Mary Barnett Gilson Quotes

The temptation was great to muster what force we could and put up a fight. It's the easiest way out, and the most satisfactory to self-respect--but, nearly invariably, the stupidest.

No sacred fane requires us to submit to insult.

I think that's deeply rooted in Muslim consciousness, the idea of not submitting to anything other than God. "You can abuse me, but you're not going to win me over. But if you treat me with respect and dignity, I'm going to fall in love with you. I'm going to sing your praises all over the world because you're powerful and you treated me with human dignity."

The one who fights back retains his dignity and his self-respect.

Why should I downplay myself to make someone else more comfortable?

No' is golden. 'No' is the kind of power the good witch wields. It's the way whole, healthy, emotionally evolved people manage to have relationships with jackasses while limiting the amount of jackass in their lives.

Begging for acknowledgment, or even asking, diminishes dignity and diminishes power.

Sticking up for ourselves in the same way we would one of our friends is a hard but satisfying thing to do. Sometimes it works.

When you're 20 you care what everyone thinks, when you're 40 you stop caring what everyone thinks, when you're 60 you realize no one was ever thinking about you in the first place. You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.

I've bowed to you for too long, and if I continue to do it, we will all suffer.

I don't care about people who don't care about me. If people are negative or mean, then that's their issue. Screw them.

You're English," he said. "And I will therefore make certain allowances for you. I realize you don't understand you shouldn't argue with me, and so I'll explain it to you. Don't argue with me." Incredulous, she said, "That's it? 'Don't argue with me' is your explanation as to why I shouldn't argue with you?

When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea. He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect.

I think everybody likes a person that stands up for themselves. Nobody likes a punk or a coward.

I keep on repeating something told to me by an American psychologist: "When you are making a joke about someone and you are the only one to laugh, it is not a joke. It is a joke only for yourself." If people are making a joke they have the right to laugh at me but I will ignore them. Ignoring doesn't mean that you don't understand. You understand it so much that you don't want to react.

You plan to be a challenge, do you?" Juliana smiled angelically. "I agreed to remain, my lord. Not to remain silent.

How totally banal of you to ask what I really mean.

When I get this kind of support, I feel validated in my decision to stand up for myself.

Through a lot of conversations with the Minister [Louis Farrakhan] you've got to know when to say something. But if you are forever going to be afraid to say anything, then you become irrelevant - as a force. I mean, so the God-given gift that you got, you're not a relevant player in the game - you're just a dude whose got money, got a big house and some cars.

Your yes means nothing if you can't say no.

We are all told to ignore bullies. It's something they teach you, and they can teach you anything. It doesn't mean you learn it. It doesn't mean you believe it. One should never ignore bullies. One should stop them.

I respect orders but I respect myself too and I do not obey foolish rules made especially to humiliate me.

Sometimes it just feels so amazing to finally stand up for yourself. I highly recommend it. Life is too short to be taken for granted.

In our family, being powerful means you never, ever apologize for being a woman.

You want attention, you want support, you want to be treated properly, and I don't wanna have to go anywhere and teach people how to treat me.