The Quotable Nerdy Chick: Madeleine Albright

Oct12 by sudiptabq

Madeleine Albright is a Nerdy Chick extraordinaire! She has served our country as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations and as the 64th United States Secretary of State — and, oh, by the way, the first woman to ever hold that office. She has a PhD from Columbia University, she has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, she has served on the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange, she is a Professor of International Relations at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, and just to top all that off, she is fluent in English, French, Russian, and Czech. Oh, and she speaks and reads Polish and Serbo-Croatian, too. I wonder if she has a cape and mask to go with all those superpowers?

Quotes from Madeleine Albright:

“Even before I went to the UN, I often would want to say something in a meeting – only woman at the table – and I’d think, ‘OK well, I don’t think I’ll say that. It may sound stupid.’ And then some man says it, and everybody thinks it’s completely brilliant, and you are so mad at yourself for not saying something.”

“It’s one thing to be religious, but it’s another thing to make religion your policy.”

“I love being a woman and I was not one of these women who rose through professional life by wearing men’s clothes or looking masculine. I loved wearing bright colors and being who I am.”

“I really think that there was a great advantage in many ways to being a woman. I think we are a lot better at personal relationships, and then have the capability obviously of telling it like it is when it’s necessary.”

“I’ve never been to New Zealand before. But one of my role models, Xena, the warrior princess, comes from there.”

(FYI: Xena is one of my role models, too!)

The Quotable Nerdy Chick: Martha Graham

Oct5 by kamikinard

This photo of Martha Graham and Bertram Ross was taken by photographer Carl Van Vetchtan

Martha Graham (1894- 1991) was an American dancer and choreographer whose influence on modern dance has been compared to Picasso’s influence on visual art. She worked as a dancer and choreographer for more than seventy years. Graham received many awards for her contributions to dance including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Read more about her amazing life HERE.

Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can.
The only sin is mediocrity.
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.
Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body.
‘Age’ is the acceptance of a term of years. But maturity is the glory of years.

The older I get, the more this nerdy chick appreciates that last quote. Especially the word glory!

The Quotable Nerdy Chick: Bella Abzug

Sep28 by sudiptabq

When Bella Abzug was 13, her father died. There was no one to say the Mourner’s Kaddish for him in synagogue because that was the responsibility of the sons of the deceased — and Bella’s father didn’t have any sons. So Bella defied her community and said the prayers herself. It was one of her first feminist actions.

The daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Bella started giving speeches about causes that were important to her in her childhood — speaking out in subways because she had no other pulpit. Over the course of her life, however, Bella found greater stages to stand on and larger audiences to listen to her words. including the House of Representatives, where she served from 1971 to 1977. She supported civil rights and women’s rights, and changed the world for the better.

Quotes from Bella Abzug:

“We are coming down from our pedestal and up from the laundry room. We want an equal share in government and we mean to get it.”
“Women have been trained to speak softly and carry a lipstick. Those days are over.”
“The test for whether or not you can hold a job should not be the arrangement of your chromosomes.”
“Women have been and are prejudiced, narrow minded, reactionary, even violent. Some women. They, of course, have a right to vote and a right to run for office. I will defend that right, but I will not support them or vote for them.”
“They used to give us a day–it was called International Women’s Day. In 1975 they gave us a year, the Year of the Woman. Then from 1975 to 1985 they gave us a decade, the Decade of the Woman. I said at the time, who knows, if we behave they may let us into the whole thing. Well, we didn’t behave and here we are.”
“All of the men on my staff can type.”

Learn more about Bella HERE.

The Quotable Nerdy Chick: Virginia Woolf

Sep14 by sudiptabq

When I read A Room of One’s Own in college, I truly believed Virginia Woolf was talking directly to me. In fact, when I lived in London, I would sometimes walk by her childhood home at at 22 Hyde Park Gate in Kensington, in the hopes that inspiration would wash over me. One of the greatest novelists of the twentieth century, Virginia is both extremely nerdy and completely quotable.

Quotes from Virginia Woolf:

“For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.”
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”
“Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind is written large in his works.”
“Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing the power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size.”
“If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.”

Learn more about Virgina HERE.

The Quotable Nerdy Chick: Nora Ephron

Aug31 by sudiptabq

Novelist. Playwright. Journalist. Director. Screenwriter. Producer. It might be easier to list all the things that Nora Ephron had not done as the list above is nowhere near complete. Nora had a way of writing about people and relationships that was deep and humorous, touching and laugh-inducing.

A New York Times book reviewer once wrote, “She’s like Benjamin Franklin or Shakespeare: her words are now part of the fabric of the English language.” So when I was looking for my first Quotable Nerdy Chick, I was immediately drawn to Nora.

Quotes from Nora Ephron:

Whatever you choose, however many roads you travel, I hope that you choose not to be a lady. I hope you will find some way to break the rules and make a little trouble out there. And I also hope that you will choose to make some of that trouble on behalf of women.
My mother wanted us to understand that the tragedies of your life one day have the potential to be comic stories the next.
Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy.
I try to write parts for women that are as complicated and interesting as women actually are.
Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.

Learn more about Nora HERE, or read some of her work HERE.

The Quotable Nerdy Chick: Dr. Sally Ride

Aug1 by kamikinard

Dr. Sally Ride (1951-2012) needs no introduction this week. She was an American Astronaut and physicist. In 1983 she flew into orbit on the Challenger and became the first American woman in space. In 1989 she left NASA and later founded Sally Ride Science, hoping to inspire young women to follow careers in science, technology and math. There is much more to be said about Dr. Sally Ride. To find out more about her, take a look at her BIOGRAPHY or visit www.sallyridescience.com.

Sally Ride Quotes

All adventures, especially into new territory, are scary.
If girls are interested, they have the potential to go further. There are still lingering stereotypes that affect girls in middle school, and they lose interest in the subjects.
But even in elementary school and junior high, I was very interested in space and in the space program.
There are lots of opportunities out there for women to work in these fields, … Girls just need support, encouragement and mentoring to follow through with the sciences.
But when I wasn’t working, I was usually at a window looking down at Earth.
I felt very honored, and I knew that people would be watching very closely, and I felt it was very, very important that I do a good job.
My parents didn’t have a scientific bone in their body, and their daughter was pursuing a career in astrophysics. They didn’t even know what astrophysics meant, but they supported me.

I am thankful for women like Sally Ride who teach us that we can soar and for parents who give their daughters wings.

*The above photo of Sally Ride is a NASA photo and is therefore in the public domain.

The Quotable Nerdy Chick: Oprah Winfrey

Jul22 by kamikinard

Because this week’s post was about motivation, I wanted to choose a female motivational speaker to highlight for the Quoteable Nerdy Chick. I looked at the words of many of them, then I stumbled upon Oprah Winfrey and looked no further. She should need no introduction. Oprah Winfrey (b. 1954) is an American celebrity who has motivated millions. You can find out more about her life at her official website HERE. Keep reading to enjoy some of her motivational and inspirational quotes.

Oprah Winfrey Quotes:

Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it.
As you become more clear about who you really are, you’ll be better able to decide what is best for you – the first time around.
Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.
Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.
Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.
For everyone of us that succeeds, it’s because there’s somebody there to show you the way out.
I don’t believe in failure. It is not failure if you enjoyed the process.
I don’t think you ever stop giving. I really don’t. I think it’s an on-going process. And it’s not just about being able to write a check. It’s being able to touch somebody’s life.
Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi.
I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity.

The Quotable Nerdy Chick: Shirley Temple Black

Jun22 by kamikinard

Shirley Temple Black, (b.1928) is most famous for the many roles she played as a child actress, but she went on to do many amazing things in her adulthood too. She served on the boards of organizations including The Walt Disney Company and the National Wildlife Federation. She ran for congress, and though she did not win, she was appointed US Ambassador to Ghana in 1974 and later to Czechoslovakia. Shirley Temple Black, a cancer survivor, was also one of the first public figures to speak openly about breast cancer and to heighten awareness of the disease. I really like what she says about the removal of risk below. To read more about her at her website.

Shirley Temple Black Quotes

I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.
One has to handle these negative experiences alone. You can’t get help from your friends or family. You’re finally alone with it, and you have to come to grips with misfortune and go on.
Our whole way of life today is dedicated to the removal of risk. Cradle to grave we are supported, insulated, and isolated from the risks of life- and if we fall, our government stands ready with Band-Aids of every size.
The U.N. acts as the world’s conscience, and over eighty-five percent of the work that is done by the United Nations is in the social, economic, educational and cultural fields.
We would have to invent the U.N. if we did not have it, which is not an original thought.

Isn’t that first quote kind of sad? Santa-for-hire FAIL!

The Quotable Nerdy Chick: Harriet Beecher Stowe

Jun1 by kamikinard

Did you know that Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) wrote over thirty books? I didn’t. I knew only of one of her titles: Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It is said that when Abraham Lincoln met her, he said, “”So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.” Uncle Tom’s Cabin was, of course, the little book. If you visit the website for The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, you will find out many interesting things you may not have known about this woman whose most famous book was published in 1851 and who continued working to fight social injustice for over four decades following its publication. The first quote below explains her rationale for writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I think it’s a beautiful statement.

Harriet Beecher Stowe Quotes

I wrote what I did because as a woman, as a mother, I was oppressed and broken-hearted with the sorrows and injustice I saw, because as a Christian I felt the dishonor to Christianity – because as a lover of my county, I trembled at the coming day of wrath.
A woman’s health is her capital.
Any mind that is capable of real sorrow is capable of good.
Most mothers are instinctive philosophers.
So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls, why don’t somebody wake up to the beauty of old women?
Women are the real architects of society.

Quoteable Nerdy Chick: Wilma Mankiller

May25 by kamikinard

Wilma Mankiller (b. 1945) made history when she became the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation in 1985. She strove to improve health care, the education system and the government of her people. She served for a decade before deciding not to seek re-election because of poor health. Mankiller still advocates for Native American rights and women’s rights.

Wilma Mankiller Quotes

The secret of our success is that we never, never give up.
A lot of young girls have looked to their career paths and have said they’d like to be chief. There’s been a change in the limits people see.
Everybody is sitting around saying, ‘Well, jeez, we need somebody to solve this problem of bias.’ That somebody is us. We all have to try to figure out a better way to get along.
I don’t think anybody anywhere can talk about the future of their people or of an organization without talking about education. Whoever controls the education of our children controls our future.
I’ve run into more discrimination as a woman than as an Indian.
Prior to my election, young Cherokee girls would never have thought that they might grow up and become chief.
One of the things my parents taught me, and I’ll always be grateful as a gift, is to not ever let anybody else define me; that for me to define myself . . . and I think that helped me a lot in assuming a leadership position.

Wilma Mankiller must have had some wonderful parents. I try to teach my children the same thing that she mentioned in that last quote.

Nerdy Chicks Rule

Tag Archives: quotes from smart women