60 Shirley Chisholm Quotes that Will Empower and Inspire You
– Shirley Chisholm Quotes –
Do you need inspiration and motivation on what to do and how to live life? Then Shirley Chisholm quotes are the best in bringing inspiration to the weakest and saddened soul. Enjoy!
Who is Shirley Chisholm?
Shirley Anita Chisholm was an American politician, schoolteacher, and author who lived from November 30, 1924 to January 1, 2005. She was the first black woman to be elected to the United States Congress in 1968.
From 1969 until 1983, Chisholm served seven terms in the New York 12th congressional district, which included Bedford–Stuyvesant. She was the first black woman and the first black candidate for President of the United States nomination in 1972.
She was born in Brooklyn, New York, but spent a significant chunk of her youth in Barbados, where her family was from, and considered herself a Barbadian American throughout her life.
Chisholm studied and worked in early childhood education in the United States before becoming involved in local Democratic party politics in the 1950s.
She was elected to Congress four years later, she led the expansion of food and nutrition programs for the underprivileged and grew to become the party’s leader. We know her for using the slogan “unbought and unbossed.”
Despite being nominated for an ambassadorship in 1993, she declined because of health concerns. Chisholm received the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 2015. Below are the most powerful Shirley Chisholm quotes of all times.
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Black Women Quotes
Shirley Chisholm quotes about black women:
1. If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring in a folding chair.
2. Tremendous amounts of talent are lost to our society because that talent wears a skirt.
3. At present, our country needs women’s idealism and determination, perhaps more in politics than anywhere else.
4. We must reject not only the stereotypes that others hold of us, but also the stereotypes that we hold of ourselves.
5. Be as bold as the first man or woman to eat an oyster.
6. I stand before you today to repudiate the ridiculous notion that the American people will not vote for qualified candidates simply because he is not white or because she is not a male.
7. Not only am I literally and figuratively the dark horse, I’m actually the poor horse. The only thing that I have going for me is my soul and my commitment to the American people.
8. I have certainly met much more discrimination in terms of being a woman than being black, in the field of politics.
9. Women have learned to flex their political muscles. You got to flex that muscle to get what you want.
10. Of my two handicaps, being female put many more obstacles in my path than being black.
Democracy Quotes
These are Shirley Chisholm quotes on democracy and political power:
11. America has the laws and the material resources it takes to insure justice for all its people. What it lacks is the heart, the humanity, the Christian love that it would take.
12. At present, our country needs women’s idealism and determination, perhaps more in politics than anywhere else.
13. The liberals in the House strongly resemble liberals I have known through the last two decades in the civil rights conflict. When it comes time to show on which side they will be counted, they excuse themselves.
14. That I am a national figure because I was the first person in 192 years to be at once a congressman, black, and a woman proves, I would think, that our society is not yet either just or free.
15. 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 that the country is ‘not ready’ to elect to its highest office, I believe that he or she will be taken seriously from the start.
16. Some fine men are in Congress, too few, trying to do a responsible job. But they are surrounded and almost neutralized by a greater number whose instinct is to make a deal before they make a decision.
17. Power and influence in Congress,are not obtained by promoting one’s own measures. They come either from blocking measures others want enacted or supporting measures others oppose.
18. From the beginning I felt that there were only two ways to create change for black people in this country — either politically or by open armed revolution. Malcolm defined it succinctly — the ballot or the bullet.
19. The one thing you’ve got going: your one vote.
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Unapologetic Quotes
Shirley Chisholm quotes about being unapologetic and firm:
20. 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 be herself. I want to be remembered as a catalyst for change in America.
21. America is composed of all kinds of people – part of the difficulty in our nation today is because we are not utilizing the abilities and the talents of other brown and black people and females that have something to bring to the creativity and the rejuvenation and the revitalization of this country.
22. When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom that profit loses. Shirley Chisholm, I don’t measure America by its achievement but by its potential.
23. Our representative democracy is not working because the Congress that is supposed to represent the voters does not respond to their needs. I believe the chief reason for this is that it is ruled by a small group of old men.
Fortitude Quotes
Some Shirley Chisholm quotes on fortitude:
24. You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.
25. Since I believe that human life is uniquely valuable and important, for me the choice had to be the creative use of the ballot. I still believe I was right. I hope America never succeeds in changing my mind.
26. I’d like them to say that Shirley Chisholm had guts. That’s how I’d like to be remembered.
27. I’m looking to no man walking this earth for approval of what I’m doing.
Quotes about Standing Up for What is Right
These are Shirley Chisholm quotes on standing up for what is right and truth:
28. I’m finding all over America that people are sick and tired of the tweedle-dee dees and the tweedle-dee dums who constantly flip-flap from one side to another. People are interested in having candidates that are truthful.
29. I am the people’s politician. If the day should ever come when the people can’t save me, I’ll know I’m finished.
30. When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom that profit loses.
31. No matter what men think, abortion is a fact of life. Women have always had them; they always have and they always will. Are they going to have good ones or bad ones? Will the good ones be reserved for the rich, while the poor women go to quacks?
32. Women in this country must become revolutionaries. We must refuse to accept the old, the traditional roles and stereotypes…We must replace the old, negative thoughts about our femininity with positive thoughts and positive action affirming it, and more.
33. When the Kerner Commission told white America what black America has always known, that prejudice and hatred built the nation’s slums, maintains them and profits by them, white America could not believe it.
Determination Quote
Shirley Chisholm quotes about being determined and firm:
35. 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.
36. It is incomprehensible to me, the fear that can affect men in political offices. It is shocking the way they submit to forces they know are wrong and fail to stand up for what they believe. Can their jobs be so important to them, their pres- tige, their power, their privileges so important that they will cooperate in the degradation of our society just to hang on to those jobs?
37. Be as bold as the first man or [woman] to eat an oyster.
38. Lincoln didn’t just end slavery. King didn’t just dream segregation away. Parks didn’t just get tired one day. It is often the unrecognized actions of previous generations that push a society to eventually embrace mantras such as hope, equality, change, and other ideals, which transform the political landscape.
39. It is true that women have seldom been aggressive in demanding their rights and so have cooperated in their own enslavement. This was true of the black population for many years. They submitted to oppression, and even condoned it. But women are becoming aware, as blacks did, that they can have equal treatment if they will fight for it, and they are starting to organize.
40. The next time a woman of whatever color, or a dark-skinned person of whatever sex aspires to be president, the way should be a little smoother because I helped pave it
41. The most tragic error into which older people can fall is one that is common among educators and politicians. It is to use youth as scapegoats for the sins of their elders. Is the nation wasting its young men and its honor in an unjust war? Never mind.
42. I am and always will be a catalyst for change.
43. Political organizations are formed to keep the powerful in power. Their first rule is “don’t rock the boat.” If someone makes trouble and you can get him, do it. If you can’t get him, bring him in. Give him some of the action, let him have a taste of power.
44. Take away an accident of pigmentation of a thin layer of our outer skin and there is no difference between me and anyone else. All we want is for that trivial difference to make no difference.
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Quotes about Stereotypes
Shirley Chisholm quotes about stereotype:
45. Of course laws will not eliminate prejudice from the hearts of human beings. But that is no reason to allow prejudice to continue to be enshrined in our laws – to perpetuate injustice through inaction.
46. Legal discrimination between the sexes is, in almost every instance, founded on outmoded views of society and pre-scientific beliefs about psychology and physiology. It is time to sweep away these relics of the past and set further generations free of them.
47. The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says: It’s a girl. Shirley Chisholm Service is the rent that you pay for a reject not only room on this earth.
48. We must reject not only the stereotypes that others have of us but also those that we have of ourselves.
49. The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says: “It’s a girl.
50. In the end anti-black, anti-female, and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing: anti-humanism.
51. Racism is so universal in this country, so widespread, and deep-seated, that it is invisible because it is so normal.
52. Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth
53. You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.
Shirley Chisholm for Kids
These are some Shirley Chisholm quotes to motivate kids:
54. You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.
55. Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth.
56. We must reject not only the stereotypes that others hold of us, but also the stereotypes that we hold of ourselves.
57. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
58. Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.
59. I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.
60. I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.
If you have enjoyed and has been inspired by reading Shirley Chisholm quotes, do well to share with your friends and family so they too can get access to inspiration.
CSN Team.
