Changing the World, Changing Himself, Leo Tolstoy

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” - Leo Tolstoy

Found on Goodreads at,a href=https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/128382.Leo_Tolstoy>https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/128382.Leo_Tolstoy.

People with Power, Violence, Noam Chomsky

“See, people with power understand exactly one thing: violence.” ― Noam Chomsky

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/2476.Noam_Chomsky.

Life is to be Lived, Katharine Hepburn

“Life is to be lived. If you have to support yourself, you had bloody well better find some way that is going to be interesting. And you don't do that by sitting around wondering about yourself.” - Katharine Hepburn

Found in The Quotable Woman, by Running Press, Editor, page 22.

Life, Too Short, Charlotte Bronte

“Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrong.” - Charlotte Bronte

Found in Treasury of Women's Quotations, by Carolyn Warner, page 37.

People, Comfortable, St. Paul, Minn., City Council President Mitra Jalali

“Let’s just say, a whole lot of people who are comfortable with majority male, majority white institutions for nearly 170 years of city history are suddenly sharply concerned about representation. My thoughts and prayers are with them in this challenging time.” - St. Paul, Minn., City Council President Mitra Jalali, speaking at an event celebrating the inauguration of the new, all-women City Council (all seven members are younger than 40; six are women of color).

Found in Ms. Magazine, Spring 2024, page 6.

Writing, Communication, Rebecca West

"Writing has nothing to do with communication between person and person, only with communication between different parts of a person's mind." - Rebecca West

Found on Brainy Quote. Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/rebecca_west_162289.

Path of Least Resistance, Troublesome Work, John Dewey

“The path of least resistance and least trouble is a mental rut already made. It requires troublesome work to undertake the alteration of old beliefs.” ― John Dewey

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/42738.John_Dewey.

I love Myself When I am Laughing, Mean and Impressive, Zora Neale Hurston

“I love myself when I am laughing. . . and then again when I am looking mean and impressive.” ― Zora Neale Hurston, I Love Myself When I Am Laughing... And Then Again: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader

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

Avoid the Impulse, Live Only for Today, Dwight D. Eisenhower

“As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.” ― Dwight D. Eisenhower

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/23920.Dwight_D_Eisenhower.

Right or Left, Right or Wrong, Moral Moment, Sen. Cory Booker

“This is not right or left. It is right or wrong. This is not a partisan moment. It is a moral moment. Where do you stand?” - Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), in a record-breaking speech on the Senate floor; for 25 hours and 4 minutes he spoke almost nonstop about the threats to democracy, immigrants, the social safety net, healthcare, the economy and more.

Found in the Summer 2025 issue of Ms. Magazine, page 6.

Values, Spend, Gloria Steinem

“You can tell what your values are by looking at how you spend your extra money.” - 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 72.

Words, Silence, Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

From http://www.inc.com/marla-tabaka/31-martin-luther-king-jr-quotes-to-inspire-greatness-in-you.html.

More Children, Car Windows, Erma Bombeck

“Never have more children than you have car windows.” - Erma Bombeck

Found in Women's Lip: Outrageous, Irreverent and Just Plain Hilarious Quotes, edited by Roz Warren, page 87.

Racism, Violence, Gloria Steinem

"The same way that racism is a white person's problem, violence against women is a men's problem." - Gloria Steinem

Found on Brainy Quote. Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/gloriastei690680.html.

Self-Educated Kind of Guy, Read, David Bowie

“I'm a real self-educated kind of guy. I read voraciously. Every book I ever bought, I have. I can't throw it away. It's physically impossible to leave my hand! Some of them are in warehouses. I've got a library that I keep the ones I really really like. I look around my library some nights and I do these terrible things to myself--I count up the books and think, how long I might have to live and think, 'F@#%k, I can't read two-thirds of these books.' It overwhelms me with sadness." - David Bowie, quoted in the Daily Beast in a 2002 interview with Bob Guccione, Jr.”

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/10360.David_Bowie.

Discriminated Against, Angry, Zora Neale Hurston

"Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me." - Zora Neale Hurston

Found on Brainy Quote. Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/zora_neale_hurston_132700.

One Believes Things, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

“One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.” ― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3487.Aldous_Huxley.

Whole Damn World, Scared, John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

“Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.” ― John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/585.John_Steinbeck.

Something to Say, Having to say Something, John Dewey

“There's all the difference in the world between having something to say, and having to say something.” ― John Dewey

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/42738.John_Dewey.

Who's Who, What's That, Phyllis Diller

“I never made Who's Who but I'm featured in What's That.” - Phyllis Diller

Found in Women's Lip: Outrageous, Irreverent and Just Plain Hilarious Quotes, edited by Roz Warren, page 9.

Battle, Plans, Planning, Dwight D. Eisenhower

“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”― Dwight D. Eisenhower

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/23920.Dwight_D_Eisenhower.

Tomorrow, David Bowie

“Tomorrow belongs to those who can hear it coming.” ― David Bowie

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/10360.David_Bowie.

Integrity, Lie, Solzhenitsyn

“You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.” ― Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/19771050.Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn.

On Recond Now, Films, Witnesses, Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses - because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.” ― Dwight D. Eisenhower

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/23920.Dwight_D_Eisenhower.

Research, Curiosity, Zora Neale Hurston

"Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose." - Zora Neale Hurston

From BrainyQuote. Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/zora_neale_hurston_132635.

One Story, John Steinbeck, East of Eden

“We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the neverending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue, is immortal. Vice has always a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is.” ― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/585.John_Steinbeck.

Birth, Sex, Genius, Charlotte Bronte

“Neither birth nor sex forms a limit to genius.” - Charlotte Bronte

Found in Treasury of Women's Quotations, by Carolyn Warner, page 3.

Fool Some of the People, Maya Angelou

“I found out that you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool yourself.” - Maya Angelou, in Conversations with Maya Angelou, 1989.

Found in Contemporary Quotations in Black, compiled and edited by Anita King, page 10.

In Truth, Shape the Future, Gloria Steinem

“In truth, we don't know which of our acts in the present will shape the future. But we have to behave as if everything we do matters. Because it might.” - Gloria Steinem, My Life on the Road

Found in Ms. Magazine, Fall 2020, page 2.

Because Women's Work, Never Done, Underpaid, Unpaid, Women's Liberation Movement, Brigit Books, Joyce Stevens

"Because women's work is never done and is underpaid or unpaid or boring or repetitious and we're the first to get fired and what we look like is more important than what we do and if we get raped it's our fault and if we get beaten we must have provoked it and if we raise our voices we're nagging bitches and if we enjoy sex we're nymphos and if we don't we're frigid and if we love women it's because we can't get a "real" man and if we ask our doctor too many questions we're neurotic and/or pushy and if we expect childcare we're selfish and if we stand up for our rights we're aggressive and "unfeminine" and if we don't we're typical weak females and if we want to get married we're out to trap a man and if we don't we're unnatural and because we still can't get an adequate safe contraceptive but men can walk on the moon and if we can't cope or don't want a pregnancy we're made to feel guilty about abortion and...for lots of other reasons we are part of the women's liberation movement." - Author unknown, quoted in The Torch, 14 September 1987

I first read these words on a poster at Brigit Books in St. Petersburg, Florida. Brigit Books has long since closed (darn!). But I was able to find out that Joyce Stevens wrote the above quote as a Union Song for Women's Liberation Broadsheet, International Woman's Day, 1975.

Numerous links had this listed as "Author unknown, quoted in The Torch." While I was able to find links to several magazines and newsletters listed as The Torch, none of them were ones that had listed this quote. However, we now know who wrote these words.

Blame, Fault, Katharine Hepburn

“...We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers – you can blame anyone, but never blame yourself. It's never your fault. But it's ALWAYS your fault, because if you wanted to change, you're the one who has got to change. It's as simple as that, isn't it?” - Katharine Hepburn

Found in The Quotable Woman, by Running Press, Editor, page 26.