“But somewhere within each of us, buried at varying depths depending on the age and degree of neglect or abuse, shame or coercion we endured, there is a resistant, daydreaming, rebellious, creative, unique child — a true self who is waiting.”

Women are not going to be equal outside the home until men are equal in it.

Writing keeps me from believing everything I read.

We’ve begun to raise daughters more like sons… but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters.

Each others’ lives are our best textbooks.

The authority of any governing institution must stop at its citizen’s skin.

So why is the sex barrier not taken as seriously as the racial one?

Whatever you want to do,do it now.

Being married is like having somebody permanently in your corner. It feels limitless, not limited.

Once we give up searching for approval we often find it easier to earn respect.

Women can be vivacious. We are allowed more varieties of facial expression and gestures. Men must be rocklike.

Any woman who chooses to behave like a full human being should be warned that the armies of the status quo will treat her as something of a dirty joke. That’s their natural and first weapon. She will need her sisterhood.

The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights

Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It’s about making life more fair for women everywhere. It’s not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It’s about baking a new pie.

learning must travel the distance from head to heart.

What I think we need to do is infuse everyday and every action with the kind of values we hope will be in the future, with kindness, with nurturing, with dreams, ambition, using your talents, not resorting to violence, other forms of conflict resolution, with humor, with poetry, with music.

Women have two choices: Either she’s a feminist or a masochist.

Through the machineries of greed, pettiness, and the abuse of power, love occurs.

What white man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry and left me unfed? Who has seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken?

The most personal thing I’ve put in [Touch of Evil] is my hatred of the abuse of police power. It’s better to see a murderer go free than for a policeman to abuse his power.

We were electric together, you and me; we turned hurting each other into a goddamned symphony.

Poisoned food will look like nourishment to someone who is starving. The same principle applies to abusive relationships.

Right now, I’m following the Buddhist principle: Smile as abuse is hurled your way and this too shall pass.

An important fact about verbal behavior is that speaker and listener may reside within the same skin.

As I pen these words, tears flow from my pained heart onto my trembling lips, and the soul seeks release from daily abuse.