quotes of the day-bella abzug

[niyad]

• I've been described as a tough and noisy woman, a prize fighter, a man-hater, you name it. They call me Battling Bella, Mother Courage, and a Jewish mother with more complaints than Portnoy.

• They used to give us a day--it was called International Women's Day. In 1975 they gave us a year, the Year of the Woman. Then from 1975 to 1985 they gave us a decade, the Decade of the Woman. I said at the time, who knows, if we behave they may let us into the whole thing. Well, we didn't behave and here we are.

• Women have been trained to speak softly and carry a lipstick. Those days are over.

• The test for whether or not you can hold a job should not be the arrangement of your chromosomes.

• Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as an assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly promoted as a male schlemiel.

• We are coming down from our pedestal and up from the laundry room. We want an equal share in government and we mean to get it.

• I am not elevating women to sainthood, nor am I suggesting that all women share the same views, or that all women are good and all men bad.

• Women have been and are prejudiced, narrowminded, reactionary, even violent. Some women. They, of course, have a right to vote and a right to run for office. I will defend that right, but I will not support them or vote for them.

• If we get a government that reflects more of what this country is really about, we can turn the century -- and the economy -- around.

• Abortion doesn't belong in the political arena. It's a private right, like many other rights concerning the family.

• I prefer the word "homemaker" because "housewife" always implies that there may be a wife someplace else.

• I began wearing hats as a young lawyer because it helped me to establish my professional identity. Before that, whenever I was at a meeting, someone would ask me to get coffee.

• The establishment is made up of little men, very frightened.

• All of the men on my staff can type.

• I am not being facetious when I say that the real enemies in this country are the Pentagon and its pals in big business.

• The inside operation of Congress -- the deals, the compromises, the selling out, the co-opting, the unprincipled manipulating, the self-serving career-building -- is a story of such monumental decadence that I believe if people find out about it they will demand an end to it.

http://womenshistory.about.com/cs/quotes/a/qu_bella_abzug.htm

[struggle4progress]

1. !

[niyad]

2. thank you so much for sharing these pics. she was truly a most remarkable lady

[struggle4progress]

3. She was great! I really admired her!

[murielm99]

4. I wear hats, too,

because of Bella. I remembered her reason for starting to wear hats.

My daughters are starting to wear hats now.

[niyad]

5. I remember one time, when she was talking with a group of us, she actually took off her hat

for a few moments. one of the few times. .

[murielm99]

6. About hats, but a bit off topic -

My youngest daughter is at WorldCon right now. She says that George R. R. Martin complimented her on her choice in hats.

[niyad]

7. would love to see a pic, if you would like to share

[murielm99]

8. I told her to send me some pictures

from WorldCon. She has not sent them yet. When she does, I will figure out how to post them.

[niyad]

9. thank you, that would be wonderful

[Kath1]

10. Love every one of those quotes!

Pro-peace, pro-choice and totally awesome. Way ahead of her time. We need more like her!

[niyad]

11. we certainly do

[Kath1]

12. Eve Ensler had this to say about her.....

"She was the real deal. Pro peace, pro worker, pro women. Angry, authentic, grassroots, alienating and alive."

[niyad]

13. eve had it exactly correct. I am so grateful I got to meet and spend a bit of time with bella.