Shirley Chisholm Quotes

Of my two 'handicaps' being female put many more obstacles in my path than being black.

Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth.

My God, what do we want? What does any human being want? Take away an accident of pigmentation of a thin layer of our outer skin and there is no difference between me and anyone else. All we want is for that trivial difference to make no difference. What can I say to a man who asks that? All I can do is try to explain to him why he asks the question. You have looked at us for years as different from you that you may never see us really. You don’t understand because you think of us as second-class humans. We have been passive and accommodating through so many years of your insults and delays that you think the way things used to be is normal. When the good-natured, spiritual-singing boys and girls rise up against the white man and demand to be treated like he is, you are bewildered. All we want is what you want, no less and no more. (Chapter 13).

The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says: "It's a girl.

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

Racism is so universal in this country, so widespread, and deep-seated, that it is invisible because it is so normal.

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

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?