Alice Tolsma

“The first thing that struck me was how the single women of my acquaintance were exceptionally alert to the people around them, generous in their attention, ready to engage in conversation or share a joke. Having nobody to go home to at night had always seemed a sad and lonesome fate; now I saw that being forced to leave the house for human contact encourages a person to live more fully in the world. In the best instances, the result was an intricate lacework of friendships varying in intensity and closeness that could be, it seemed, just as sustaining as a nuclear family, and possibly more appealing.”
― Kate Bolick, Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own

“it is an undeniable fact that, in organizing, petitioning, and speaking out to free the slaves, American women learned how to free themselves.”
― Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique

“Sometimes being a troublemaker can be pretty damn awesome. After all, it was one of the great troublemakers of all time, Emma Goldman, who said, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.”
― Cecile Richards, Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead

“Walking into the hearing room, I checked my phone one last time. I had an incoming text from my friend Terry McGovern, who works in global and maternal health. Her message read, “Just remember to carry the rage of women through the centuries with you this morning!”
― Cecile Richards, Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead