A curated register of quotes from under-represented voices.

“ Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. ”

— Ruth Bader Ginsburg

“ Fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you. ”

— Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 2015

“ A surplus of effort could overcome a deficit of confidence. ”

— Sonia Sotomayor, 2013

“ I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life. ”

— Sonia Sotomayor, 2001

“ I do not believe that any ethnic, racial or gender group has an advantage in sound judging. ”

— Sonia Sotomayor, 2009

“ No country in the world can yet say they have achieved gender equality. ”

— Emma Watson, 2014

“ I refuse to believe that you cannot be both compassionate and strong. ”

— Jacinda Ardern

“ To be pleasant, gentle, calm and self-possessed: this is the basis of good taste and charm in a woman. But women who are too vain and act pretentiously, to the extent that they make others feel uncomfortable, will themselves become the object of attention. ”

— Murasaki Shikibu, 1010

“ A feminist is a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. ”

— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2012

“ As a deaf person living in a world of sound, it's as if I was living in a foreign country, blindly following its rules, customs, behaviors, and norms without ever questioning them. ”

— Christine Sun Kim

“ Remember that consciousness is power. Tomorrow's world is yours to build. ”

— Yuri Kochiyama

“ I became an artist, and thank god I did, because we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life. ”

— Viola Davis, 2017

“ Disability only becomes a tragedy when society fails to provide the things we need to lead our lives. ”

— Judith Heumann

“ Having such a diverse group of people coming into Congress is going to make a difference, because no matter if your experience is very similar to mine or completely different than mine, it's just as real and it's just as valid. ”

— Sharice Davids, 2018

“ It's our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America. ”

— Patricia Arquette, 2015

“ Representation matters, not only representation mattering for Indigenous people, but also for people who are just everyday Americans. ”

— Deb Haaland, 2021

“ What I really aspire to do in the poem is to be able to use my words to envision a way in which our country can still come together and can still heal. ”

— Amanda Gorman, 2021

“ You are the storyteller of your own life. ”

— Isabel Allende

“ Europeans didn't vibe with the way women held power in many Native societies. ”

— Lily Gladstone, 2023

“ That brain of mine is something more than merely mortal; as time will show. ”

— Ada Lovelace

“ Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. ”

— Helen Keller