Quotes
“ I think it's very important to get more women into computing. My slogan is: Computing is too important to be left to men. ”
— Karen Spärck Jones
Science Women She / Her · Pronounced: KAIR-un SPAIRK JOHNZ
She / Her · Pronounced: KAIR-un SPAIRK JOHNZ
Source: Widely quoted, including in Cambridge University tributes · original link to be verified
Context Spärck Jones, whose research underpins modern search engines, on why computing needs more women in it.
Read More: Women in Science
“ 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
“ A willingness to ask questions and to learn, that is what is important. ”
— Ellen Ochoa
Science Women Latinx She / Her · Pronounced: EL-en oh-CHOH-uh
She / Her · Pronounced: EL-en oh-CHOH-uh
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Ochoa on curiosity as the foundation of a scientific career.
Read More: Women in Science
“ Any girl can be glamorous. All she has to do is stand still and look stupid. ”
— Hedy Lamarr
Science Women She / Her · Pronounced: HAY-dee luh-MAR
She / Her · Pronounced: HAY-dee luh-MAR
Source: Widely attributed to Lamarr · original link to be verified
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Lamarr, an actress who co-invented an early frequency-hopping technology used in wireless communication, on being seen only for her looks.
Read More: Women in Science
“ Girls are capable of doing everything men are capable of doing. Sometimes they have more imagination than men. I don't have a feeling of inferiority. Never had. I'm as good as anybody, but no better. ”
— Katherine Johnson
Science Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: KATH-rin JON-sun
She / Her · Pronounced: KATH-rin JON-sun
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Johnson, the NASA mathematician whose calculations helped send the first Americans into orbit.
Read More: Women in Science
“ Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. ”
— Marie Curie
Science Women She / Her · Pronounced: muh-REE KYOOR-ee
She / Her · Pronounced: muh-REE KYOOR-ee
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Curie, the first person to win Nobel Prizes in two sciences, on replacing fear with understanding.
Read More: Women in Science
“ I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed, anything that could be counted, I did. ”
— Katherine Johnson
Science Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: KATH-rin JON-sun
She / Her · Pronounced: KATH-rin JON-sun
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Johnson on the counting habit that shaped her path into mathematics.
Read More: Women in Science
“ I believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted. ”
— Alan Turing
Science LGBTQ+ He / Him · Pronounced: AL-un TYOOR-ing
He / Him · Pronounced: AL-un TYOOR-ing
Context From the paper that introduced what became known as the Turing test.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ In nature nothing exists alone. ”
— Rachel Carson
Science Women She / Her · Pronounced: RAY-chul KAR-sun
She / Her · Pronounced: RAY-chul KAR-sun
Context From Silent Spring, the book that helped launch the modern environmental movement.
Read More: Women in Science
“ That brain of mine is something more than merely mortal; as time will show. ”
— Ada Lovelace
Science Women She / Her · Pronounced: AY-duh LUV-layss
She / Her · Pronounced: AY-duh LUV-layss
Source: Widely cited from her personal correspondence · original link to be verified
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Lovelace on her own mathematical ability, in a letter written decades before the world had a use for it.
Read More: Women in Science
“ What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make. ”
— Jane Goodall
Science Women She / Her · Pronounced: JAYN GOOD-awl
She / Her · Pronounced: JAYN GOOD-awl
Context Goodall on individual responsibility, a thread running through her decades of conservation work.
Read More: Women in Science
“ The world needs all kinds of minds. ”
— Temple Grandin
Science Women Disabled She / Her · Pronounced: TEM-pul GRAN-din
She / Her · Pronounced: TEM-pul GRAN-din
Context Grandin, who is autistic, on neurodiversity as a strength.
Read More: Women in Science
“ What's above us connects us. Every group of people around the world have looked up at the stars for thousands of generations. ”
— Mae Jemison
Science Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: MAY JEM-ih-sun
She / Her · Pronounced: MAY JEM-ih-sun
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Jemison, the first Black woman in space, on a shared human fascination with the sky.
Read More: Women in Science
“ Don't be afraid to reach for the stars. I believe a good education can take you anywhere on Earth and beyond. ”
— Ellen Ochoa
Science Women Latinx She / Her · Pronounced: EL-en oh-CHOH-uh
She / Her · Pronounced: EL-en oh-CHOH-uh
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Ochoa, the first Latina astronaut in space, on education as the route to opportunity.
Read More: Women in Science
“ Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations. ”
— Mae Jemison
Science Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: MAY JEM-ih-sun
She / Her · Pronounced: MAY JEM-ih-sun
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Jemison was the first Black woman to travel to space.
Read More: Women in Science
“ If Aristotle had cooked, he would have written much more. ”
— Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Philosophy Women Latinx She / Her · Pronounced: sor WAH-nah ee-NESS deh lah KROOZ
She / Her · Pronounced: sor WAH-nah ee-NESS deh lah KROOZ
Context Sor Juana, a self-taught nun and scholar in colonial New Spain, defending everyday domestic knowledge as a form of philosophy.
Read More: Latinx Voices
“ You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. ”
— Greta Thunberg
Activism Women Disabled She / Her · Pronounced: GRAY-tah TOON-bairy
She / Her · Pronounced: GRAY-tah TOON-bairy
Context From Thunberg's widely reported 'How dare you' speech to world leaders.
Read More: Disability Rights Their Story Swedish climate activist who began a solitary school strike outside the Swedish parliament in 2018, aged 15, which grew into the global Fridays for Future movement. She is autistic and has spoken publicly about it as part of how she sees the climate crisis clearly.
Her collected speeches, published as 'No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference', are a direct primary source. See Their Full Story
“ The only way to survive is by taking care of one another. ”
— Grace Lee Boggs
Activism Women Asian She / Her · Pronounced: GRAYSS LEE BOGZ
She / Her · Pronounced: GRAYSS LEE BOGZ
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Boggs, a Chinese-American philosopher and activist, on mutual care as the means of survival.
Read More: Asian 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.
“ My vision for the Me Too Movement is a part of a collective vision to see a world free of sexual violence, and I believe we can build that world. ”
— Tarana Burke
Activism Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: tuh-RAH-nuh BURK
She / Her · Pronounced: tuh-RAH-nuh BURK
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Burke on the larger goal behind the movement she founded.
Read More: Black Activism
“ The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off. ”
— Gloria Steinem
Activism Women She / Her · Pronounced: GLOR-ee-uh STY-nem
She / Her · Pronounced: GLOR-ee-uh STY-nem
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Steinem's blunt take on how facing hard truths is uncomfortable before it is freeing.
