Shirley Chisholm

No matter what men think, abortion is a fact of life. Women have always had them; they always have and they always will. Are they going to have good ones or bad ones? Will the good ones be reserved for the rich, while the poor women go to quacks?

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It is not female egotism to say that the future of mankind may very well be ours to determine. It is a fact.

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No matter what men think, abortion is a fact of life. Women have always had them; they always have and they always will. Are they going to have good ones or bad ones? Will the good ones be reserved for the rich, while the poor women go to quacks?

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It is not female egotism to say that the future of mankind may very well be ours to determine. It is a fact.

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Our representative democracy is not working because the Congress that is supposed to represent the voters does not respond to their needs. I believe the chief reason for this is that it is ruled by a small group of old men.

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You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.

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I ran for the presidency, despite hopeless odds, to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo. The next time a woman runs, or a black, a Jew, or anyone from a group that the country is 'not ready' to elect to its highest office, I believe that he or she will be taken seriously from the start.

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We must reject not only the stereotypes that others have of us but also those that we have of ourselves.

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The liberals in the House strongly resemble liberals I have known through the last two decades in the civil rights conflict. When it comes time to show on which side they will be counted, they excuse themselves.

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Legal discrimination between the sexes is, in almost every instance, founded on outmoded views of society and the pre-scientific beliefs about psychology and physiology. It is time to sweep away these relics of the past and set further generations free of them.

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If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.

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I'm finding all over America that people are sick and tired of the tweedle-dee dees and the tweedle-dee dums who constantly flip-flap from one side to another. People are interested in having candidates that are truthful.

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I want history to remember me... not as the first black woman to have made a bid for the presidency of the United States, but as a black woman who lived in the 20th century and who dared to be herself. I want to be remembered as a catalyst for change in America.

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George Wallace for some strange, unknown reason, he liked me. George Wallace came down to Florida, and he went all over Florida, and he said to the people, 'If you all can't vote for me, don't vote for those oval-headed lizards. Vote for Shirley Chisholm!' And that crashed my votes, because they thought that I was in league with him to get votes.

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I'm looking to no man walking this earth for approval of what I'm doing.

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I know that millions of Americans from all walks of life agree with me that leadership does not mean putting the ear to the ground to follow public opinion, but to have the vision of what is necessary and the courage to make it possible.

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Tremendous amounts of talent are lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt.

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In the end, antiblack, antifemale, and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing-antihumanism.

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Service is the rent that you pay for room on this earth.

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When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom that profit loses.

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Quotes by Shirley Chisholm