Shirley Chisholm

“There is little place in the political scheme of things for an independent, creative personality, for a fighter. Anyone who takes that role must pay a price.”

“Of my two 'handicaps', being female put many more obstacles in my path than being black.”

“I ran because somebody had to do it first. In this country, everybody is supposed to be able to run for president, but that has never really been true.”

“I ran for the presidency, despite hopeless odds, to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo. The next time a woman runs, or a black, a Jew, or anyone from a group tha...”

“It is obvious that discrimination exists. Women do not have the opportunities that men do. And women that do not conform to the system, who try to break with the accepted patterns, are stigm...”

“I don't measure America by its achievement but by its potential.”

“We must reject not only the stereotypes that others have of us but also those that we have of ourselves.”

“Tremendous amounts of talent are lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt.”

“At present, our country needs women's idealism and determination, perhaps more in politics than anywhere else.”

“Congress seems drugged and inert most of the time... its idea of meeting a problem is to hold hearings or, in extreme cases, to appoint a commission.”

“I'm looking to no man walking this earth for approval of what I'm doing.”

“My greatest political asset, which professional politicians fear, is my mouth, out of which come all kinds of things one shouldn't always discuss for reasons of political expediency.”

“The fact is that a woman who aspires to be chairman of the board - or a member of the House - does so for exactly the same reasons as any man. Basically, these are that she thinks she can do...”

“Legal discrimination between the sexes is, in almost every instance, founded on outmoded views of society and the pre-scientific beliefs about psychology and physiology. It is time to sweep...”

“I want history to remember me... not as the first black woman to have made a bid for the presidency of the United States, but as a black woman who lived in the 20th century and who dared to...”

“Of my two handicaps, being female put many more obstacles in my path than being black.”

“I have certainly met much more discrimination in terms of being a woman than being black, in the field of politics.”

“I am not the candidate of Black America, although I am black and proud. I am not the candidate of the woman's movement of this country, although I am a woman and I am equally proud of that.”

“Mother always said that even when I was 3, I used to get the 6- and 7-year-old kids on the block and punch them and say, 'Listen to me.'”

“If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”