“When men imagine a female uprising, they imagine a world in which women rule men as men have ruled women.”
“Now, it’s undeniably true that male writers (including yours truly) are generally and commercially allowed to write about “girl stuff” without being penalized for doing so. In part this is the same old shit it’s always been ... I’ve said before that men who write mostly about men win prizes for revealing the human condition, while women who write about both men and women are filed away as writing “womens’ issues.” Likewise, in fantasy, the imprimatur of a dude somehow makes stuff like romance, relationship drama, introspection, and adorable animal companions magically not girly after all. In a sense, we male fantasists are allowed to be like money launderers for girl cooties. [Game of Thrones and Invisible Cootie Vectors (blog post, March 30, 2014)]”
“Right is of no sex, Truth is of no color, God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren”
“The past week, Mother had denied her a pass to the market for some minor, forgettable reason, and she’d taken it hard. Her market excursions were the acme of her days, and trying to commiserate, I d said, “I m sorry, Handful, I know how you must feel.” It seemed to me I did know what it felt to have one s liberty curtailed, but she blazed up at me. “So we just the same, me and you? That s why you the one to shit in the pot and I m the one to empty it?”
“And she didn t judge nobody. She loved everyone equal- accountants, queers, musicians, she welcomed us all, said we were all idiots just the same.”
“Freedom is essentially a condition of inequality, not equality. It recognizes as a fact of nature the structural differences inherent in man — in temperament, character, and capacity — and it respects those differences. We are not alike and no law can make us so. Parenthetically, what a stale and uninteresting world this would be if perfect equality prevailed! When you seek the taproot of reform movements, you find an urgency to eradicate these innate differences and to make all men equal; in practice, this means the leveling-off of the more capable to the mediocrity of the average. That is not Freedom.”
“Equality is a myth to protect the weak. some of us are strong in the Force, others are not. Only a fool believes otherwise.”
“Marjan. I have told him tales of good women and bad women, strong women and weak women, shy women and bold women, clever women and stupid women, honest women and women who betray. I m hoping that, by living inside their skins while he hears their stories, he ll understand over time that women are not all this way or that way. I m hoping he ll look at women as he does at men--that you must judge each of us on her own merits, and not condemn us or exalt us only because we belong to a particular sex.”
“Whoever claims any right that he is unwilling to accord to his fellow-men is dishonest and infamous.”
“Every man should stand under the blue and stars, under the infinite flag of nature, the peer of every other man.”
“It is difficult to exaggerate the adverse influence of the precepts and practices of religion upon the status and happiness of woman. Owing to the fact that upon women devolves the burden of motherhood, with all its accompanying disabilities, they always have been, and always must be, at a natural disadvantage in the struggle of life as compared with men.... With certain exceptions, women all the world over have been relegated to a position of inferiority in the community, greater or less according to the religion and the social organisation of the people; the more religious the people the lower the status of the women...”
“When all men give to all others all the rights they claim for themselves, this world will be civilized.”
“EQUAL RIGHTS and FREE DISCUSSION will be fearlessly advocated and maintained. Sectarian dogmas or tenets will be investigated and compared.”
“Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere alikuwa baba kwa familia yake. Kwa Tanzania alikuwa mlezi; wa ndoto ya haki, amani, uzalendo, ujamaa, na uhuru.”
“I believe the era of the militant lady is back.”
“What hurts me is the fact that in India, a good doctor is one whom you have to take an appointment with even before you fall sick. Else, you will die but not get treated. A good school is one that won t admit you even if you are in Lower Kindergarten. A good minister is one won t meet you till are some VIP. I want to change this in my lifetime by democratizing education and opportunities.”
“The judicial wheel is rounded with equality, oiled with honour and functions smoothly with honesty – principally when both members of the Bench and Bar shoulder their responsibilities seriously.”