I love who I am, and I encourage other people to love and embrace who they are. But it definitely wasn’t easy - it took me a while. Serena Williams I want to feel what I feel. What's mine. Even if it's not happiness, whatever that means. Because you're all you've got. Toni Morrison I know that I always wanted things. I was always proud of my people, proud of my home. But I always wanted more. I think most people do. Dolly Parton I can shake off everything if I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn. But, and that is the greatest question, will I ever be able to write anything great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer? I hope so, oh, I hope so very much, for I can recapture everything when I write, my thoughts, my ideas and my fantasies. Anne Frank I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble. Helen Keller I cured myself of shyness when it finally occurred to me that people didn’t think about me half as much as I gave them credit for. The truth was, nobody gave a damn. …When I stopped being prisoner to what I worried was others’ opinions of me, I became more confident and free. Lucille Ball I try not to focus on what people expect of me. Lady Gaga I have chosen to no longer be apologetic for my femininity. And I want to be respected in all my femaleness. Because I deserve to be. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie I feel safe in the midst of my enemies; for the truth is powerful and will prevail. Sojourner Truth I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept. Angela Davis I was really excited to get to shave my head - it's something I'd wanted to do for a while and now I had a good excuse. It was nice to shed that level of vanity for a girl. Natalie Portman I don’t understand all the nuances of the women’s movement. But I do understand that there are feminists who want to challenge the dominant paradigm, not only of patriarchy, but of where the original wealth came from and the relationship of that wealth to other peoples and the earth. That is the only way that I think you can really get to the depth of the problem. Winona LaDuke I did not come to NASA to make history. Sally Ride I must fight with all my strength so that the little positive things that my health allows me to do might be pointed toward helping the revolution. The only real reason for living. Frida Kahlo I have feared, at times, that my self-reliance, even more than my prominence, might prove hard for any man to take. Sonia Sotomayor I embrace the label of bad feminist because I am human. I am messy. I'm not trying to be an example. I am not trying to be perfect. I am not trying to say I have all the answers. I am not trying to say I'm right. I am just trying — trying to support what I believe in, trying to do some good in this world, trying to make some noise with my writing while also being myself… Roxane Gay I was built this way for a reason, so I’m going to use it. Simone Biles I think widespread, online displays of female self-confidence are good for people, especially men, to see. I just sometimes get the sneaking suspicion that corporations are co-opting “girl confidence” language to rally girls into buying body wash. Be careful. Mindy Kaling I am interested in telling my particular truth as I have seen it. Gwendolyn Brooks I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will… Charlotte Brontë I think the foundation of everything in my life is wonder. Alice Walker I have made speeches urging women to adopt methods of rebellion such as have been adopted by men in every revolution. Emmeline Pankhurst I think it would be a far greater world if people were kinder and more respectful to each other. Aretha Franklin I believe in one day and someday and this perfect moment called Now. Jacqueline Woodson I shouldn’t even be here, so if I’m here I better do something good. Tammy Duckworth I have encountered riotous mobs and have been hung in effigy, but my motto is: Men's rights are nothing more. Women's rights are nothing less. Susan B. Anthony I had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about... Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important. Nina Simone I want to see how far I can train. I have to see how far my body will go. Michelle Kwan I may be a senior, but so what? I'm still hot. Betty White I believe Native Americans, women, and all of us deserve representation, and that we all need to fight with everything we have to make it so. Deb Haaland I have walked into the palaces of kings and queens and into the houses of presidents. And much more. But I could not walk into a hotel in America and get a cup of coffee, and that made me mad. And when I get mad, you know that I open my big mouth. And then look out, ‘cause when Josephine opens her mouth, they hear it all over the world. Josephine Baker I want to taste and glory in each day, and never be afraid to experience pain; and never shut myself up in a numb core of nonfeeling, or stop questioning and criticizing life and take the easy way out. To learn and think: to think and live; to live and learn: this always, with new insight, new understanding, and new love. Sylvia Plath I like being unconventional. Florence Griffith Joyner I love a black wedding dress. Vera Wang I don’t think I could give advice to my younger self because she probably wouldn’t listen. Annie Leibovitz I think every woman should have a blowtorch. Julia Child I think that the same kind of openness and fluidity and willingness to interrogate power that we as feminists expect from men in alliance on questions of class should also be the expectation that women of colour can rely upon with our white feminist allies. Kimberle Crenshaw I am unapologetic about the need for social change, greater inclusion, and equity. I think it is important to speak your mind. Tolerance of the ignorance sends the wrong message to kids. Marley Dias, age 13 I am still in progress, and I hope that I always will be. Michelle Obama I was steadily reaching in the dark across a chasm that separated who I was and who I thought I should be. Somewhere along the way, I grew weary of grasping at possible selves, just out of reach. So I put my arms down and wrapped them around me. I began healing by embracing myself through the foreboding darkness until the sunrise shone on my face. Eventually, I emerged, and surrendered to the brilliance, discovering truth, beauty, and peace that was already mine. Janet Mock I am kneeling because I have to do something. Anything. We all do. Megan Rapinoe I was once afraid of people saying, "Who does she think she is?" Now I have the courage to stand and say, "This is who I am.” Oprah Winfrey I had to make my own living and my own opportunity! But I made it! Madam C.J. Walker I think the reason I was successful is that I was never cynical. Carol Burnett I have no dress except the one I wear every day. If you are going to be kind enough to give me one, please let it be practical and dark so that I can put it on afterwards to go to the laboratory. Marie Curie I read for pleasure and that is the moment I learn the most. Margaret Atwood I believe we need leaders who actually want to lead everyone. Stacey Abrams I have a passion for music, I love music. But I also have a passion for money and paying my bills. Cardi B I feel there is something unexplored about woman that only a woman can explore. Georgia O’Keefe I never loved reading until I feared I would lose it. One does not love breathing. Harper Lee I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That’s all I know. Billie Holiday I only know that learning to believe in the power of my own words has been the most freeing experience of my life. It has brought me the most light. And isn't that what a poem is? A lantern glowing in the dark. Elizabeth Acevedo I would fight for my liberty so long as my strength lasted, and if the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me. Harriet Tubman I strike the ground with the soles of my feet and life rises up my legs, spreads up my skeleton, takes possession of me, drives away distress and sweetens my memory. The world trembles. Isabel Allende I raise up my voice not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard.