Quotes about Assertiveness

We must let our identity, not our insecurity, be the first thing that walks into every situation we face—every decision we make.

Trying to please everybody is impossible - if you did that, you'd end up in the middle with nobody liking you. You've just got to make the decision about what you think is your best, and do it.

I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me.

So early in my life, I had learned that if you want something, you had better make some noise.

Feminism...is not 'women as victims' but women refusing to be victims.

if you don't stand up for yourselves, how can you stand up for anybody else?

In retrospect, the second cause for delay makes less feminist sense: the long popularity of assertiveness training. Though most women needed to be more assertive (or even more aggressive, though that word was considered too controversial), many assertiveness courses taught women how to play the existing game, not how to change the rules.

I'm beginning to realize the pleasure of being a nothing-to-lose, take-no-shit older woman.

There are men whose language is strong and defying enough, yet their eyes and their actions ask leave of other men to live.

Women fear endangering men's approval so much, we don't even wait for them to say no. Or else we protect them, even if it means saying no to ourselves.

If you allow men to use you for your own purposes, they will use you for theirs.

Upon the obstinate irrepressible conviction which makes youth so intolerably disagreeable—I am what I am, and intend to be it.