Top 97 Quotes & Sayings by Madeleine M. Kunin - Page 2

The political environment we create matters because a disturbed person cannot always tell the difference between explosive rhetoric and explosive actions.

It's time to recognize what compromise means: no side wins or loses all.

To equate a corporation with a person is a travesty of justice.

If months were marked by colors, November in New England would be colored gray.

Susan B. Anthony must be turning in her grave if she knew that millions of women who have the right to vote are not exercising it. Why? Because they haven't got the interest or the time, or they have just given up hope.

To be political means to speak out, to risk being called 'catty', or worse. I don't hear men worrying about whether they may be right or not. They enjoy the fight, whether it is with words or fists. Women still tend to shy away from controversy, to be uncomfortable with competition.

Are there really good wars and bad wars? We thought so during World War II, and in retrospect, we were right. But in Vietnam, and Iraq we were wrong.

Many women do not want to venture out into the 'opinion world' until they are certain of themselves, the facts, and that they are right. They are afraid of being shot down. The result is often silence.

Those who speak up, those who use their connections, are more likely to succeed than those who sit and wait.

What works for a man, still does not work for a woman - both in terms of how they see themselves and how we see them.

The very qualities that make it harder for women to get elected - not being part of the old boy's network - gives them the advantage of having fresh, and yes, clean faces.

When women and men can shed an equal quantity of tears in public, that's when we'll have equal power.

Hugs are helpful, especially when women step out into a mostly male political world. Emotional support, at critical moments, enables women to stay in the race.

Poor privileged white men. Their stranglehold on power is slowly being loosened.

Our right to disagree is precious but fragile. The best way to protect and preserve it is to let the other side speak without demonizing them or destroying their right to be heard. Such civil exchanges are the heart beat of democracy - essential to keeping it alive.

When a man interrupts a woman in mid-sentence, it reveals much about him. First, it shows he hasn't been listening to what she is saying, and secondly, it indicates that he doesn't want to listen to what she will say. Her views are not important.

Why can't the world be like a summer day, when I thought that health care would be an ethical decision and wars existed only to be stopped?

The Republican agenda is, and always has been, to repeal Roe v. Wade, and at the very least, erode it to the greatest extent possible.

The death of a famous person is different from the death of a loved one, whether it is Michael Jackson, Frank McCourt, or Walter Cronkite. We didn't know any of them personally, and yet, we experience a sense of loss.

Sometimes compromise is painful.

Life experience is not something to be denied, but to be celebrated.

It's time for women to wake up, to use the power of the vote, to honor the suffragists who chained themselves to the White House fence so that women could vote.

We assume in our daily lives that the world is both safe and sane. Otherwise, we could not carry on.

When people have lost their jobs or are afraid of losing their jobs in the future, they lash out. They want others to know about their fears, their pain.

Politics creates an almost endless time horizon into the future. ... As governor I had the incredible luxury of being able to dream on a grand scale. And this sense of infinite possibility gives politics its romance.

Political success is often dependent on the ability to be heard above the din of controversy and debate and to set a course with one's own compass.

One is responsible for one's own life. Passivity provides no protection.

Like art, political action gives shape and expression to the things we fear as well as to those we desire. It is a creative process, drawing on the power to imagine as well as to act.

Why is computer science a good field for women? For one thing, thats where the jobs are, and for another, the pay is better than for many jobs, and finally, its easier to combine career and family.

When there is violence against any person in society, because he or she is different, it threatens us all. Only by speaking out are any of us safe.

“Job Killer.” Those are the two words you are most likely to hear uttered by most American CEOs when confronted with proposals to enact family-friendly work policies.

Inaction, contrary to its reputation for being a refuge, is neither safe nor comfortable.

Women need to see ourselves as individuals capable of creating change. That is what political and economic power is all about: having a voice, being able to shape the future. Women's absence from decision-making positions has deprived the country of a necessary perspective.

What some men don't understand is that by opposing policies to reduce violence, promote equal pay and universal healthcare and voting to limit access to contraception and legal abortion, they are relegating women to another century, a time when men ruled exclusively and women were considered property and had to be guided by a firm masculine hand.

A desire to succeed in politics is propelled by these two seemingly contradictory forces, which frequently change places and sometimes coexist: to save others and to save oneself.

Volunteer activities can foster enormous leadership skills. The nonprofit professional volunteer world is a laboratory for self - realization.

I confess to feeling continued ambivalence about political life, aware of its shortcomings and disappointments, but drawn back to it again and again because of its infinite promise. Justice can triumph, wrongs can be righted, and pain can be alleviated, if the right fix is found. The optimistic illusion that one can change the world is difficult to resist, especially when from time to time that illusion is sustained by even a hint of reality. Change does happen in the political process.