Daring To Be Ourselves – Book Giveaway! (Page 2)

Speaking Our Truth

Give voice to what you know to be true, and do not be afraid of being disliked or exiled. I think that’s the hard work of standing up for what you see.
–Eve Ensler

It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.
–Madeleine Albright

Thoughts on Today’s Feminism

I get very frustrated when I hear women saying, “Oh, feminism is passe,” because I think feminism means empowerment. Men can be feminists, too! Many men are feminists. We need feminism. It’s not against men; it’s about the empowerment of women. It’s the respect of women–giving women equal rights, the same opportunities.
–Annie Lennox

It doesn’t matter what word we use, if it has the same content, it will be treated in the same way. There are other words–there’s “womanist,” there’s “mujerista,” there’s “women’s liberationist”–all mean the same thing and they get the same ridicule. I think we just need to choose what word we feel comfortable with that says women are full human beings, and whatever that word is, it will get a lot of opposition. But it will also attract a lot of support. But this is a revolution, not a public relations movement.
–Gloria Steinem

Our Most Difficult Times Can Open Our Hearts

We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. It may even be necessary to encounter the defeat so that we can know who we are. So that we can see, “Oh, that happened, and I rose. I did get knocked down flat in front of the whole world, and I rose. I didn’t run away; I rose right where I’d been knocked down.” That’s how you get to know yourself.
–Maya Angelou

Caring for the Earth

It’s time to do something about [the environment]. And if we don’t do it now it’s going to be too late. I think people get scared that they’re not going to be able to do it perfectly, they’re going to be criticized, they’re going to be like, “Well, I’m not totally green.” Well, you know what? At this point, we don’t care. Just a shade of green is enough right now. Move a little bit closer toward this. Because the more people start moving closer and closer to it, that’s something that collectively makes a difference.
–Cameron Diaz

We Are Beautiful Just as We Are

I always thought that people told you that you’re beautiful–that this was a title that was bestowed upon you, that it was other people’s responsibility to give you this title. And I’m sick of waiting, people! I think that the world is pretty cruel to women in what it considers beautiful and what it celebrates as beauty. And I think that it’s time to take this power into our own hands and to say, “You know what? I’m beautiful. I just am. And that’s my light. I’m just a beautiful woman.”
–Margaret Cho

We’re changing ourselves to fit the world instead of changing the world to fit women.
–Gloria Steinem

Owning Our Power

Get over the feeling that the two words don’t go together–women and power. The fact is, if we don’t put the two together and don’t understand how power changes complexion in the hands of women, then we’re not going to make it. We have to own our personal power.
–Jane Fonda

In my opinion, the most important thing as a woman leader–and I learned this early through a whole bunch of great women who were in my life (and men, I have to say)–is that if you have a position of leadership and power and you don’t use it in a different way, then you’re wasting it. So when people used to say to me when I was the first woman president of PBS, “Well, you know, does that mean that as a woman you’re going to be a different kind of president?” And I would say, “Well, I hope so!”
–Pat Mitchell

What is Your Wish for the Children of the World?

Just be what it is that you are, and that is just fine. You don’t have to be what you’re not in any way. Live that and live that fully, and that is where you discover ecstasy. You can’t really have ecstasy as something other than yourself.
–Alice Walker

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Excerpted from Daring to Be Ourselves: Influential Women Share Insights on Courage, Happiness and Finding Your Own Voice by Marianne Schnall. Copyright (c) 2010. Excerpted with permission from Blue Mountain Arts.

Who are the most inspiring women in your life? Leave a comment for a chance the win a copy of Daring to Be Ourselves: Influential Women Share Insights on Courage, Happiness and Finding Your Own Voice. Winner will be announced April 11th.

CONGRATULATIONS TO:

Chavonne H.

Please email Samantha at samanthas@care2team.com to claim your new book. Thanks to everyone who entered!
Image: Gloria Steinem and Marianne Schnall