Quotes on Women

Within the U.N. itself, I have appointed a record number of women to high-level positions. I did not fill jobs with women just for the sake of it - I looked for the best possible candidate, and I found that if you strip away discrimination, the best possible candidate is often a woman.

I had relationships with men as well as women. I wasn't choosing; I didn't think I had to.

Plenty of the women who were single in the nineteenth century wrote about their desire to evade marriage. Marriage was scary in a lot of ways. It often involved having a lot of kids, losing your autonomy, being in service to a husband and children who were often born at an unremitting pace without the benefit of modern medicine.

I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand.

I think the problem is, exceptional women will always succeed. But there are plenty of less-exceptional men who succeed. Until we get the less-exceptional women succeeding equally, we do not have full equality.

While we support the women who bravely face breast cancer treatments, we should also promote the prevention of breast cancer from a very early age.

Activism is something that no one can fake. You get angry. You cry. But you never throw in your towel, because that anger is what is propelling you to further action.

The stronger the participation of the female characters, the better the movie. They knew that in the old days, when women stars were equally as important as men.

I am not a theologian or a scholar, but I am very aware of the fact that pain is necessary to all of us. In my own life, I think I can honestly say that out of the deepest pain has come the strongest conviction of the presence of God and the love of God.

Love is anterior to life, posterior to death, initial of creation, and the exponent of breath.

There are women who literally squeeze a baby out of their bodies or get cut open in major surgery, have a human being, the next generation of the human race pulled from their bodies, and within a couple of weeks have to go back to work, because if they don't, they can't pay their bills. Something's wrong with that.

In my own case, I had to train myself out of that phony smile, which is like a nervous tic on every teenage girl. And this meant that I smiled rarely, for in truth, when it came down to real smiling, I had less to smile about. My 'dream' action for the women's liberation movement: a smile boycott, at which declaration all women would instantly abandon their 'pleasing' smiles, henceforth smiling only when something pleased them.

All societies on the verge of death are masculine. A society can survive with only one man; no society will survive a shortage of women.

Failure is not the opposite of success; it's part of success.

Everybody knows if you are too careful you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something.

It is better to be looked over than overlooked.

Men are from Earth, women are from Earth. Deal with it.

Many women are the lower-earning partner in a married couple, thanks in part to forces that relegate women to less remunerative professions and pay them less for the same work.

What's important is to have more women creators behind the scenes, being producers and being in charge. That will ultimately help push this boys'-club, locker-room mentality out the door.

Don't be afraid of hard work. Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Don't let others discourage you or tell you that you can't do it. In my day I was told women didn't go into chemistry. I saw no reason why we couldn't.

Most professional women I know - myself included - long since gave up looking for a rulebook or a roadmap; we make it up as we go along. Every day presents a new choice, a new challenge, which makes long-term career planning seem like an especially abstract exercise.