“It is what we make of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”
“Even if someone has done something that is disrespectful or even harmful, if you are still harbouring negative emotions towards that person or in recollection of the memory, then you are continuing the process and extending the effect it’s having on you.”
“I am not pro-this people or that. I am pro-justice, pro-freedom. I am anti-injustice, anti-oppression.”
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
“So I grew up feeling that I wasn’t good enough, and that no-one would love me unless I was perfect. But no-one’s perfect, we’re not meant to be perfect. We’re meant to be complete. But it’s hard to be complete if you’re trying to be perfect, so you kind of become disembodied. And I spent a lot of my life that way.” ” And if you don’t own your strength… Women like me tend to always look over their shoulder to see who… “Who’s the leader? Who’s the smart one?” Never thinking it might be ME. Took a long time for me to get over that.”
“When Janine Haines was elected Leader of the Democrats in 1986, she became the first woman to lead a national political party. The Democrats have had 5 female leaders. When Janine Haines, became the first Australian Democrat to enter the Senate in 1977, she joined seven other women. At that time, of the 177 Members of the House of Representatives, there was not one female member. A higher proportion of women has consistently been elected to the Upper House compared to the Lower house, which begs the question, “Which House is more representative? It is also worth noting that in 101 years there have only been two Indigenous members of the federal parliament and both were elected to the Senate: Senators Neville Bonner and Aden Ridgeway.”
“Self-improvement begins with self-acceptance. All of life, everything else, has led up to this. This is your work now. It is the final step. Go for it.”
“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.”
“Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.”
“Within every man there is the reflection of a woman,
and within every woman there is the reflection of a man.
Within every man and woman there is also the reflection
of an old man and an old woman, a little boy and a little girl.”