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Alan Keyes

Dr. Alan Lee Keyes (born 7 August 1950) is an American conservative political activist, pundit, author, perennial candidate, and former ambassador, considered one of the leading African Americans in the Republican Party.

1995

 * It's in the private places of the heart that freedom is made or unmade by the discipline we create there.
 * Delaware State Republican Dinner (8 April 1995)

 * In the great Declaration of our principles, it didn't say that all men are created equal 'if you so choose.' It said that all are created equal by the power and the will of God, and that we must respect their rights as we respect that will.
 * Delaware State Republican Dinner (8 April 1995)

1996

 * The first principle of a Keyes administration, it will apply in foreign policy, it will apply in domestic policy, it will apply everywhere. There is a God, and we are not him! I will not join the Clinton Democrats who worship government as their god! I will not join the Dole Republicans who worship power as their god! I will not join the Forbes Republicans who worship money as their god! I will stand where the founders of this nation stood, and I will give my respect and allegiance to the creator God who is the ground of justice and who is the ground of all our human rights!
 * Address to the Louisiana Republican Convention (27 January 1996)

1997

 * Either you can subscribe to the American creed which says that God endowed us with our rights, or you can subscribe to the abortion creed which says that those rights are the consequences of our mother's will.
 * Southern Methodist University (24 February 1997)

1998

 * Sen. Bob Smith has succeeded in amending an upcoming appropriations bill to beat back the latest wave of Clinton administration disrespect for two key elements of a free citizenry -- privacy and the right to keep and bear arms. Senator Smith is to be praised for keeping his eye on some balls that might have been lost in the smoke of scandal and misinformation that the Clinton Administration seems endlessly to emit. Actually, few things could make the need for vigorous defense of 2nd Amendment rights clearer than the ongoing spectacle of Clinton['s] contempt for the citizens he is supposed to serve. For the 2nd Amendment is really in the Constitution to give men like Bill Clinton something to think about when their ambition gets particularly over-inflated. The Founders added the 2nd Amendment so that when, after a long train of abuses, a government evinces a methodical design upon our natural rights, we will have the means to protect and recover our rights. That is why the right to keep and bear arms was included in the Bill of Rights.
 * "The reason for the Second Amendment", WorldNetDaily (14 August 1998)

1999

 * There can be no self-government without self-discipline. There can be no self-government without self-control. There can be no liberty unless it is grounded in moral discipline and the ability to do what is right.
 * Iowa straw poll speech (14 August 1999)

 * You can't have it both ways. Either our rights come from God, as our Declaration of Independence says, or they come from human choice. If they come from human choice, then our whole way of life is meaningless, it has no foundation.
 * PBS' Newshour with Jim Lehrer (20 December 1999)

2000

 * How does it secure the blessings of liberty to our posterity, to those generations yet unborn, to kill them, aborting them in the womb?
 * Virginia high school appearance (28 February 2000)

 * I deeply resent the destruction of federalism represented by Hillary Clinton's willingness to go into a state she doesn't even live in and pretend to represent the people there. So I certainly wouldn't imitate it.
 * Keyes appearing on Fox News in (March 2000)

 * Freedom does not mean doing what you can get away with, doing what you please. It means, instead, having the opportunity to do what you ought to do--for family and for community and for humanity as a whole.
 * Speech at Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco (4 March 2000)

 * Black Americans make up 10 or 11% of the population, but they account now for something of 40 to 45% of all the abortions. This is a privileged position that I'm not sure anyone in their right mind would aspire to.
 * Renew America rally in Orem, Utah (8 March 2000)

 * The heart of government, coated with whatever velvet gloves you want to put on it, is a mailed fist of force and coercion.
 * Renew America rally in Orem, Utah (8 March 2000)

 * The travesty of slavery wasn't physical abuse. It was the moral abuse of looking at a human being as if they are an animal.
 * Speech in Wisconsin (26 March 2000)

 * The question isn't whether you have a good master or a bad master. It's to be your own master. That is the dignity of humanity.
 * Renew America rally in Alabama (29 April 2000)

 * The First Amendment isn't about free thought and free opinion and free belief. The First Amendment is about free exercise--the carrying into practice of religious principles, and beliefs, and convictions.
 * Alabama Republican Assemblies Luncheon (29 April 2000)

 * There's not a single thing on offer in this all-too-temporary world for which you should ever sell your soul.
 * Lynn University Commencement Speech (6 May 2000)

 * Why do they want to disarm the people? Well, they want to disarm the people on the assumption that we are not responsible enough to be trusted with the means to defend ourselves--regardless of the truth that our Founders thought that this is an essential prerequisite and precondition of liberty.
 * Rally in Idaho Falls, Idaho (12 May 2000)

 * From the time of the Revolutionary War, when citizens stood forward to defend their liberties against the depredations of tyranny, all the way through Civil War, through the great World Wars, this nation has been defended by the tradition of common ordinary folks who come from behind the plow, come from the store-clerking, come from the classrooms to get on the battlefields — ordinary citizens turned into heroes in defense of their liberty, because that's the potential of freedom.
 * Rally in Idaho Falls, Idaho (12 May 2000)

 * At the root of the assault on our liberties is, in fact, an assault on our character--an assault that assumes that we are not good enough to be free, and that aims to make sure that we are no longer strong enough, courageous enough, disciplined enough to be a free people.
 * Rally in Idaho Falls, Idaho (12 May 2000)

 * Harden our hearts to the innocents in the womb, and we have hardened our hearts to the need for compassion, and mercy, and fellow-feeling, and charity, and decency in this world.
 * Speech at McKay Events Center in Orem, Utah (22 September 2000)

 * There are times we don't want to hear about the need to temper our best hopes in order to achieve our most vital security. But we still need to do it. Before we can triumph, we must survive. Before liberty can prevail, the possibility of liberty must be preserved.
 * Speech at McKay Events Center in Orem, Utah (22 September 2000)

 * Our success or failure is not in the hands of our leaders. It is in our hands.
 * Speech at McKay Events Center in Orem, Utah (22 September 2000)

2002

 * Every leader, and every regime, and every movement, and every organization that steps across the line to terrorism must be banished from the discourse of civilized human life.
 * Israel's Independence Day Festival (21 April 2002)

 * I will stand against those who see terrorism when Americans die, but who see suicide bombers who kill Israelis and believe that that is just part of the negotiating process.
 * Israel's Independence Day Festival (21 April 2002)

 * A callous disregard for the claims of innocent human life is the heart and soul of the evil of terrorism.
 * Speech at Thanksgiving Point, Lehi, Utah (24 September 2002)

 * God's irony: that in order to fight and defeat the threat of terrorism, we shall have to be clear about the principle of justice that allows us to understand what is evil in terrorism. And that principle of justice is the claim of justice that is inherent in every innocent human life. But if that claim was there in the Twin Towers, if it was there on the airplanes that those terrorists attacked, you explain to me why it is not there in the womb!
 * Speech at Thanksgiving Point, Lehi, Utah (24 September 2002)

2003

 * On all the matters that touch upon the critical moral issues, Arnold Schwarzenegger is on the evil side. This is a fact. A mere list of the positions he supports is enough to make this plain: abortion as a "right," cloning of human beings, governmental classification of citizens by race, public benefits for sexual partners outside of marriage, disrespect for property rights against environmental extremism, repudiation of the right to bear arms — no more need be said to show that this candidate is wrong where human decency, human rights and human responsibility bear directly on political issues. Last week, we saw Schwarzenegger does not deny habitual crude offenses against young women. Rather, he theatrically, vaguely and impersonally apologizes for them, before a roaring crowd of adoring fans, admitting neither any connection between action and character, nor any need for genuine penance or reformation. The Republicans who vote for Schwarzenegger will owe Bill Clinton an apology for having given the nation the impression that they sincerely believed character to be an issue for those claiming high office.
 * "Arnold's corruption of Republican Party", WorldNetDaily (6 October 2003)

2004

 * Hillary Clinton did what she did for the sake of her agenda of personal ambition, carefully planned and worked out over months in which she was using and abusing the state of New York — because she looked at several other states--as a platform for her personal ambition. I, on the other hand, have responded to the call of the people of Illinois who have asked me to come and help them with a crisis situation. It doesn't violate my principal understanding of federalism, because federalism has two parts: state sovereignty and national unity.
 * On CNN's American Morning (11 August 2004)

 * Hillary Clinton pursued an agenda of clear personal ambition. She fished around among the different states in the union, decided which state would be the best object of her personal ambitions, fomented interest in that state for the sake of her personal agenda. She was a sitting First Lady at the time, so there was even some overtones of intimidation involved in all of that, and she simply used and abused the state as a platform of her personal ambition. Quite the contrary, I had no thought whatsoever of running for the U.S. Senate in the State of Illinois. I have been called in by a decision of the people in Illinois who say that they need my help. That's their choice, and that respects the sovereignty of the people because they have made the determination that they need outside help.
 * On MSNBC's Scarborough Country (17 August 2004)

 * I am locked in a race with someone who is continually described almost in Homeric fashion. The reason I say that is because Homer had this way of attaching epithets to all the characters, so he would never say Achilles, it would always have to be "Valorous, Brave Achilles" or something, or "Swift Footed Achilles" and things of this kind. He would never say Odysseus, it was always "Manly Wild Odysseus" or something; he would always have a little name in front. And you've noticed that my opponent Barack Obama, the media always puts a little epithet in front of him. "The Democrat Rising Star, Barack Obama," "Rising Star Barack Obama." And they tell me that they are not biased. I'm locked in a little battle with the Illinois media right now, because I've had the nerve to identify them as minions of the Democrat party. And they are all upset with me about this — but I have this bad habit of opening my eyes and seeing what's in front of them.
 * Address to the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, NYC (31 August 2004)

 * Remember we had a big debate about partial birth abortion? Well, here is a guy, who, in the Senate of Illinois, voted against a bill that was aimed at making sure that hospitals could no longer take babies who were born alive after a botched abortion — these are living babies, wholly separate from the mother, and are there in a nurse's arms, and in a case that I know of, the nurse is begging the doctors to please help, to do something for this child. And she is told to put the child aside, and let it die. That's not abortion. That is infanticide. That is the taking of a child's life. That is simply murder, by neglect. And there was a bill to stop it. And the United States Senate, in a similar bill, passed ninety-eight to zero. Even Teddy Kennedy and Barbara Mikulski could not find it in their abortion-seared consciences to vote for this practice. But Barack Obama voted to let it continue.
 * Address to the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, NYC (31 August 2004)

2009

 * The fundamental premise of liberalism is the moral incapacity of the American people.
 * Christian Coalition Dinner, February 6, 1999

 * [Barack] Obama is a radical communist and I think it is becoming clear. That is what I told people in Illinois and now everybody realizes it is coming true. He is going to destroy this country and we are either going to stop him or the United States of America is going to cease to exist.
 * Interview with KHAS-TV, Hastings, Nebraska (19 February 2009)

 * Is he President of the United States? According to the constitution in order to be eligible for president, you have to be a natural born citizen. He has refused to provide proof that he is, in fact, a natural born citizen and his Kenyan relations say that he was born in Nairobi, at a time when his mother was too young to transmit US citizenship.
 * Interview with KHAS-TV, Hastings, Nebraska (19 February 2009)

 * So I'm not even sure that he's President of the United States... neither are many of our military people now, who are going to court to ask the question "Do we have to obey a man who is not qualified under the constitution.
 * Interview with KHAS-TV, Hastings, Nebraska (19 February 2009)

 * We're in the midst of the greatest crisis we've ever seen and if we don't stop laughing about it and deal with it, we're going to find ourself in the midst of chaos, confusion and civil war. It's time we started acting like grownups.
 * Interview with KHAS-TV, Hastings, Nebraska (19 February 2009)

 * The person you call 'President Obama" and I frankly refuse to call him that ... at the moment, he is somebody who is kind of an 'alleged usurper' who is alleged to be someone who is occupying that office without constitutional warrant to do so.
 * Interview with KHAS-TV, Hastings, Nebraska (19 February 2009); as transcribed verbatim... from Keith Olberman's Countdown, MSNBC (February 2009)

 * The idea of a terrorist attack that assaults innocent human beings in a building or a mall or a restaurant is bad enough. Yet the terrorist mind that looks at a passenger plane and sees the fuel and the intensity of the blast, and sees the rocket engines that will carry it into the heart of destruction like a cruise missile, but who does not see the humanity of one single soul on that airplane, is the chilling truth of what we're up against.
 * Address to the Black America's Political Action Committee (BAMPAC) (25 September 2001)

 * We must reject dictatorship in whatever form it takes — and especially when it rears its head in our own midst on the bench.
 * Reception in Winder, Georgia (11 September 2003)

 * Without the basis in written law, and without the basis in our Constitution ratified by the people, judges can't make laws. And if we accept the notion that their dictates are law, then we have not only submitted to tyranny, we have abandoned a republican form of government.
 * Reception in Winder, Georgia (11 September 2003)

 * There is a difference between constitutional government and judicial dictatorship. And I think it's time we remembered that our Constitution was not put together in order to establish the sovereignty of the judges, it was framed in order to guarantee the sovereignty of the people.
 * CPAC 2004 (24 January 2004)

 * When we surrender moral government to the courts, we have surrendered the very essence of freedom, we have surrendered its only real meaning--and we will not be free again until we get it back.
 * Speech in Hillsdale, Michigan (7 February 2004)

 * I think the most important thing that G. W. Bush has done is what he's done that's good for America: he has stood against this country's enemies. I don't remember on September the 12th that we counted the bodies in terms of who was black and who was white. Thank God that day we remembered that we were all of us Americans — and G. W. Bush has been a president standing against that evil for the sake of all Americans.
 * Hannity & Colmes, Fox News (12 July 2004) [http://renewamerica.us/archives/media/interviews/04_07_12hc.htm -->

 * Now, you think it's a coincidence that on September 11, 2001, we were struck by terrorists an evil that has at its heart the disregard of innocent human life? We who have for several decades killed not thousands but scores of millions of our own children, in disregard of the principle of innocent human life — I don't think that's a coincidence, I think that's a warning. I don't think that's a coincidence, I think that's a shot across the bow. I think that's a way of Providence telling us, "I love you all; I'd like to give you a chance. Wake up! Would you please wake up?"
 * Reaping the Fruits of the Moral Crisis (7 May 2004)

 * The right response when, in the army, you are given an unlawful order, is to refuse that order. The right response of a chief executive in this state and in this nation, when faced with an order by a court that he conscientiously believes violates the constitution he is sworn to respect, is to refuse their order!
 * Rally in defense of marriage, Boston, Massachusetts (14 May 2004)

 * We have these two different understandings of human sexuality: the hedonistic, self-indulgent understanding, the self-interested one; and the one that has procreation at its heart, and that is characterized by the need to acknowledge responsibility and obligation. And just so no one will miss the point: the reason that homosexuality epitomizes the [first] one is that homosexuals are not haunted by the prospect or possibility of procreation — because they're simply not capable of it. I think this is pretty obvious, isn't it? And it was understood in human society at one point that if you're not capable of procreation, marriage doesn't have anything to do with you, because marriage is about procreation.
 * Rally in defense of marriage, Boston, Massachusetts (14 May 2004)

 * I was reading an article about this case in California, where two lesbians were fighting over the custody of children that genetically were traceable to one, but which the other had raised. You know what? Nobody even thought about or mentioned, nobody asked a simple question about whether the father of those children should have any claim, because, very often in these relationships, they are conducted in such a way and conception occurs in such a way as to intentionally mask who the father might be, so that children must grow up without knowing who their father is. And that means that an incestuous situation could easily arise in our society, it's more than likely to arise--not to mention every other kind of incestuous complication.
 * Rally in defense of marriage, Boston, Massachusetts (14 May 2004)

 * Sex itself only exists in relation to procreation. That's one of the reasons why I sometimes object — and it's just a theoretical objection, but it's worth thinking about — to the whole notion that one calls what people of the same sex do "sexual relations." As a matter of fact, they have precisely turned their back on sexual relations, in order to engage in acts of mutual pleasure that have nothing whatsoever to do with sexuality.
 * National Federation of Republican Assemblies, NYC (31 August 2004)

 * It is a vocation, parenting, that is not just all about yourself, because it is all about that future you will never see. It is all about that happiness you will never enjoy. It is all about that person who will grow to a maturity, offering to the world a gift, one element of which may reflect a little contribution from yourself. But long before that gift is finally delivered, you will likely have shuffled off this mortal coil, and not be there to enjoy it. [Parenting] represents the possibility, which in the end is at the heart of the perpetuation of all our human community: the possibility that we will not live for ourselves alone, but will feel a deep and true connection, with a future we will never see, with a progeny we will never meet, but who, in our hearts' imaginations, we contemplate, with a sense of responsibility and obligation. Change the understanding of marriage, and you have changed the understanding of our character in such a way as to break our bond with that future, and to undermine that sense of responsibility.
 * National Federation of Republican Assemblies, NYC (31 August 2004)

 * You can't build marriage on a foundation of selfish hedonism, because that would be to promise people only roses, and marriage is also thorns.
 * Party for the President (2 September 2004)

 * Selfish hedonism is not a pejorative. It is a description — an exactly accurate description of what is involved in homosexual relations.
 * Party for the President (2 September 2004)

 * I was asked by one of the reports whether or not I would call Mary Cheney a selfish hedonist. I didn't mention her name. See, one of the articles said I had mentioned her. This is not true. I didn't mentioned her. But leave that aside. All I said was, she had come forward as a lesbian, she identifies herself as someone who engages in homosexual sexuality. I have just said that by definition, it involves selfish hedonism. I can't change that. Now, it might be true [that] the argument I've just given is the best argument in support of the Republican plank on gay marriage that I think can be made. There are lots of other arguments that can be added, but, in principle, that's the best one because we need to understand that marriage is procreational sex, not recreational sex. Now, I want to tell you. If my daughter or anybody else engages in behavior that put them under that descriptive label, I will not consent to lie about it, and I will not tell the American people that I support a plank that requires this logic and then exempt my daughter from the logic that it requires.
 * Party for the President (2 September 2004)

 * The gun control mentality is ruthlessly absurd. It suggests that you pass a law which will bind law-abiding citizens — they won't have access to weapons. Now, we know that criminals, by definition, are people who don't obey laws. Therefore, you can pass all the laws that you want, they will still have access to these weapons, just as they have access to illegal drugs and other things right now. That means you end up with a situation in which the law-abiding folks can't defend themselves, and the crooks have all the guns.
 * U.S. Senate debate in Illinois (21 October 2004)

 * The Assault Weapons Ban deals with a fictional distinction. You have guns that are exactly the same guns as are banned, in function, that were banned because of the way they look. And you know, that's the whole truth of this policy: it's to make politicians look as if they are doing something, when in point of fact, they are doing nothing.
 * U.S. Senate debate in Illinois (21 October 2004)

 * The answer to crime is not gun control, it is law enforcement and self-control.
 * U.S. Senate debate in Illinois (21 October 2004)

 * If you go down a road that satisfies your personal predilections and relationships and sacrifices the common good of the country, including the elementary institution by which its civilization is sustained, then you're not only derelict in your public duty, you are abandoning your obligation as a human being. And frankly, people throw around words like "crime against humanity", I think that kind of disregard for the God-endowed natural rights of human being is the archetype of all crimes against humanity, and I think we have an entire elite faction that is now committed to committing such a crime against the American people.
 * , quoted in
 * regarding Senator Rob Portman's support of same-sex marriage after learning that his son is gay.

 * It returns us to the dark ages of human oppression, which America was founded to remove humanity from, and it is the whole point of the push for homosexual marriage and homosexual rights. The aim is not compassion for homosexuals, respect for homosexuals and all of this; the aim in the mind of these hardheaded, calculating, leftist, Communist, totalitarians is to destroy the family and to establish the notion that once you have seized power there is no limit whatsoever to what you can do. If you want to tolerate abuses then those abuses can be imposed upon the people. Once you establish that, the abuses are then not going to be confined to egregious outrages like this; those abuses are going to be committed against the whole society and they will in the end include the murder of the masses as has occurred in all Communist regimes that existed.
 * , quoted in

I must assume that Cardinal Kasper would join me in saying, "Forbid it, Almighty God!" He will probably bridle, however, at the temerity of comparing homosexuality to the Holocaust.
 * Walter Kasper, a German cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, said: "A democratic state has the duty to respect the will of the people; and it seems clear that, if the majority of the people wants such homosexual unions, the state has a duty to recognize such rights." So if the people of Germany voted tomorrow to renew the Holocaust, would the cardinal say the German state is duty-bound to re-open the death camps? That kind of spurious legalism helped goose-step Germany into Hell in the last century. Do German cardinals now propose to do the same to the Roman Catholic Church in this one?

2016

 * The GOP is poised to nominate a candidate whose life could be used to illustrate the deceitfully seductive quality of sin summarized in the phrase "the glamour of evil."
 * On the candidacy of Donald Trump, as quoted in "Donald Trump Illustrates 'Glamour of Evil,' Alan Keyes Says in Defense of Russell Moore", in The Christian Post (13 May 2016)

Quotes about Keyes

 * A Keyes speech on the moral erosion of America is one of those transcendent experiences where you just have to be there. It's hard to explain how he touches the soul of an audience, and saying that he's 'silver-tongued' (as everyone does) only tarnishes the picture by inadequacy.
 * David R. Boldt, writing in The Baltimore Sun (29 November 1995)

 * There was no doubt that the man could talk. At the drop of a hat, Mr. Keyes could deliver a grammatically flawless disquisition on virtually any topic. On the stump, he could wind himself up into a fiery intensity, his body rocking, his brow running with sweat, his fingers jabbing the air, his high-pitched voice trembling with emotion as he called the faithful to do battle against the forces of evil.
 * Barack Obama, in The Audacity of Hope, p. 210

 * In other words, Alan Keyes was an ideal opponent; all I had to do was keep my mouth shut and start planning my swearing-in ceremony. And yet, as the campaign progressed, I found him getting under my skin in a way that few people ever have. When our paths crossed during the campaign, I often had to suppress the rather uncharitable urge to either taunt him or wring his neck.
 * Barack Obama, in The Audacity of Hope, p. 211

 * While they complain about candidates pandering to special-interest groups, 217 years of this republic have shown that deep down people want candidates who strive to be all things to all men. People say they want office-seekers who are candid, frank, straightforward, genuine, who tell the truth even when it hurts. Who are on the up-and-up, guileless, unartful, undesigning, unequivocal. But nobody has won running on that platform, including Lincoln, FDR and Reagan, and you will be no exception. Voters elect only candidates who are deceptive, duplicitous, bluffers, cunning, crafty and Machiavellian. That's because voters want politicians like themselves. The media agrees. So why are you out of step? Thus, you've botched your campaign. You're going to lose by a landslide. I accuse you of being politically pure, clean, pristine, impeccable and untarnished. Your very presence embarrasses the system because you don't play by the historic rules.
 * Thomas Roeser to Keyes in the Chicago Sun Times

title: Alan Keyes


text:
The Asphalt Jungle

The Asphalt Jungle is a 1950 American film noir about a major heist that goes off as planned, until bad luck and double crosses cause everything to unravel.
 * Directed by John Huston. Written by Ben Maddow and John Huston, based on the novel by W.R. Burnett.

The City Under the City

Doc Riedenschneider

 * Experience has taught me never to trust a policeman. Just when you think one's all right, he turns legit.
 * One way or another, we all work for our vice.
 * Everything is here, from the observed routine of the personnel to the alarm system, the types of locks on the doors, the aging condition of the main safe, and so forth and so forth. Take my word for it, Mr. Emmerich, this is a ripe plum ready to fall...Perhaps you know my reputation. I've engineered some very big things.
 * They'll be paid off like house painters - they'll be told nothing about the size of the take. Sometimes, men get greedy.
 * They'll listen to reason. This is a very bad jolt for them. And it's possible they'll be willing to buy the jewels back, no questions asked, for as high as twenty-five percent of what they're worth.
 * Put in hours and hours of planning. Figure everything down to the last detail. Then what? Burglar alarms start going off all over the place for no sensible reason. A gun fires of its own accord and a man is shot. And a broken down old cop, no good for anything but chasing kids, has to trip over us. Blind accident. What can you do against blind accidents? One thing I ought to have figured and didn't was Emmerich. I know why I didn't. I'm not kidding myself. It was the extra dough he promised. I got hungry. Greed made me blind.
 * Home is where the money is.
 * I haven't carried a gun since my twenties. You carry a gun, you shoot a policeman. Bad rap, hard to beat. You don't carry a gun, you give up when they hold one on you.

Dix Handley

 * Why don't you quit cryin' and get me some bourbon?
 * Are you a man, or what? Trying to gyp and double-cross with no guts for it. What's inside of you? What's keeping you alive?

Police Commissioner Hardy

 * Let me put it this way. It's not anything strange that there are corrupt officers in police departments. The dirt they're trying to clean up is bound to rub off on some of 'em, but not all of 'em. Maybe one out of a 100. The other 99 are honest men trying to do an honest job. Listen... [One by one, he flipped the switch on police radios behind him that broadcast crime reports] I know you're police reporters and you hear this all day long, but I want you to listen with your conscience, not just your ears. We send police assistance to every one of those calls 'cause they're not just code numbers on a radio beam, they're cries for help. People are being cheated, robbed, murdered, raped. And that goes on 24 hours a day, every day in the year. And that's not exceptional, that's usual. It's the same in every city of the modern world. But suppose we had no police force, good or bad. Suppose we had [he flipped off all four radios] - just silence. Nobody to listen, nobody to answer. The battle's finished. The jungle wins. The predatory beasts take over. Think about it. Well gentlemen, three men are in jail, three men dead, one by his own hand. One man's a fugitive - and we have reason to believe seriously wounded. That's six out of seven, not bad. And we'll get the last one too. In some ways, he's the most dangerous of them all. A hardened killer. A hooligan. A man without human feeling or human mercy.

Others

 * Dr. Swanson: He hasn't got enough blood left in him to keep a chicken alive.
 * Cobby: Here's to the drink habit. It's the only one I got that don't get me into trouble.
 * Cobby: How can things go so wrong? How is it possible? One man killed, two others plugged. I'm out thirty grand. We got a load of rocks we can't even peddle...I must be awful stupid. Here I am with a good business, money rolling in, I-I gotta get mixed up in a thing like this. I ought to have my head examined.
 * Commissioner Hardy: [referring to Doc] He loses you five blocks from the depot and one of the most dangerous criminals alive is now at large in this city.
 * Gus Minissi: Take my advice and knock off for a while. The happiness boys are on a rampage. Headquarters is givin' 'em a push...Go home, Dix, stay home. Don't get your flag at half-mast. Remember, you still got ol' Gus.
 * Emmerich: I could tell them that I'd fence the stuff myself, you see, promise them cash on delivery. Then, when the time comes, I simply wouldn't have the cash, do you understand? I'd tell them it would take a few more days to raise it. I'm certain I could get them to leave the stuff with me while we're waiting...Well, then I'd disappear. I'd take a plane to another country, to another life. The gold and platinum, I could melt up and sell as bullion, you see. And the rocks - sell them one at a time. There'd be no hurry. They'd last a lifetime.
 * Louis Ciavelli: I never saw a hooligan I did like. They're like left-handed pitchers, they all have a screw loose somewhere.
 * Louis Ciavelli: If you want fresh air, don't look for it in this town.
 * Angela Phinlay: Imagine me on this beach here in my green bathing suit. Yipe! I almost bought a white one the other day, but it wasn't quite extreme enough. I mean, don't get me wrong, if I really went in for the extreme extreme, I would have bought a French one. Run for your life, girls, the fleet's in. Oh, Uncle Lon, am I excited? Yipe! referring to the magazine's pictures of a tropical resort Look, Uncle Lon, isn't it romantic? Real palms and ocean and everything.
 * Angela Phinlay: Haven't you bothered me enough, you big banana-head? Just try breaking my door and Mr. Emmerich will throw you out of the house!

Dialogue

 * May Emmerich: Oh Lon, when I think of all those awful people you come in contact with - downright criminals - I get scared.
 * Alonzo Emmerich: Oh, there's nothing so different about them. After all, crime is only... a left-handed form of human endeavor.

 * Doc: I got a proposition. A big one.
 * Cobby: How big is big?
 * Doc: Too big for you, Cobby.
 * Cobby: Now wait, Doc. I don't like to brag, but I'm doin' all right. I'm makin' book, I'm in the chips. What kind of proposition is it?
 * Doc: A plan for the caper, and it's a good one. I could sell it for a hundred thousand dollars in the open market, but that would be throwing money away. I prefer to execute it myself and make...half a million dollars. [He pauses for dramatic effect.] Maybe even more. Of course, I will have to do a little checking as the plan is some years old. But not much checking, not much. I need roughly $50,000 to operate...

 * Truck Driver: [referring to stray cats] I run over one every time I get a chance. Some people feedin' cats and some kids haven't got enough to eat.
 * Gus: [Tosses the customer out by his coat-tails] If I ever see you runnin' over a cat, I'll kick your teeth out.

 * Doc: It's a matter of temperament. I cause no trouble. The prison authorities appreciate that. They made me assistant librarian.
 * Emmerich: I'm afraid I wouldn't make a model prisoner.
 * Doc: After this job, it's Mexico for me. I'll live like a king. Mexican girls are very pretty. I'll have nothing to do all day long but chase them in the sunshine.

 * Dix: I was up on that colt's back. My father and grandfather were there, watching the fun. That colt was buck-jumpin' and pitchin' and once he tried to scrape me off against the fence, but I stayed with him, you bet. And then I heard my granddaddy say, 'He's a real Handley, that boy, a real Handley.' And I felt proud as you please.
 * Doll: Did that really happen, Dix, well, when you were a kid?
 * Dix: Not exactly. The black colt pitched me into a fence on the first buck and my old man come over and prodded me with his boot and said, 'Maybe that'll teach ya not to brag about how good you are on a horse'...One of my ancestors imported the first Irish thoroughbred into our county...Why our farm was in the family for generations, one hundred sixty acres - thirty in bluegrass and the rest in crops. A fine barn and seven brood mares...And then everything happened at once. My old man died and we lost our corn crop. That black colt I was telling you about, he broke his leg and had to be shot. That was a rotten year. I'll never forget the day we left. Me and my brother swore we'd buy Hickory Wood Farm back some day...Twelve grand would have swung it, and I almost made it once. I had more than five thousand dollars in my pocket and Pampoon was runnin' in the Suburban. I figured he couldn't lose. I put it all on his nose. He lost by a nose...The way I figure, my luck's just gotta turn. One of these days, I'll make a real killin' and then I'm gonna head for home. First thing I do when I get there is take a bath in the creek, and get this city dirt off me.

 * Doc: What boxes have you opened?
 * Louis: Cannonball, double-door, even a few Firechests, all of 'em.
 * Doc: Can you open a vault with a time-lock and a re-locking device?
 * Louis: Sure.
 * Doc: What do you use? Lock or seam?
 * Louis: Seam...
 * Doc: How good are you as a pick-lock?
 * Louis: I can open anything in four minutes.

 * Doc: I'd just like to see the color of the money.
 * Emmerich: Gentlemen, I must admit at this moment, I, uh, I'm embarrassed.
 * Doc: You mean you haven't got the money, Mr. Emmerich?!
 * Emmerich: Oh, I have it - that is, I have the assurance of it...No, I haven't got the currency right here in my hands. But it's promised by an unimpeachable source. Gentlemen, I'm afraid we were a little hasty. We, uh, we moved too fast...So I'm afraid a few days more are needed to raise it...It wouldn't be safe for you to carry that stuff around...They're certainly gonna be looking for the big-timers, like yourself. Some smart cop might even connect this burglary with your release. Well, there you are.

 * Ditrich: We'll make ourselves a little deal with the commissioner. You won't get more than a year or two.
 * Cobby: I'm clean! I don't know where Doc went. That's the truth.
 * Ditrich: They won't believe you at headquarters, Cobby. Every time you'd tell 'em that, they'd work you over. And you ain't the type that can take it, believe me. You'd spill your guts in half an hour.
 * Cobby: Give me a break. You came to make a pinch, sure, but I'm not here...
 * Ditrich: You're right here, Cobby.
 * Cobby: I've always treated you right, Lieutenant. Let me duck out. You can get away with it.
 * Ditrich: No, I couldn't. The commissioner's mad. He's out for blood. And it's not going to be mine.
 * Cobby: You're not gonna stop me. You're gonna let me go. You're gonna do that. If you don't...
 * Ditrich: Yeah, I know. You'll be a grade-A pigeon.
 * Cobby: That's right. I'll tell 'em you saw Riedenschneider here and didn't roust him. Why? Because you had to explain what you were doin' here. I'll tell 'em about all the juice you've been gettin' out of me.
 * Ditrich: Cobby, the only thing you're doing is making me sore.
 * Cobby: Once I start singing, I won't stop. They'll jug you right alongside of me.
 * Ditrich: That's where you're wrong, Cobby. Even if they believe you, it won't go too hard with me. Because I'll be the guy that cracked the biggest case ever pulled in the country... [Cobby is repeatedly slapped until he whimpers and cracks under the pressure.]
 * Cobby: They'll call me a fink.
 * Ditrich: That's my boy.

Cast

 * Sterling Hayden - Dix Handley
 * Louis Calhern - Alonzo D. 'Lon' Emmerich
 * Jean Hagen - Doll Conovan
 * James Whitmore - Gus Minissi
 * Sam Jaffe - Erwin 'Doc' Riedenschneider
 * John McIntire - Police Commissioner Hardy
 * Marc Lawrence - 'Cobby' Cobb
 * Barry Kelley - Det. Lt. Ditrich
 * Anthony Caruso - Louis Ciavelli
 * Teresa Celli - Maria Ciavelli
 * Marilyn Monroe - Angela Phinlay
 * Dorothy Tree - May Emmerich

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: The Asphalt Jungle


text:
Henry van Dyke

Henry van Dyke (10 November 1852 – 10 April 1933) was an American author, educator, poet, playwright, and clergyman.

Quotes

 * So in the heart, When, fading slowly down the past, Fond memories depart, And each that leaves it seems the last; Long after all the rest are flown, Returns a solitary tone,— The after-echo of departed years,— And touches all the soul to tears.
 * The After-Echo, st. 2 (1871).

 * A tear that trembles for a little while Upon the trembling eyelid, till the world Wavers within its circle like a dream, Holds more of meaning in its narrow orb Than all the distant landscape that it blurs.
 * Dulciora, st. 1 (1872).

 * And so, by night, while we were all at rest, I think the coming sped the parting guest.
 * The Parting and the Coming Guest (1873).

 * What we do belongs to what we are; and what we are is what becomes of us.
 * Ships and Havens, ch. 2 (1898).

 * Raise the stone, and thou shalt find me; cleave the wood and there am I.
 * The Toiling of Felix, Pt. I, prelude (1900)

 * The legend of Felix is ended, the toiling of Felix is done; The Master has paid him his wages, the goal of his journey is won; He rests, but he never is idle; a thousand years pass like a day, In the glad surprise of Paradise where work is sweeter than play.
 * The Toiling of Felix, Pt. III, st. 1 (1898).

 * This is the gospel of labour, ring it, ye bells of the kirk! The Lord of Love came down from above, to live with the men who work. This is the rose that He planted, here in the thorn-curst soil: Heaven is blest with perfect rest, but the blessing of Earth is toil.
 * The Toiling of Felix, Pt. III, st. 5. (1898)

 * The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.
 * Fisherman's Luck, ch. 5 (1899)

 * Not to the swift, the race: Not to the strong, the fight: Not to the righteous, perfect grace: Not to the wise, the light.
 * Reliance, st. 1 (1904)

 * For men have dulled their eyes with sin, And dimmed the light of heaven with doubt, And built their temple-walls to shut thee in, And framed their iron creeds to shut thee out.
 * God of the Open Air, st. III (1904).

 * This is the soldier brave enough to tell The glory-dazzled world that "war is hell": Lover of peace, he looks beyond the strife, And rides through hell to save his country's life.
 * The Statue of Sherman by St. Gaudens (1904).

 * Count not the cost of honour to the dead! The tribute that a mighty nation pays To those who loved her well in former days Means more than gratitude for glories fled; For every noble man that she hath bred, Lives in the bronze and marble that we raise, Immortalised by art's immortal praise, To lead our sons as he our fathers led.
 * National Monuments, st. 1 (February 1905).

 * So it's home again, and home again, America for me! My heart is turning home again, and there I long to be, In the land of youth and freedom beyond the ocean bars, Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars!
 * America for Me, st. 2 (1909)

 * O brave flag, O bright flag, O flag to lead the free! The glory of thy silver stars, Engrailed in blue above the bars Of red for courage, white for truth, Has brought the world a second youth And drawn a hundred million hearts to follow after thee.
 * Who Follow the Flag, Phi Kappa Beta Ode, Harvard University (June 30, 1910).

 * Honour the brave who sleep Where the lost “Titanic” lies, The men who knew what a man must do When he looks Death in the eyes. “Women and children first,”— Ah, strong and tender cry! The sons whom women had borne and nursed, Remembered,—and dared to die.  The boats crept off in the dark: The great ship groaned: and then,— O stars of the night, who saw that sight, Bear witness, These were men!
 * Heroes of the "Titantic" (November 9, 1912).

 * What is Friendship? Something deep That the heart can spend and keep: Wealth that greatens while we give, Praise that heartens us to live.
 * The Talisman, st. 2 (January 21, 1914).

 * If Might made Right, life were a wild-beasts' cage; If Right made Might, this were the golden age; But now, until we win the long campaign, Right must gain Might to conquer and to reign.
 * Might and Right (July 1, 1915).

 * God said, “I am tired of kings,”— But that was a long while ago! And meantime man said, “No,— I like their looks in their robes and rings.” So he crowned a few more, And they went on playing the game as before, Fighting and spoiling things. Man said, “I am tired of kings! Sons of the robber-chiefs of yore, They make me pay for their lust and their war; I am the puppet, they pull the strings; The blood of my heart is the wine they drink. I will govern myself for awhile I think, And see what that brings!”  Then God, who made the first remark, Smiled in the dark.
 * Remarks About Kings (October 1915).

 * They tell me thou art rich, my country: gold In glittering flood has poured into thy chest; Thy flocks and herds increase, thy barns are pressed With harvest, and thy stores can hardly hold Their merchandise; unending trains are rolled Along thy network rails of East and West; Thy factories and forges never rest; Thou art enriched in all things bought and sold! But dost thou prosper? Better news I crave. O dearest country, is it well with thee Indeed, and is thy soul in health? A nobler people, hearts more wisely brave, And thoughts that lift men up and make them free,— These are prosperity and vital wealth!
 * America's Prosperity (October 1, 1916).

 * Peace without Justice is a low estate,— A coward cringing to an iron Fate! But Peace through Justice is the great ideal,— We'll pay the price of war to make it real.
 * The Price of Peace (December 28, 1916).

 * I have no joy in strife, Peace is my great desire; Yet God forbid I lose my life Through fear to face the fire. A peaceful man must fight For that which peace demands,— Freedom and faith, honor and right, Defend with heart and hands.
 * The Peaceful Warrior, st. 1-2 (May 1918).

 * And yet there is an anger that purifies the heart: The anger of the better against the baser part, Against the false and wicked, against the tyrant's sword, Against the enemies of love, and all that hate the Lord.
 * Righteous Wrath, st. 2 (January 1918).

 * Four things a man must learn to do If he would make his record true: To think without confusion clearly; To love his fellow-men sincerely; To act from honest motives purely; To trust in God and Heaven securely.
 * "Four Things," Poems, vol. 1 (vol. 9 of The Works of Henry Van Dyke) (1920).

 * Flowers rejoice when night is done, Lift their heads to greet the sun; Sweetest looks and odours raise, In a silent hymn of praise.
 * Matins, st. 1.

 * If all the skies were sunshine, Our faces would be fain To feel once more upon them The cooling splash of rain. If all the world were music, Our hearts would often long For one sweet strain of silence. To break the endless song.  If life were always merry, Our souls would seek relief, And rest from weary laughter In the quiet arms of grief.
 * If All the Skies.

 * The world is full of warfare 'twixt the evil and the good; I watched the battle from afar as one who understood The shouting and confusion, the bloody, blundering fight— How few there are that see it clear, how few that wage it right!
 * Another Chance.

 * Religion? Yes, I know it well; I've heard its prayers and creeds, And seen men put them all to shame with poor, half-hearted deeds. They follow Christ, but far away; they wander and they doubt. I'll serve him in a better way, and live his precepts out.
 * Another Chance.

 * Let me but feel thy look's embrace, Transparent, pure, and warm, And I'll not ask to touch thy face, Or fold thee in mine arm. For in thine eyes a girl doth rise, Arrayed in candid bliss, And draws me to her with a charm More close than any kiss.
 * Love in a Look.

 * There are many kinds of love, as many kinds of light, And every kind of love makes a glory in the night. There is love that stirs the heart, and love that gives it rest, But the love that leads life upward is the noblest and the best.
 * Love and Light.

 * But often faltering feet Come surest to the goal; And they who walk in darkness meet The sunrise of the soul.
 * Reliance, st. 2.

 * He that planteth a tree is the servant of God, He provideth a kindness for many generations, And faces that he hath not seen shall bless him.
 * The Friendly Trees.

 * To be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars- to be satisfied with your possessions but not content with yourself until you have made the best of them- to despise nothing in the world except falsehood and meanness, and to fear nothing except cowardice- to be governed by you admirations rather than by your disgusts- to covet nothing that is your neighbors except his kindness of heart and gentleness of manners- to think seldom of your enemies, often of your friends, and every day of Christ; to spend as much time as you can in God's out-of doors- these are the little guideposts on the footpaths to peace.
 * Footpaths to Peace.

The Fall of the Leaves (1874)

 * In warlike pomp, with banners flowing, The regiments of autumn stood: I saw their gold and scarlet glowing From every hillside, every wood.
 * I, st. 1.

 * I heard through the night The rush and the clamour; The pulse of the fight Like blows of Thor's hammer; The pattering flight Of the leaves, and the anguished Moan of the forest vanquished.
 * II, st. 2.

 * The storm is ended! The impartial sun Laughs down upon the battle lost and won, And crowns the triumph of the cloudy host In rolling lines retreating to the coast.
 * III, st. 1.

 * For ever so our thoughtful hearts repeat On fields of triumph dirges of defeat; And still we turn on gala-days to tread Among the rustling memories of the dead.
 * III, st. 3.

Ships and Havens (1897)

 * To desire and strive to be of some service to the world, to aim at doing something which shall really increase the happiness and welfare and virtue of mankind,—this is a choice which is possible for all of us; and surely it is a good haven to sail for. The more we think of it, the more attractive and desirable it becomes. To do some work that is needed, and to do it thoroughly well; to make our toil count for something in adding to the sum total of what is actually profitable for humanity; to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before, or, better still, to make one wholesome idea take root in a mind that was bare and fallow; to make our example count for something on the side of honesty and cheerfulness, and courage, and good faith, and love - this is an aim for life which is very wide, and yet very definite, as clear as light. It is not in the least vague. It is only free; it has the power to embody itself in a thousand forms without changing its character. Those who seek it know what it means, however it may be expressed. It is real and genuine and satisfying. There is nothing beyond it, because there can be no higher practical result of effort. It is the translation, through many languages, of the true, divine purpose of all the work and labor that is done beneath the sun, into one final, universal word. It is the active consciousness of personal harmony with the will of God who worketh hitherto. (p.27)

Little Rivers (1895)

 * I'm only wishing to go a-fishing; For this the month of May was made.
 * Prelude

 * For real company and friendship, there is nothing outside of the animal kingdom that is comparable to a river.
 * Little Rivers

 * The mountain is voiceless and imperturbable; and its very loftiness and serenity sometimes make us the more lonely.
 * Little Rivers

 * The promotion from all-day picnics to a two weeks' camping-trip is like going from school to college.
 * A Leaf of Spearmint, III

 * Every mountain is, rightly considered, an invitation to climb.
 * Ampersand

The Ruling Passion (1901)

 * Romantic love interests almost everybody, because almost everybody knows something about it, or would like to know.
 * Preface

 * How often a man has cause to return thanks for the enthusiasms of his friends! They are the little fountains that run down from the hills to refresh the mental desert of the despondent.
 * The White Blot

Joy and Power (1903)

 * Christ never asks us to give up merely for the sake of giving up, but always in order to win something better.
 * Joy and Power

 * The simple life which blandly ignores all care and conflict, soon becomes flabby and invertebrate, sentimental and gelatinous.
 * The Battle of Life

 * No amount of energy will take the place of thought.
 * The Good Old Way

America for Me (1909)

 * Oh, London is a man’s town, there’s power in the air; And Paris is a woman’s town, with flowers in her hair; And it’s sweet to dream in Venice, and it’s great to study Rome; But when it comes to living, there is no place like home.
 * Lines 9-12.

 * I know that Europe’s wonderful, yet something seems to lack; The Past is too much with her, and the people looking back.
 * Lines 17-18.

 * Oh, it’s home again, and home again, America for me! I want a ship that’s westward bound to plow the rolling sea, To the blessed Land of Room Enough beyond the ocean bars, Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.
 * Lines 21-24.

Liberty Enlightening the World (1917)

 * Thou warden of the western gate, above Manhattan Bay, The fogs of doubt that hid thy face are driven clean away: Thine eyes at last look far and clear, thou liftest high thy hand To spread the light of liberty world-wide for every land.

 * Oh, come as comes the morn. Serene and strong and full of faith, America, arise, With steady hope and mighty help to join thy brave Allies. O dearest country of my heart, home of the high desire, Make clean thy soul for sacrifice on Freedom’s altar-fire: For thou must suffer, thou must fight, until the warlords cease, And all the peoples lift their heads in liberty and peace.

Undated

 * These quotes need further sourcing and sorting by publication dates

 * The lintel low enough to keep out pomp and pride: The threshold high enough to turn deceit aside.
 * For the Friends at Hurstmont. The Door

 * Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul.
 * The Prison and the Angel

 * Time Is... Too slow for those who wait, Too swift for those who fear, Too long for those who grieve, Too short for those who rejoice, But for those who love, Time is Eternity. (Music and Other Poems, 1904)
 * Time Is

 * Death comes in its own time, in its own way. Death is as unique as the individual experiencing it.
 * Gone From My Sight

Attributed

 * As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.
 * This may be misattributed. It appears to be a direct and original quote from "Individuality and encounter: a brief journey into loneliness and sensitivity groups" by Dr Clark E Moustakas (1971 p15, prev 1968)

 * Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best.
 * The following information is from the following site: http://pt.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talento, the fourth entry, which gives the citation as (( Henry van Dyke quoted in "Handicapped Individuals Services and Training Act: hearing before the Subcommittee on Select Education of the Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, Ninety-seventh Congress, second session, on HR 6820 … hearing held in St. Paul, Minn., and Loretto, Minn. on September 2, 1982. "-. 223 Page, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education and Labor. Subcommittee on Select Education - USGPO, 1982 - 257 pages ))
 * Quoted by Tor Dahl in the document cited.
 * A very similar quote appears in an essay entitled "Do What You Can" by "Little Home Body" in the The Phrenological Journal and Life Illustrated, Volumes 62-63 (August 1876): "The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there but those that sang best" but states "I know not who said those beautiful words"
 * However, the quote may have been misattributed to Henry Van Dyke. In "The Two Vocations or the sisters of mercy at home" by Elizabeth Charles (1858) p.34 the following appears: "'Dear Jean', she said,'the woods would be very silent if no bird sang but those that sing best' "

Quotes about van Dyke

 * He is a Presbyterian first and an artist second, which is just as comfortable as trying to be a Presbyterian first and a chorus girl second.
 * H.L. Mencken, "The National Letters," from Prejudices: Second Series, ch. 1 (1920).

title: Henry van Dyke


text:
William Wallace

Sir William Wallace (c. 1270 – 23 August 1305) was the Guardian of Scotland and resistance leader during the Wars of Scottish Independence. This page is for actual quotations of or about Wallace; for quotations from the 1995 film based upon his life and legends, see Braveheart.

Quotes

 * Pro Libertate
 * "For Freedom", or "For Liberty" are translations of the Latin motto of Clan Wallace.

 * We come here with no peaceful intent, but ready for battle, determined to avenge our wrongs and set our country free. Let your masters come and attack us: we are ready to meet them beard to beard.
 * Statement before the Battle of Stirling Bridge (11 September 1297), as quoted in History of Scotland (1841) by Patrick Fraser Tytler, p. 121

 * I have brought you to the ring, now dance if you can.
 * Statement before the Battle of Falkirk (21 July 1298); as quoted in The Story of England (1909) by Samuel B. Harding
 * Variants: I hae brocht ye to the ring, now see gif ye can dance. I have brought you to the ring, now see if you can dance. I have brought you to the ring. Dance if ye can. I have brought you to the Revel, Now dance if you can.

 * I can not be a traitor, for I owe him no allegiance. He is not my Sovereign; he never received my homage; and whilst life is in this persecuted body, he never shall receive it. To the other points whereof I am accused, I freely confess them all. As Governor of my country I have been an enemy to its enemies; I have slain the English; I have mortally opposed the English King; I have stormed and taken the towns and castles which he unjustly claimed as his own. If I or my soldiers have plundered or done injury to the houses or ministers of religion, I repent me of my sin; but it is not of Edward of England I shall ask pardon.
 * Statement at his trial, rejecting the assertion he was a traitor to Edward I of England (23 August 1305), as quoted in Lives of Scottish Worthies (1831) by Patrick Fraser Tytler, p. 279
 * Variant: I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject.

 * Dico Tibi Verum, Libertas Optima Rerum: Nunquam Servili Sub Nexu Vivito, Fili
 * My Son, Freedom is best, I tell thee true, of all things to be won. Then never live within the Bond of Slavery.
 * As quoted in William Wallace, Guardian of Scotland (1948) by Sir James Fergusson, p. 4

Quotes about Wallace

 * For sooth, ere he decease, Shall many thousands in the field make end. From Scotland he shall forth the Southron send, And Scotland thrice he shall bring to peace. So good of hand again shall ne'er be kenned.
 * Thomas the Rhymer

 * First, here I honour, in particular, Sir William Wallace, much renown'd in war, Whose bold progenitors have long time stood, Of honourable and true Scottish blood.
 * Wallace by Blind Harry (c. 1460) as translated by William of Gilbertfield The Life and Heroic Actions of the Renoun'd Sir William Wallace, General and Governor of Scotland (1722).

 * The whole followers of the nobility had attached themselves to him; and that although the persons of their lords were with the King of England, their heart was with Wallace, who found his army reinforced by so immense a multitude of the Scots, that the community of the land obeyed him as their leader and their prince.
 * Henry Knighton as quoted in History of Scotland (1841) by Patrick Fraser Tytler, p. 117.

 * Every man dies. Not every man really lives.
 * Promotional phrase for the movie Braveheart, written by poet William Ross Wallace (1819-1891).

 * For, here he has rotted in his lonely grave, Shall so many nobles will cheer for his death and partake in wine and alcohol. He did not forth troops to England nor did he surrender to the French, And Scotland he will not ever bring to peace nor free Scotland from the English chain. So he will not encourage others for he is truly dead.
 * Torquil Fingall as quoted in the History of Folk Songs.

title: William Wallace


text:
Peg Bracken

Ruth Eleanor "Peg" Bracken (February 25 1918 – October 20 2007) was an American author.

Quotes

 * When people say it's a funny thing about them, you will probably be able to control your hysterics. They are only getting ready to announce the shattering fact that they don't like something. And it's not going to be something that's really quite awful, like suttee or apartheid; it's going to be something small.
 * I Didn't Come Here to Argue (1969), "It's a Funny Thing About Me, but Not Very," page 51.

 * Some people collect paperweights, or pre-Columbian figures, or old masters, or young mistresses, or tombstone rubbings, or five-minute recipes, or any of a thousand other things including bruises, most of them satisfying, depending on the genes and the bank account and where the heart lies. My own collection is sunrises; and I find that they have their advantages. Sunrises are usually handsome, they can't possibly be dusted, and they take only a little room, so long as it has a window to see them from. Moreover, I can't give way to the urge to show off my collection to my friends. I can only talk about it, and they needn't listen.
 * I Didn't Come Here to Argue, "The Sunrise Collector: What to Do till Your Horoscope Gets There," (1969), Fawcett Crest edition, page 37.

 * When I finally gathered, invented, stole, simplified, borrowed, and found a publisher for a clutch of reasonably foolproof recipes, I learned I had friends I hadn't known about—more proof that a mutual dislike can be quite as sound a basis for friendship as a mutual devotion.
 * I Didn't Come Here to Argue, "My Feud With Food," page 22.

 * There are worse things than being fat, and one of them is worrying about it all the time.
 * But I Wouldn't Have Missed It for the World! The pleasures and perils of an unseasoned traveler (1973)

 * It isn't surprising that many children consider their parents to be a little dim, and that they sometimes try to update them. The fact that they don't usually try too hard is just as well; a thoroughly updated parent is an unappetizing sight.
 * I Didn't Come Here to Argue, "Don't Trust Anybody over Fifteen or Talk To Anybody under Forty," (1969), Fawcett Crest edition, page 93.

 * The subject of men and women is absolutely fraught with sex, which is as it should be.
 * I Try to Behave Myself: Peg Bracken's Etiquette Book (1966)

 * If the author is so interested in Science, why doesn't she take a course in it?
 * I Didn't Come Here to Argue (1969), Fawcett Crest edition, page 49.

title: Peg Bracken


text:
Gloria Steinem

Gloria Marie Steinem (born March 25, 1934) is an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader of, and media spokeswoman for, the women's liberation movement in the late 1960s and 1970s. A prominent writer and key counterculture era political figure, Steinem has founded many organizations and projects and has been the recipient of many awards and honors. She is a former columnist for New York magazine and co-founded Ms. magazine.

Quotes

 * What will exist is a variety of alternative life-styles. Since the population explosion dictates that childbearing be kept to a minimum, parents-and-children will be only one of many "families": couples, age groups, working groups, mixed communes, blood-related clans, class groups, creative groups. Single women will have the right to stay single without ridicule, without the attitudes now betrayed by "spinster" and "bachelor." Lesbians or homosexuals will no longer be denied legally binding marriages, complete with mutual-support agreements and inheritance rights. Paradoxically, the number of homosexuals may get smaller. With fewer over-possessive mothers and fewer fathers who hold up an impossibly cruel or perfectionist idea of manhood, boys will be less likely to be denied or reject their identity as males.
 * "What Would It Be Like If Women Win". Associated Press. August 31, 1970. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved January 17, 2011.

 * This is no simple reform. It really is a revolution. Sex and race, because they are easy, visible differences, have been the primary ways of organizing human beings into superior and inferior groups, and into the cheap labor on which this system still depends. We are talking about a society in which there will be no roles other than those chosen, or those earned. We are really talking about humanism.
 * "Address to the Women of America" (10 July 1971)

 * 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.
 * "Sisterhood" in New York (20 December 1971), p. 49

 * I have met brave women who are exploring the outer edge of human possibility, with no history to guide them, and the courage to make themselves vulnerable that I find moving beyond words.
 * "Sisterhood" in New York (20 December 1971), p. 49

 * Erotica is as different from pornography as love is from rape, as dignity is from humiliation, as partnership is from slavery, as pleasure is from pain.
 * Erotica and Pornography: A Clear and Present Difference. Ms. November 1978, p. 53. & Pornography—Not Sex but the Obscene Use of Power. Ms. August 1977, p. 43. Both retrieved November 16, 2014.

 * Blatant or subtle, pornography involves no equal power or mutuality. In fact, much of the tension and drama comes from the clear idea that one person is dominating the other.
 * Erotica and Pornography: A Clear and Present Difference. Ms. November 1978, p. 53. & Pornography—Not Sex but the Obscene Use of Power. Ms. August 1977, p. 43. Both retrieved November 16, 2014.

 * Whatever the gender of the participants, all pornography including male-male gay pornography is an imitation of the male-female, conqueror-victim paradigm, and almost all of it actually portrays or im-plies enslaved women and master.
 * Erotica and Pornography: A Clear and Present Difference. Ms. November 1978, p. 53. & Pornography—Not Sex but the Obscene Use of Power. Ms. August 1977, p. 43. Both retrieved November 16, 2014.

 * In later years, if I'm remembered at all it will be for inventing a phrase like 'reproductive freedom' ... as a phrase it includes the freedom to have children or not to. So it makes it possible for us to make a coalition.
 * Gilbert, Lynn & Moore, Gaylen, "Particular Passions: Talks With Women Who Shaped Our Times". Clarkson Potter, 1981. p. 166.

 * However sugarcoated and ambiguous, every form of authoritarianism must start with a belief in some group's greater right to power, whether that right is justified by sex, race, class, religion or all four. However far it may expand, the progression inevitably rests on unequal power and airtight roles within the family.
 * "If Hitler Were Alive, Whose Side Would He Be On?" in M.S. magazine (October-November 1980); later in Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983)

 * If the shoe doesn't fit, must we change the foot?
 * Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983), p. 228

 * As the little boy said when asked if he wanted to be a lawyer like his mother, "Oh no, that's women's work." Logic has nothing to do with oppression.
 * Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983), p. 367

 * Women may be the one group that grows more radical with age.
 * Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983), p. 377

 * The real reasons for genital mutilation can only be understood in the context of the "patriarchy": men must control women's bodies as the means of production, and thus repress the independent power of women's sexuality.
 * "Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions" (1 ed.). New York: Henry Holt & Co. (1984).

 * Law and justice are not always the same. When they aren't, destroying the law may be the first step toward changing it.
 * As quoted in Building a Life of Value : Timeless Wisdom to Inspire and Empower Us (2005) by Jason A. Merchey, p. 225

 * [the] idea that sexuality is only okay if it ends in reproduction oppresses women—whose health de-pends on separating sexuality from reproduction—as well as gay men and lesbians.
 * Steptoe, Sonja; (March 28, 2004). "10 Questions For Gloria Steinem". Time. Archived from the original on August 26, 2013. Retrieved November 16, 2014.

 * I always wanted to put a sign up on the road to Yale saying, 'Beware: Deconstruction Ahead'. Academics are forced to write in language no one can understand so that they get tenure. They have to say 'discourse', not 'talk'. Knowledge that is not accessible is not helpful. It becomes aerialised—and I think it's important that women's experiences be given a narrative.
 * Denes, Melissa (January 17, 2005). "'Feminism? It's hardly begun'". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on November 9, 2014. Retrieved November 16, 2014.

 * It [abortion] is supposed to make us a bad person. But I must say, I never felt that. I used to sit and try and figure out how old the child would be, trying to make myself feel guilty. But I never could! I think the person who said: 'Honey, if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament' was right. Speaking for myself, I knew it was the first time I had taken responsibility for my own life. I wasn't going to let things happen to me. I was going to direct my life, and therefore it felt positive. But still, I didn't tell anyone. Because I knew that out there it wasn't [positive].
 * Rachel Cooke "Gloria Steinem: 'I think we need to get much angrier'". The Observer (London, November 13, 2011).

 * These patriarchal controls limit men's sexuality too ... That's why men are asked symbolically to submit the sexual part of themselves and their sons to patriarchal authority, which seems to be the origin of male circumcision, a practice that, even as advocates admit, is medically unnecessary 90% of the time. Speaking for myself, I stand with many brothers in eliminating that practice too.
 * "What have FGC opponents said publicly about male genital cutting?". Introductory remarks to panel discussion of FGM, part of the "About Women" series held by the 92nd Street Young Women & Men’s Hebrew Association, New York City, 6 October 1997. Noharmm.org. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved July 20, 2012.

 * I think the fact that I've become a symbol for the women's movement is somewhat accidental. A woman member of Congress, for example, might be identified as a member of Congress; it doesn't mean she's any less of a feminist but she's identified by her nearest male analog. Well, I don't have a male analog so the press has to identify me with the movement. I suppose I could be referred to as a journalist, but because Ms. is part of a movement and not just a typical magazine, I'm more likely to be identified with the movement. There's no other slot to put me in.
 * Gilbert, Lynn (December 10, 2012). “Particular Passions: Gloria Steinem”. Women of Wisdom Series (1st ed.). New York, NY: Lynn Gilbert Inc. ISBN 978-1-61979-354-5. Retrieved November 11, 2014.

Revolution From Within (1992)

 * I’ve learned from these events that self-esteem plays as much a part in the destiny of nations as it does in the lives of individuals; that self-hatred leads to the need either to dominate or to be dominated; that citizens who refuse to obey anything but their own conscience can transform their countries; in short, that self-esteem is the basis of any real democracy.
 * I think we each come out of the womb with some unique way of looking at the world and if we don't express it, we loose faith in ourselves.
 * Like the spider spinning its web, we create much of the outer world from within ourselves. The universe is a joint product of the observer and the observed.
 * Citizens who refuse to obey anything but their own conscience can transform countries, it is the basis of any real democracy.
 * Artists strive to free this true and spontaneous self in their work. Creativity, meditation are ways of freeing an inner voice

Moving Beyond Words (1994)

 * Moving Beyond Words: Age, Rage, Sex, Power, Money, Muscles: Breaking Boundaries of Gender (1994)

 * Like art, revolutions come from combining what exists into what has never existed before.
 * Part 4 : The Masculinization of Wealth, p. 196

 * God may be in the details, but the goddess is in the questions. Once we begin to ask them, there's no turning back.
 * Part 6 : Doing Sixty, p. 270

 * I'm not sure feminism should require an adjective. Believing in the full social, political, and economic quality of women, which is what the dictionary says "feminism" means, is enough to make a revolution in itself. But if I had to choose only one adjective, I still would opt for radical feminist. I know patriarchs keep equating that word with violent or man-hating, crazy or extremist — though being a plain vanilla feminist doesn't keep one safe from such epithets either, nor does "I'm not a feminist, but ..." Nonetheless, radical seems an honest indication of the fundamental change we have in mind and says what probably is the case: the false division of human nature into “feminine” and “masculine” is the root of all other divisions into subject and object, active and passive — the beginning of hierarchy.
 * Part 6 : Doing Sixty, p. 270

 * Basically, I feel different from most other women. I feel I don’t have to put on an act. If I’m not feminine enough for someone, I don’t care, because femininity is different in everyone’s mind.
 * Gender is the remaining caste system that still cuts deep enough, and spreads wide enough, to be confused with the laws of nature. To uncover the difference between what is and what could be, we may need the “Aha!” that comes from exchanging subject for object, the flash of recognition that starts with a smile, the moment of changed viewpoint that turns the world upside down.

No Safe Place (1998)
No Safe Place, PBS, March 27, 1998
 * ...a lot of people in this country have had the courage to raise their daughters more like their sons. ... But there are many fewer people who have had the courage to raise their sons more like their daughters.

The Humanist interview (2012)

 * Interview, after being chosen "2012 Humanist of the Year" (7 June 2012), as published in "The Humanist Interview with Gloria Steinem" in The Humanist (September / October 2012)

 * I always thought that "humanist" was a good word long before I understood that anyone thought it was a bad word. It seems to me that it means you believe in the great potential and the best of human beings, so I didn’t have to overcome anything to accept this award; it seemed an unmitigated honor. And since the ultra-right wing has tried so hard to make it a bad word— “humanist” has been demonized in much the same way that the word “feminist” has — it seemed especially important to identify as humanist and support humanist groups.

 * It doesn’t surprise me to learn that there is bias and sexism everywhere, just like there are problems of racism and homophobia stemming from the whole notion that we’re arranged in a hierarchy, that we’re ranked rather than linked. I think we’ve learned that we have to contend with these divisions everywhere.

 * The men I’ve met who were the best allies of feminism are those who see their stake in it; who see that they themselves are being limited by a culture that deprives men of human qualities deemed feminine, which are actually just the qualities necessary to raise kids — empathy and attention to detail and patience. Men have those qualities too but they’re not encouraged to develop them. And so they miss out on raising their kids, and they actually shorten their own lives. When men realize that feminism is a universal good that affects them in very intimate ways then I think they really become allies and leaders.

 * Regarding the idea that the women’s movement is white and middle class — a fair share of the country is white and middle class. And certainly, there are racist white women. Certainly, there are sexist black men. All those things are true. But the other thing that’s never said is that black women are much more likely to support feminist issues than white women. It makes sense because they’re much more likely to be on the paid labor force than white women. And if you’ve experienced discrimination for one reason, you’re probably more likely to recognize it for another reason.

It’s true that the National Organization for Women in its early years was white middle class. But once it was joined by younger women from civil rights groups like SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) it changed profoundly. In any case, my life’s ambition is to make white women as smart as black women. Because the group of women who still vote against their own self-interest are white married women.
 * If you think about Martin Luther King and others in the leadership of the Civil Rights movement, they were all college-educated, middle class people. Nobody tries to diminish the Civil Rights movement by saying they were middle class.

Their stance on abortion is also quite dishonest historically, because as the Jesuits (who always seem to be more honest historians of the Catholic Church) point out, the Church approved of and even regulated abortion well into the mid-1800s. The whole question of ensoulment was determined by the date of baptism. But after the Napoleonic Wars there weren’t enough soldiers anymore and the French were quite sophisticated about contraception. So Napoleon III prevailed on Pope Pius IX to declare abortion a mortal sin, in return for which Pope Pius IX got all the teaching positions in the French schools and support for the doctrine of papal infallibility. … My favorite line belongs to an old Irish woman taxi driver in Boston. Flo Kennedy and I were in the backseat talking about Flo’s book, Abortion Rap (1971), and the driver turned around and said, “Honey, if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.” I wish I’d gotten her name so we could attribute it to her.
 * I was perversely delighted to see the Catholic Church and the Vatican go after nuns because I think they made a major error. People are quite clear in viewing nuns as the servants and the teachers and the supporters of the poor. You contrast that with the fact that the Vatican did virtually nothing about long-known pedophiles, and it’s just too much.

So I always feel I have to apologize to my friends who are Republicans because they’ve basically lost their party. Ronald Reagan couldn’t get nominated today because he was supportive of immigrant rights. Barry Goldwater was pro-choice. George H.W. Bush supported Planned Parenthood. '''No previous Republicans except for George W. Bush would be acceptable to the people who now run the GOP. They are not Republicans. They are the American version of the Taliban.''' … They’ve taken over one of our two great parties. This causes people to wrongly think that the country is equally divided but if we look at the public opinion polls, it isn’t. So, I can’t think of anything more crucial than real Republicans taking back the GOP.
 * This war against women started a long time ago with old Democrats who took over the Republican Party, which was, before that, the very first to support the Equal Rights Amendment. Even when the National Women’s Political Caucus started, there was a whole Republican feminist entity. But beginning with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, right-wing Democrats like Jesse Helms began to leave the Democratic Party and gradually take over the GOP.

 * I think feminists and progressive Democrats err when they accusingly say to Republican women, “How can you be a Republican?” Nobody responds to that. But if you say, “Look, you didn’t leave your party. The party left you. Let’s just look at the issues and see what they are and forget about party labels and vote for ourselves,” I think people would really respond.

I also do not feel proud when I stand in the Sonagachi, the biggest brothel area in all of South Asia. It’s in Kolkata, and everything is written in Bengali except “SEX WORK.” And the term is used in various sinister ways by sex traffickers, who even describe what they do — which is to kidnap or buy people out of villages — as “facilitated migration.” I’ve only ever met one woman who actually was a prostitute of her own free will. She didn’t have a pimp. She could pick and choose her customers. That’s so rare. So we have to look at the reality and not romanticize it. We have to be clear that you have the right to sell your own body but nobody has the right to sell anybody else’s body. No one has that right.
 * If someone wants to be called a sex worker, I call them a sex worker. But there is a problem with that term, because while it was adopted in goodwill, traffickers have taken it and essentially said, “Okay, if it’s work like any other, somebody has to do it.” In Nevada, there was a time when you couldn’t get unemployment unless you tried sex work first. The same was true in Germany. So the state became a procurer because of the argument that sex is work like any other. This is not a good thing.

But it’s very often the case with revolutionary moments that women are present but then they’re drummed out of it afterwards.
 * The Arab Spring did a great deal for women because the person who spread the word in the first place was a woman. Women participated in it; they were fully out there in the street. Nawal El Saadawi is a founding figure of Egyptian and Middle Eastern feminism who wrote a book opposing female genital mutilation (of which she is a victim). She’s been banned. She’s been in prison. She’s now in her eighties and during the Arab Spring she was like the wise woman of Liberation Square, sitting in the middle of it as young women and young men came to her for instruction, for blessings, and so on.

"Witch" was another word I remember reclaiming in the 1970s. There was a group called Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell (WITCH). They all went down to Wall Street and hexed it. And Wall Street fell five points the next day; it was quite amazing! “Queer” and “gay” are other examples. … '''I think we all have the power to name ourselves. I try to call people what it is they wish to be called.''' But we can take the sting out of epithets and bad words by using them. Actually, I had done that earlier with “slut” because when I went back to Toledo, Ohio, which is where I was in high school and junior high school, I was on a radio show with a bunch of women. A man called up and called me “a slut from East Toledo,” which is doubly insulting because East Toledo is the wrong side of town. I thought, when I’d lived here I would have been devastated by this. But by this time I thought, you know, that’s a pretty good thing to be. I’m putting it on my tombstone: "Here lies the slut from East Toledo."
 * I think most social justice movements take the words that are used against them and make them good words. That’s partly how “black” came back into usage. Before we said “colored person,” or “Negro.” Then came “Black Power,” “Black Pride,” and “Black Is Beautiful” to make it a good word.

But I have always employed humor, and I think it’s absolutely crucial that we do because, among other things, humor is the only free emotion. I mean, you can compel fear, as we know. '''You can compel love, actually, if somebody is isolated and dependent — it’s like the Stockholm syndrome. But you can’t compel laughter. It happens when two things come together and make a third unexpectedly.''' It happens when you learn something, too. I think it was Einstein who said he had to be careful when he shaved because if he thought of something suddenly, he’d laugh and cut himself. So I think laughter is crucial. Some of the original cultures, like the Dalit and the Native American, don’t separate laughter and seriousness. There’s none of this kind of false Episcopalian solemnity.
 * There were never that many women stand-up comics in the past because the power to make people laugh is also a power that gets people upset. But the ones who were performing were making jokes on themselves usually and now that’s changed. So there are no rules exactly but I think if you see a whole group of people only being self-deprecating, it’s a problem.

 * If it were up to me, I would not define myself by the absence of something; "theist" is a believer, so with "atheist" you’re defining yourself by the absence of something. I think human beings work on yes, not on no. … humanist is a great term. …except that humanism sometimes is not seen as inclusive of spirituality. To me, spirituality is the opposite of religion. It’s the belief that all living things share some value. So I would include the word spiritual just because it feels more inclusive to me. Native Americans do this when they offer thanks to Mother Earth and praise the interconnectedness of “the two-legged and the four, the feathered and the clawed,” and so on. It’s lovely. … because it’s not about not believing. It’s about rejecting a god who looks like the ruling class.

 * I like to say that the last five-to-ten thousand years has been an experiment that failed and it’s now time to declare the first meeting of the post-patriarchal, post-racist, post-nationalist age. So let’s add “post-theological.” Why not?

My Life on The Road (2015)

 * "You're always the person you were when you were born," she says impatiently. "You just keep finding new ways to express it.
 * You should write about take no-shit women like me. Girls need to know they can break the rules
 * I myself cried when I got angry, then became unable to explain why I was angry in the first place. Later I would discover this was endemic among female human beings. Anger is supposed to be "unfeminine" so we suppress it -until it overflows. I could see that not speaking up made my mother feel worse. This was my first hint of the truism that depression is anger turned inward; thus women are twice as likely to be depressed. My mother paid a high price for caring so much, yet being able to do so little about it. In this way, she led me toward am activist place where she herself could never go.
 * Voting isn't the most we can do, but it is the least.

Misattributed

 * A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.
 * This quote was popularized by Steinem and is often attributed to her. However, the line was first coined by Australian educator Irina Dunn, as indicated at The Phrase Finder

 * Housewives are dependent creatures who are still children... parasites.
 * Actual quote: "If role reform sounds sexually unsettling, think how it will change the sexual hypocrisy we have now. [...] No more men who are encouraged to spend a lifetime living with inferiors; with housekeepers, or dependent creatures who are still children."
 * "What It Would Be Like If Women Win", Time (31 August 1970)

Quotes about Steinem

 * In the early seventies, when I was in jail, one of the organizers of the National United Committee to Free Angela Davis told me that they had approached a feminist organization-I do not remember which one-and the response was, "Well, Angela Davis is not associated with the women's movement, she's associated with the Black movement, as if one had to make a choice between the two, as if one was either a feminist or an antiracist. In all fairness, I should point out that white feminists were active around my case. Gloria Steinem, for example, was treasurer of my legal defense fund. There has been a great deal of dialogue about the influence of racism and class bias in the women's movement.
 * 1988 interview in Conversations with Angela Davis Edited by Sharon Lynette Jones (2021)

 * Jung drew a circle and divided it into four parts, and said a man is three-quarters masculine and one quarter feminine. A woman is three-quarters feminine and one quarter masculine. And that’s a good start. The problem is that he says this is the way it should be, and that’s not the way it is. It is too rigid a form. Some men I have met are three-quarters feminine and one-quarter masculine, and the one-quarter masculine they are — jump back — very strong, fuerte, strong! But they have tremendous feminine development because it is who they are. It is from the souls, not an overlay from cultural family. Gloria Steinem is a great example of a woman who has far more masculine development then she has feminine development. Although now her feminine development appears as though it is coming now. She is 55 -60 years old and now it is coming. So whatever we have, as you know, the role in life is to develop it to its fullness. But also the challenges is to develop its balance, which is also its opposite.
 * Clarissa Pinkola Estés, "An Interview with Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés", Awake, (May 3, 2019)

 * Even the kind of feminist women that I know, we’ve had great discussions here about reproductive rights. Our primary issue, as women and men who are our allies in the struggle, is not the right to have abortion, it is to have reproductive rights, of which abortion is one. I often have this discussion with my good comrade Gloria Steinem—I’ve not convinced her. I’ve said, “Do you really believe that women in the world who are just trying to get clean water and feed their children and to survive, are running around being upset that they can’t have an abortion?” This is a very small example of how First World women in our society, mostly white, can impose our sense of what is important for women in the world. As such, that is a form of violence. Because we are not respecting the lives of the millions of women in the world for whom feminist issue is ending war, having food, ending poverty, ending disease.
 * Bell Hooks, “Ten minutes of bell hooks' brilliant one-hour speech at Asilomar.”, Monterey County Now, (February 23, 2017)

 * Gloria Steinem inspired me.
 * Dolores Huerta "Reflections on Revolutionary Women" in Revolutionary Women of Texas and Mexico by Kathy Sosa (2020)

 * At first, the editors there said they didn’t want staff writers but that if I had an idea for a piece they’d look at it. So I went home and called up Ms. magazine, and I said, “I’d like to speak to Gloria Steinem.” She picked up, and I told her I’d like to interview her. She said, “Of course.” I was just somebody off the street, but that was the original solidarity of feminism.
 * Jamaica Kincaid on working for Mademoiselle Interview with The Paris Review (2022)

 * If we adopt Gloria Steinem's definition of a feminist — "Anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men" — most of us are probably feminists, too. This was a radical innovation two thousand years ago, when the first Christians proclaimed the equal value of all people.
 * Frederica Mathewes-Green and Haven Bradford Grow, "Feminists Should Oppose Abortion, in Feminism: Opposing Viewpoints" (September 1994), edited by Carol Wekesser, p. 218

 * I don't know that my quarrel is with Western feminism as such, but with the mouthy American feminists of the early and mid-seventies. Particularly Gloria Steinem and the Ms. magazine group, who were doctrinaire and, we now know, often conducting intergender relationships and maneuvering for power when they had an overt but totally unacknowledged racist, colonialist attitude towards women of color. Particularly women of color who were not African American. And so the Kate Millets and the Gloria Steinems insisted on telling minority women, telling me, how I should conduct my life in order to be a feminist. It was all about talk, rhetoric, and self-examination-these were the times of consciousness-raising groups and examining yourself with mirrors
 * 1996 interview in Conversations with Bharati Mukherjee Edited by Bradley C. Edwards (2009)

 * When was the last time you heard Gloria Steinem or Betty Friedan talk about welfare rights?
 * Anna Nieto-Gómez, "Chicana Feminism" (1976)

 * She is so deluded that she genuinely believes she speaks for all women. She's a victim of her own success. I liked the early Steinem. There was once a survey conducted for Time about who would make a good candidate for the first female president, and I wrote in Gloria Steinem. But now? Gloria Steinem is dissing men and dissing fashion and she's out having her hair streaked at Kenneth's. She became a socialite with a coterie. A lot of middle-aged white ladies still love her, but the media have been negligent regarding her.
 * Camille Paglia, interviewed in Playboy (May 1995)

 * The horrible truth is that the feminist establishment in the U.S., led by Gloria Steinem, did in fact apply a double standard to Bill Clinton’s behavior because he was a Democrat. The Democratic president and administration supported abortion rights, and therefore it didn’t matter what his personal behavior was. [...] The actual facts of the matter are that Bill Clinton was a serial abuser of working-class women–he had exploited that power differential even in Arkansas.
 * Camille Paglia, as quoted by David Daley, "Camille Paglia: How Bill Clinton is like Bill Cosby", Salon.com, (July 28, 2015)

title: Gloria Steinem