Quotes
“ Growing up in the Western world, there are so many times where I'm like, Oh, I'm not white. My name is not that easy to say. I'm not as relatable as a white person. ”
— Rina Sawayama
Music Women Asian LGBTQ+ She / Her · Pronounced: REE-nuh sah-wah-YAH-mah
She / Her · Pronounced: REE-nuh sah-wah-YAH-mah
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Sawayama on growing up feeling caught between cultures in the UK.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ For the longest time I was trying to be white and fit in, that's also fine at some points in your life, I had to do that to survive in certain spaces. ”
— Rina Sawayama
Music Women Asian LGBTQ+ She / Her · Pronounced: REE-nuh sah-wah-YAH-mah
She / Her · Pronounced: REE-nuh sah-wah-YAH-mah
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Sawayama on code-switching to survive spaces not built for her.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ Everybody supports women until a woman's doing better than you. ”
— Sofia Isella
Music Women She / Her · Pronounced: soh-FEE-uh ih-SEL-uh
She / Her · Pronounced: soh-FEE-uh ih-SEL-uh
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context A single standout line from Isella's song, included as a narrow exception to the site's no-lyrics rule for standalone, aphoristic statements.
“ People are just afraid of things too much. Afraid of things that don't necessarily merit fear. ”
— Frank Ocean
Music Black LGBTQ+ He / Him · Pronounced: FRANK OH-shun
He / Him · Pronounced: FRANK OH-shun
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Ocean, who came out via an open letter before his 2012 album release, on fear.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ It's an artist's duty to reflect the times in which we live. ”
— Nina Simone
Music Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: NEE-nuh sih-MOHN
She / Her · Pronounced: NEE-nuh sih-MOHN
Context Simone on the artist's responsibility to their times, which she lived through the civil-rights era.
“ I think ageing is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person that you always should have been. ”
— David Bowie
Music Male Role Models He / Him · Pronounced: DAY-vid BOH-ee
He / Him · Pronounced: DAY-vid BOH-ee
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Bowie, reflecting on growing older as becoming more truly himself rather than less.
“ You're trying to take all this misunderstanding and loathing, and you're trying to turn it into love, which is the wonderful thing that happens when you're trying to make music out of the rough, hard, bad things. ”
— Bruce Springsteen
Music Male Role Models He / Him · Pronounced: BROOSS SPRING-steen
He / Him · Pronounced: BROOSS SPRING-steen
Source: Esquire interview · original link to be verified
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Springsteen on what he's actually trying to do with the harder material in his songwriting.
“ Small changes end up making a big difference. It's about being a lot nicer to each other. It's just saying, 'Treat people with kindness.' ”
— Harry Styles
Music Male Role Models He / Him · Pronounced: HAIR-ee STYLZ
He / Him · Pronounced: HAIR-ee STYLZ
Context Styles on the origin of 'Treat People With Kindness', the phrase that became his own mantra and merchandise line.
“ Wherever we are, this is home. Wherever I go, I'll always be Puerto Rican. ”
— Bad Bunny
Music Latinx He / Him · Pronounced: BAD BUN-ee
He / Him · Pronounced: BAD BUN-ee
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Bad Bunny on identity and belonging as a Puerto Rican artist.
Read More: Latinx Voices
“ I can't wake you up. You can wake you up. I can't cure you. You can cure you. ”
— John Lennon
Music Male Role Models He / Him · Pronounced: JON LEN-un
He / Him · Pronounced: JON LEN-un
Context Lennon, in one of his final major interviews, on the limits of what anyone else can do for you.
“ My anxiety and depression have ruled my life for as long as I can remember and I never leave the house because of it. ”
— Kid Cudi
Music Black He / Him · Pronounced: KID KOO-dee
He / Him · Pronounced: KID KOO-dee
Context Cudi's own words in the post explaining why he had checked into treatment.
“ I won't be a rock star. I will be a legend. ”
— Freddie Mercury
Music LGBTQ+ Global South He / Him · Pronounced: FRED-ee MER-kyuh-ree
He / Him · Pronounced: FRED-ee MER-kyuh-ree
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context The Queen frontman on his own mythology; he was born in Zanzibar to Parsi parents.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ I'll tell you what freedom is to me: no fear. ”
— Nina Simone
Music Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: NEE-nuh sih-MOHN
She / Her · Pronounced: NEE-nuh sih-MOHN
Context Simone's own definition of freedom, from a life spent refusing to be made small.
“ I am Puerto Rican, I am Caribbean, and my music, my culture, my country's history run through my veins, from plena to reggaeton. ”
— Bad Bunny
Music Latinx He / Him · Pronounced: BAD BUN-ee
He / Him · Pronounced: BAD BUN-ee
Source: TIME interview · original link to be verified
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Bad Bunny on the musical lineage running through his own work.
Read More: Latinx Voices
“ I never thought of being blind as a disadvantage, and I never thought of being black as a disadvantage. I am what I am. I love me! ”
— Stevie Wonder
Music Male Role Models Disabled Black He / Him · Pronounced: STEE-vee WUN-der
He / Him · Pronounced: STEE-vee WUN-der
Source: The Guardian interview · original link to be verified
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Wonder, who has been blind since shortly after birth, on refusing to see either part of who he is as a limitation.
Read More: Disability Rights
“ Bravery, not perfection, gives us permission to be ourselves. ”
— Reshma Saujani
Technology Women Asian She / Her · Pronounced: RESH-mah SOH-juh-nee
She / Her · Pronounced: RESH-mah SOH-juh-nee
Context Saujani on why girls are so often taught to avoid risk in fields like computer science, and what that costs them.
Read More: Asian Voices
“ The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. ”
— Ada Lovelace
Science Women She / Her · Pronounced: AY-duh LUV-layss
She / Her · Pronounced: AY-duh LUV-layss
Context From her notes translating an Italian paper on Babbage's Analytical Engine, now regarded as the first computer program.
Read More: Women in Science
“ If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. ”
— Toni Morrison
Literature Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: TOH-nee MOR-ih-sun
She / Her · Pronounced: TOH-nee MOR-ih-sun
Context Morrison on writing the book you wish existed, from a Nobel laureate and towering voice in American letters.
Read More: Black Literature
“ Life-transforming ideas have always come to me through books. ”
— bell hooks
Education Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: BEL HOOKS
She / Her · Pronounced: BEL HOOKS
Context hooks on reading as escape and liberation, from a childhood where books were both refuge and rebellion.
Their Story Writer and scholar (born Gloria Jean Watkins) whose work on love, race, class and feminism reached far beyond academia. She wrote under a lowercase pen name, borrowed from her great-grandmother, to keep the focus on the ideas rather than herself.
'All About Love' and 'Teaching to Transgress' are the usual entry points. See Their Full Story
“ I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way. ”
— Georgia O'Keeffe
Art Women She / Her · Pronounced: JOR-juh oh-KEEF
She / Her · Pronounced: JOR-juh oh-KEEF
Context O'Keeffe on painting as a language of its own, from a defining figure of American modernism.
“ I think having a baby sliced out of you is pretty hardcore. ”
— Ali Wong
Entertainment Women Asian She / Her · Pronounced: AH-lee WONG
She / Her · Pronounced: AH-lee WONG
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Wong, known for candid stand-up about pregnancy and motherhood.
Read More: Asian Voices
