For more than five decades, Gloria Steinem has been the face of the modern women’s rights movement. Advocating for equality in the workplace and freedom in reproductive choices, Steinem’s tireless pursuit of gender equality has changed the course of history.
Like trailblazers before her, including Susan B. Anthony and Ida B. Wells, Steinem championed empowerment for women, paving the way for better pay and groundbreaking legislation that continues to elevate women today.
In honor of Steinem and her lasting legacy, see below for some of her most memorable quotes taken from speeches, interviews and books.
Among them you’ll find sentiments of strength like the stirring words, “If feminism means anything, it means taking responsibility for ourselves: for our own lives and actions. It is not ‘women as victims’ but women refusing to be victims.”
Steinem also notably wrote, “Many of us have raised our daughters more like our sons, but too few have raised our sons more like our daughters.”
Post these galvanizing words in memory of the women’s rights leader or read for your own silent reflection and to remember one of feminism’s most powerful voices.
Best Gloria Steinem Quotes
- “A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.” ― National Organization for Women (NOW)
- “The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day; a movement is only people moving.” ― “Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem”
- “Once we give up searching for approval we often find it easier to earn respect.” ― “Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions”
- “None of us can be liberated if other groups are not.” ― Vassar College commencement address, 1970
- “We are the women our parents warned us against, and we are proud.” ― Equality Now
- If feminism means anything, it means taking responsibility for ourselves: for our own lives and actions. It is not ‘women as victims’ but women refusing to be victims.” ― “The Trouble With Rich Women”
- “We learn most where we know the least.” ― “My Life on the Road”
- “Only when women rebel against patriarchal standards does female muscle become more accepted.” ―“Moving Beyond Words”
- “Nothing will happen automatically. Change depends on what you and I do every day.” ― “Business As Usual”
- “Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.” — “Revolution from Within”
- “When the past dies, there is mourning, but when the future dies our imaginations are compelled to carry it on.” ― “Marilyn”
- “Empathy is the most radical of human emotions.” ― “The Makers”
- “Feminism isn’t called the longest revolution for nothing.” ― Ms. magazine, 1997
- “Women are always saying, ‘We can do anything that men can do,’ but men should be saying, ‘We can do anything that women can do.’” ― National Women’s Conference, 1977
- “No man can call himself liberal, or radical, or even a conservative advocate of fair play, if his work depends in any way on the unpaid or underpaid labor of women at home, or in the office.” ― The New York Times, 1971
- “Decisions are best made by the people affected by them.” ― “My Life on the Road”
- “The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.” ― “The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off!”
- “The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.” ― Address of America speech, 1971
- “I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.” ― Tufts University commencement address, 1984
- “Romance is a means to the end of self-completion, but love is an end in itself.” ― “Revolution from Within”
- “If men started taking care of children, the job will become more valuable.” ― Time Magazine, 1989
- “Self-esteem starts out as a personal blessing, but it becomes nothing less than an evolutionary force.” ― “Revolution from Within”
- “A liberated woman is one who has sex before marriage and a job after.” ― New York Magazine, 1969
- “Revolutions that last don’t happen from the top down. They happen from the bottom up.” ― Interview Magazine, 2011
- “Once you get a majority consciousness change, you also get a backlash. It’s both an inevitable tribute to success and a danger.” ― Time Magazine, 1992
- “Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself.” ― “Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions”
- “Any woman who chooses to behave like a full human being should be warned that the armies of the status quo will treat her as something of a dirty joke. That’s their natural and first weapon. She will need her sisterhood.” ― New York Magazine, 1971
- “The need to treat ourselves as well as we treat others. It’s the women’s version of the Golden Rule.” ― “Moving Beyond Words”
- “What would happen if we listened to children as much as we talked to them?”― “This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women”
- “Human beings have an almost infinite capacity for adapting to the expectations around us ― which is both the good news and the bad news.” ― “My Life on the Road”
- “Don’t think about making women fit the world — think about making the world fit women.” ― Yale University, 2010
- “We’ll never solve the feminization of power until we solve the masculinity of wealth.” ― Economic roundtable, 2003
- “This is the wisdom: If we bless our bodies, they will bless us.” ― “Revolution from Within”
- “Many of us have raised our daughters more like our sons, but too few have raised our sons more like our daughters.” ― “Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions”
- “Imagining anything is the first step toward creating it.” ― “Revolution From Within”
- “For women … bras, panties, bathing suits, and other stereotypical gear are visual reminders of a commercial, idealized feminine image that our real and diverse female bodies can’t possibly fit.” ― “In Praise of Women’s Bodies”
- “If the shoe doesn’t fit, must we change the foot?�� ― “Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions”
- “Somewhere within each of us, buried at varying depths depending on the age and degree of neglect or abuse, shame or coercion we endured, there is a resistant, daydreaming, rebellious, creative, unique child — a true self who is waiting.” ― “Revolution from Within”
- “We need to remember across generations that there is as much to learn as there is to teach.” ― “Herstory: Women Who Changed the World”
- “In my heart, I think a woman has two choices: Either she’s a feminist or a masochist.” ― The New York Times, 2001
- “It’s said that the biggest determinant of our lives is whether we see the world as welcoming or hostile. Each becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.” ― “My Life on the Road”
