Quotes About Empowerment

If I could write a story that would do for the Indian one-hundredth part what 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' did for the Negro, I would be thankful the rest of my life.

It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our powers, but for powers equal to our tasks.

Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.

The mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, joy, set it free!

Once I knew only darkness and stillness... my life was without past or future... but a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the rapture of living.

Not the senses I have but what I do with them is my kingdom.

The world is full of suffering but it is also full of people overcoming it.

One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.

Never bend your head. Hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.

The point of telling our stories, even if only to ourselves, is to help us resurrect the parts we have buried. When we unearth them, even if it's difficult, we can integrate them into our sense of who we are. Often in our buried self our true power lies.

Each holy woman in this book made specific decisions based on her individual feelings, but her decisions represent universal impulses. In this sense, her private life translated into political and cultural statements. Whatever form it took, her mission was to end separation and restore connection. She opened her arms and brought others into the experience of love and belonging. Her actions sent the message that no person is excluded from the human family and the love of God.

She traversed the spectrum of human emotion, and found herself to be flawed, but trusted God to accept all of her. Her vulnerability and openness led to her empowerment.

The women's movement has not found a way to reconnect comfortably with the religious impulse that was central to its origin.

My deepest wounds and greatest strengths lie in my ability to see the potential for relationship in my life.

Claiming our voice, and our selfhood, is a sacred act.

In the journey to become whole, a woman will be confronted with various forms of these stages [of personal evolution]. In doing the hard work that is required, she learns important lessons about herself and increases her capacity to see the meaning of her actions. She is then able to bring more experience, wisdom, and skill to the next challenge she must face.

Sojourner [Truth]'s life exemplifies the process that occurs within ourselves as we grow to understand that we hold the authority to shape our own lives. This inner authority came when she embraced all of herself, which enabled her to speak from an authentic voice.

Sojourner [Truth]'s voice was the instrument that enabled her to claim her full self. Once she had done this, she was able to use her instrument and life story to help gain freedom for others.

Life challenges each of us to find those who will help us break our silence, find our voice, and speak our truth.

The history of women has been the history of a destructive kind of suffering, and I do not suggest moving further into that experience. My point is that walking away from pain altogether is equally as destructive. The debilitating suffering come when we do not allow ourselves to feel and work through our pain. Facing pain honestly and surviving gives us strength.

The more I thought about it, the more it became clear to me that religion and feminism are different expressions of the same impulse toward making life more just and whole.

Pain shapes us, breaking us open so that we can reconfigure ourselves in a way that more deeply mirrors our authentic self.

The patriarchy may have stolen our freedoms, but we don't have to be complicit in the abandonment of our souls.

Feminism has to fight 'the tyranny of niceness'. It is, and has always been, one of the most potent forces holding women back.