Beth Cothron

“She must know and understand that people walk different paths in the world, and that as long as those paths do no harm to others, they are valid paths that she must respect. Teach her that we do not know—we cannot know—everything about life. Both religion and science have spaces for the things we do not know, and it is enough to make peace with that.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Dear Ijeawele; or, A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

“Teach her to reject likeability. Her job is not to make herself likeable, her job is to be her full self,”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Dear Ijeawele; or, A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

“That all that is wonderful in this world is frighteningly temporary and so when abundance of any kind comes, we must celebrate it, for what has saved me, what has asked me to open myself and trust in something larger, is my love for them and for their mother, for my larger family and many friends, and I want to hug my children and tell them that it’s okay, but we cannot hug, can we?”
― Jennifer Haupt, ALONE TOGETHER: Love, Grief, and Comfort During the Time of COVID-19

“Never, ever link Chizalum’s appearance with morality. Never tell her that a short skirt is “immoral.” Make dressing a question of taste and attractiveness instead of a question of morality.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Dear Ijeawele; or, A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions