I have me brave women who are exploring the outer edge of human possibility, with no history to guide them, and with a courage to make themselves vulnerable that I find moving beyond words.
Gloria SteinemRead
If you hear a statistic, you will make up a story to go with it, because our brains are organized on narrative. And you may very well make up a wrong story because you only have one fact, which is a statistic.
Interpretation
Our understanding of statistics can be clouded by our natural inclination to create narratives, often leading to misconceptions.
Gloria Steinem's quote highlights the human tendency to construct stories around isolated facts, like statistics, in order to make sense of them. This process is based on our brain's organization around narratives, but it also exposes us to the risk of creating incorrect interpretations when we draw conclusions from limited information.
In practice
In a speech discussing the importance of data literacy, this quote can remind the audience to critically analyze statistics.
I have me brave women who are exploring the outer edge of human possibility, with no history to guide them, and with a courage to make themselves vulnerable that I find moving beyond words.
If women are supposed to be less rational and more emotional at the beginning of our menstrual cycle when the female hormone is at its lowest level, then why isn't it logical to say that, in those few days, women behave the most like the way men behave all month long?
Age brings a freedom. When you're young, you're much more subject to the idea of what feminine is or how you should look or how you should behave.
All those chemicals that create empathy only work when you are in a room together.
Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.
Obviously, there is much similarity among the challenges of transgender people and all women - from health care to harassment to discrimination in the workplace.
Do not bring me your successes; they weaken me. Bring me your problems; they strengthen me.
No one can shed light on vices he does not have or afflictions he has ever experienced.
If you don't like your world, question your thoughts about it.
Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple.
Nothing is improved by anger, unless it be the arch of a cat's back. A man with his back up is spoiling his figure. People look none the handsomer for being red in the face. It takes a great deal out of a man to get into a towering rage; it is almost as unhealthy as having a fit. . . . Whatever wrong I suffer, it can not do me half so much hurt as being angry about it.
Rain which falls upon the sea is useless; so is food for one who is satiated; in vain is a gift for one who is wealthy; and a burning lamp during the daytime is useless.
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