Quotes by Superior Women
The world needs women who refuse to be silent.
-- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (TED Talk, 2016)
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)
The more a woman learns to say no, the more the world trembles.
-- Andrea Dworkin (Speech at University of Massachusetts, 1981)
If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.
-- Florynce Kennedy (Speech at National Organization for Women rally, Washington D.C., 1971)
The most radical thing any of us can do is believe women.
-- Tarana Burke (Speech, 2018)
I have yet to meet a man who can wash a dish without making it an act of heroism.
-- Nora Ephron (Essay in Crazy Salad, 1975)
Feminism is hated, because women are hated. Anti-feminism is a direct expression of misogyny.
-- Andrea Dworkin (Right-Wing Women, 1983)
When women are in positions of power, the world is a safer, more humane place.
-- bell hooks (Feminism is for Everybody, 2000)
Men are terrified that one day women will treat them the way they’ve always treated us.
-- Gloria Steinem (Speech at the National Press Club, 1972)
Every society that silences women silences its future.
-- Hillary Clinton (Speech at Women in the World Summit, 2012)
If men ran the world, wars would never end. If women ran it, wars would never start.
-- Jane Goodall (Interview with The Guardian, 2002)
The measure of any society is how it treats its women and girls.
-- Michelle Obama (Speech at UN Women, 2015)
Patriarchy doesn’t break itself; it breaks women first.
-- Mona Eltahawy (The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls, 2019)
The average man’s idea of a romantic evening is one where he talks about himself uninterrupted.
-- Dorothy Parker (The Portable Dorothy Parker, 1944)
Women’s power is the power of renewal; men’s is the power of destruction.
-- Gloria Steinem (Speech at National Women’s Political Caucus, 1972)
In every generation, women have had to prove that we are strong, capable, and deserving of power.
-- Oprah Winfrey (Golden Globes speech, 2018)
The future is female.
-- Gloria Steinem (Feminist slogan popularized by Steinem, 1970s)
Patriarchy has no allegiance to men; it uses them, too, and spits them out when they are no longer useful.
-- bell hooks (The Will to Change, 2004)
Men think they’re mysterious; women know they’re just badly written.
-- Jean Kerr (Essay in Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, 1957)
Women are the true architects of peace.
-- Jane Addams (International Congress of Women speech, 1915)
Men are always so certain of their authority; certainty is the luxury of those never forced to question themselves.
-- Arundhati Roy (Interview with Outlook India, 1998)
Even now, you are still having to admit that women are superior in nature to men.
-- Moderata Fonte (Modesta Pozzo) (The Worth of Women, 1600 (English trans. 1997))
The problem with the world is that men have been the default setting for humanity.
-- Caroline Criado Perez (Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, 2019)
The true excellence of women shines brightest when compared to the failings of men.
-- Moderata Fonte (The Worth of Women, 1600)
Patriarchy is men’s most successful pyramid scheme.
-- Soraya Chemaly (Rage Becomes Her, 2018)
Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world.
-- Hillary Clinton (Speech at APEC, 2011)