As a woman I have no country. As a woman my country is the whole world.

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.

I’m always rather nervous about how you talk about women who are active in politics, whether they want to be talked about as women or as politicians.

My mother told me two things constantly. One was to be a lady and the other was to be independent, and the law was something most unusual for those times because for most girls growing up in the ’40s, the most important degree was not your B.A. but your M.R.S.

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.

The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.

I’m not convinced that women have the education or the sense of their own history enough or that they understand the cruelty of which men are capable and the delight that many men will take in seeing you choose to chain yourself – then they get to say ‚See, you did it yourself.‘

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries or the way she combs her hair.

All of us are mentors. You’re mentors right here and now. And one of the things I’ve always done throughout my life, I have always found that person, that group of people that I was going to reach my hand out and help bring them along with me.

I’m not intimidated by how people perceive me.

You don’t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!

Black Power is giving power to people who have not had power to determine their destiny.

Well I do think, when there are more women, that the tone of the conversation changes, and also the goals of the conversation change. But it doesn’t mean that the whole world would be a lot better if it were totally run by women. If you think that, you’ve forgotten high school.

Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.

Those 62 million girls who are not being educated around the world impact my life in Washington, D.C., in the United States of America. Because if we aren’t empowering and providing the skills and the resources to half of our population, then we’re not realizing our full potential as a society, as mankind.

When I graduated from law school in 1959, there wasn’t a single woman on any federal bench. It wouldn’t be a realistic ambition for a woman to want to become a federal judge. It wasn’t realistic until Jimmy Carter became our president.

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.

You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people.

The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own.

But let me tell you, this gender thing is history. You’re looking at a guy who sat down with Margaret Thatcher across the table and talked about serious issues.

If you are a leader, you should never forget that everyone needs encouragement. And everyone who receives it – young or old, successful or less-than-successful, unknown or famous – is changed by it.

Remember: your bosses prefer to keep you in dependent positions. It is in their interest that you do not become self-reliant, and so they will tend to hoard information. You must secretly work against this and seize this information for yourself.

I think a lot of people love to convolute what everyone else does in order to disempower women.

He only earns his freedom and his life Who takes them every day by storm.

If I have a platform and a voice, I should use it for my people.

You can choose a future where more Americans have the chance to gain the skills they need to compete, no matter how old they are or how much money they have. Education was the gateway to opportunity for me. It was the gateway for Michelle. And now more than ever, it is the gateway to a middle-class life.

The most common criticism I get is that I’m being manipulated and you shouldn’t use children in political ways, because that is abuse, and I can’t think for myself and so on. And I think that is so annoying! I’m also allowed to have a say – why shouldn’t I be able to form my own opinion and try to change people’s minds?

If I were a woman, I’d simply refuse to speak to any man or do anything for men until I’d got the vote.

Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken.

Women have always been the strong ones of the world. The men are always seeking from women a little pillow to put their heads down on. They are always longing for the mother who held them as infants.

I would just like to say something, ladies and gentlemen. Something that I think is very important. It is that, you, we – we own this country. We – we own it. It is not you owning it, and not politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours.

No woman in my time will be prime minister or chancellor or foreign secretary – not the top jobs. Anyway, I wouldn’t want to be prime minister; you have to give yourself 100 percent.

I believe that of all the things I have done, exciting though many of them have been, there’s no doubt in my mind that the most worthwhile have been the establishing of schools and hospitals, and the rebuilding of monasteries in the mountains.

I do believe in self-help.

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.

Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.

I don’t want to be fake. I’m just being me. And I have the power to break stereotypes and whatever useless rules that society puts on us.

I want the world to see my body.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

Either you think, or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you.

But I do not believe that the world would be entirely different if there were more women leaders. Maybe if everybody in leadership was a woman, you might not get into the conflicts in the first place. But if you watch the women who have made it to the top, they haven’t exactly been non-aggressive – including me.

We are twice armed if we fight with faith.

I have said this many times, that there seems to be enough room in the world for mediocre men, but not for mediocre women, and we really have to work very, very hard.

Agency is a divine gift to you. You are free to choose what you will be and what you will do.

I’m not a centerfold.

A good indignation brings out all one’s powers.

Let him that would move the world first move himself.

Give a boy address and accomplishments and you give him the mastery of palaces and fortunes where he goes.

Naturally, my stories are about women – I’m a woman. I don’t know what the term is for men who write mostly about men. I’m not always sure what is meant by ‚feminist.‘ In the beginning, I used to say, ‚Well, of course I’m a feminist.‘ But if it means that I follow a kind of feminist theory, or know anything about it, then I’m not.

Clever and attractive women do not want to vote; they are willing to let men govern as long as they govern men.

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.

A man makes you feel important – makes you glad you are a woman.

Beauty is not caused. It is.

As we’ve seen time and again, women and girls who are out there working, they are truly force multipliers, spreading opportunity through their families and communities – and not just by creating programs and nonprofit organizations, not just by hiring other women, but also by serving as role models themselves.

Because my dad abused me, I was determined to never let a man tell me what to do. God clearly showed me that I needed to be a submissive wife if I wanted to be effective in ministry. The truth is, if we don’t learn to submit to authority, we won’t ever learn to submit to God.

You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lines. You may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I’ll rise.

I know how to swim through backlash. I can tread water through backlash… If anything, that’s all giving me power.

I can express myself.

I do not believe that government should be in the business of telling women what they should do with their bodies.

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.