“You should never let your fears prevent you from doing what you know is right. Not that you shouldn’t be afraid. Fear is normal. But to be inhibited from doing what you know is right is dangerous. You should be able to lead your life in the right way—despite your fears.”

    - Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma. From The Lady by Barbara Victor

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“It is those who deny justice, and not those who demand it who embarrass the country in its international relations. ... The responsibility ... is with the government and not with the women of America, if the lack of democracy at home weakens government in its fight for democracy three thousand miles away ... ”

    - Alice Paul, suffragist. From From Equal Suffrage to Equal Rights by Christine A. Lunardini 

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“The minute the first show was over, I thought, ‘Thank God, I’ve found what I was meant to do.’ It’s like breathing to me.”

    - Oprah Winfrey, talk-show host. From Oprah Winfrey Speaks by Janet Lowe

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“Take a younger woman under your wing and help them. Show them how great it is to be a woman today. Share your wisdom about having fun and having a career. ... And don’t forget the women who went before us. Write women back into history ... ”

    - Nancy Woodhull, journalist and women’s advocate. From Freedom Forum’s "Nancy Woodhull Remembered as Outstanding Journalist" by Gene Policinski

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“For some time now I’ve been meaning to write a poem about the magnificent Ella Fitzgerald. Somehow it wouldn’t come ... I know Ella’s singing only from recordings, I’ve never heard her live. And I found out ... that if you haven’t actually seen and heard Ella perform, you don’t have a clue: you don’t know her swinging improvisations, the incomparable precision of her singing, and her marvelous freedom in dealing with the music. Anyone who’s had that good fortune must have felt like Odysseus tied to the mast. With one difference: the sirens who tempted Mr. O. had evil intentions and bad dispositions, but Ella’s singing was guileless ... ”

    - Wislawa Szymborska, poet. From “Ella” in Non-Required Reading

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“In our tribal stories, we have heard of a Women’s Council, which was headed by a very powerful woman. ... This oral history is frequently discredited by Western historians as ‘merely myth.’ I have always found their repudiation fascinating. An entire body of knowledge can be dismissed because it is not written. ... The voices of our grandmothers are silenced by most of the written history of our people. How I long to hear their voices!”

    - Wilma Mankiller, former principal chief, Cherokee Nation. From Mankiller: A Chief and Her People by Wilma Mankiller and Michael Wallis

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“When I first started writing the column, I thought I was mad, that no one would understand. ... I thought I was the only one with a washing machine that eats socks. The only one with a kid who could pretend he’s a police siren—eeeeeeee—for 50 miles of traffic jams.”

    - Erma Bombeck, author and columnist. From Wits & Sages by Neil A. Grauer