot flourish amid fear. Liberty cannot bloom amid hate. Justice cannot take root amid rage. America must get to work. In the chill climate in which we live, we must go against the prevailing wind. We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust. We must dissent from a nation that has buried its head in the sand, waiting in vain for the needs of its poor, its elderly, and its sick to disappear and just blow away. We must dissent from a government that has left its young without jobs, education or hope. We must dissent from the poverty of vision and the absence of moral leadership. We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better.” ― Thurgood Marshall

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/331989.Thurgood_Marshall.

Life, Anguish, Defend It, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

“Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/11139.Mary_Wollstonecraft_Shelley.

Corruption, Regine, Extremists, Alexei Navalny

“When corruption is the very foundation of a regime, those who battle it are extremists.” ― Alexei Navalny, Patriot: A Memoir

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/7149583.Alexei_Navalny.

Self-Defense, Defending, Gloria Steinem

“The best thing about self-defense is knowing there is a self worth defending.” - Gloria Steinem

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 20.

Want to Write, Create, Most Sublime Fool, Ray Bradbury

“If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. You must write every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories — science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.” ― Ray Bradbury

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1630.Ray_Bradbury.

Speak, Afraid, Silent, Audre Lorde

"When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak." - Audre Lorde

This is from Brainy Quote. Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/audrelorde392663.html.