A curated register of quotes from under-represented voices.

“ If Aristotle had cooked, he would have written much more. ”

— Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, 1691

“ One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. ”

— Simone de Beauvoir, 1949

“ The man or the woman in whom resides greater virtue is the higher; neither the loftiness nor the lowliness of a person lies in the body according to the sex, but in the perfection of conduct and virtues. ”

— Christine de Pizan, 1405

“ The secret of our success is that we never, ever give up. ”

— Wilma Mankiller

“ Let's let everybody know it's okay to have a mental illness, it's okay to have an addiction problem. ”

— Demi Lovato, 2018

“ 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, 2020

“ Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations. ”

— Mae Jemison

“ You don't have to change the whole world, but by changing your thinking, you can change your actions, and then by changing your actions, you can change your community. ”

— Marley Dias

“ Without strong communities, there is no strong nation. ”

— Rigoberta Menchú

“ My disability is not something I've had to overcome. I'm still Deafblind. The biggest barrier I face is ableism. ”

— Haben Girma, 2019

“ Equality for LGBTQIA+ folks in Thailand means 'legal equality.' ”

— Cyndy Bangsalee, 2022

“ 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

“ We're all in the same boat as long as we're being oppressed one way or the other, whether we are gay, straight, trans, black, yellow, green, purple, or whatever. ”

— Sylvia Rivera, 2001

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

— Jacinda Ardern

“ In nature nothing exists alone. ”

— Rachel Carson, 1962

“ My question is, why are people so quick to assume that locking away an increasingly large proportion of the U.S. population would help those who live in the free world feel safer and more secure? ”

— Angela Davis, 2003

“ You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. ”

— Greta Thunberg, 2019

“ Everybody supports women until a woman's doing better than you. ”

— Sofia Isella, 2023

“ Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare. ”

— Audre Lorde, 1988

“ What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful. ”

— Sappho

“ I didn't wake up and decide to become an activist. But you couldn't help notice the inequities, the injustices. It was all around you. ”

— Yuri Kochiyama