Five quotes from a collection of women’s speeches that will empower and inspire

Five brilliant quotes from a collection of women’s speeches that will empower and inspire

So Here I Am
This week in the Women’s Agenda office we happily received a copy of Anna Russell’s So Here I am, a collection of powerful speeches by women in their own words, that’s beautifully illustrated by Camila Pinheiro.

Due for release in February 2019, the book is a celebration of women speaking up throughout time and in the present day, within politics, science, human rights and media.

These speeches from great women, whose achievements speak for themselves, are a gentle reminder that women need a voice in the public sphere and should not remain quiet. Despite adversity, persistence and speaking up is essential.

For a shot of inspiration, here is a collection of short quotes from well known women from some of their biggest public speeches, pulled from Russell’s So Here I Am. These words are unapologetic, engaging and empowering.

The book is published by Murdoch Books.

Jane Goodall

Caring for the Earth – Reasons for Hope 2016

“I found particularly with young people that when they start realising that yes, me alone, I can’t do anything but when there’s hundreds or thousands or millions or maybe eventually billions of people all making the right choices, all trying to leave a lighter ecological footprint, then we begin moving to the kind of world that we can be happier leaving to our descendants.”

Michelle Obama

Speech at the Democratic National Convention 2016

“We are all created equal, each beloved part of the great American story. And when crisis hits, we don’t turn against each other – no, we listen to each other. We lean on each other. Because we are always stronger together.”

JK Rowling

Harvard University Commencement Speech 2008

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default…So given a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement.”

Malala Yousafzai

Nobel Lecture 2014

“Education went from being a right to being a crime…I had two options. One was to remain silent and wait to be killed. And the second was to speak up and then be killed. I chose the second one. I tell my story not because it is unique, but because it is not.”

Alicia Garza

An Ode to Black Women 2017

“This is an ode to Black women because Black women are magic…And the lifting up of all of us all the time without hesitation or apology or the need to talk about all of us (cuz we been telling y’all that forever now, let’s move forward) we just DO for all of us.”

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