John Irving Quotes

I believe feminism is grounded in supporting the choices of women even if we wouldn’t make certain choices for ourselves.

We ought to respect the right of women to make choices in their lives.

No public official, no congressman, has the right to tell a woman what decision she must make and no congressman has the wisdom to dictate what is best for her.

Contraceptives unlock one of the most dormant but potentially powerful assets in development: women as decision makers.

We need to respect choices that women make.

I said on the equality side of it, that it is essential to a woman's equality with man that she be the decision-maker, that her choice be controlling.

The sanctity of a woman's right to control her own destiny is a moral force of its own... I came to realize that the question of choice is to be answered, not by the state, but by the individual.

Once middle-class white women began to emancipate themselves and get involved in public and political life… abortion took on its modern meaning of self-determination and active decision making. Those are bedrock American values for men, but not for women, who are supposed to be self-sacrificing, other-oriented, maternal, and dependent.

Most people, I think, have accepted that it's not up to them to control other people's choices, except, it seems, when it comes to Washington, D.C., where everyone has an opinion about people's uteruses.

I hope Indian parents will allow girls to choose their own destiny.

I never want to be the woman that's telling other women what to do.

In my opinion, empowerment is when women have the chance to do what they want to do and the courage to do what they want.

Mankind's greatest gift... is that we have free choice.

My feeling is that whatever people elect to do, insofar as they don't deny the rights of others, every effort should be made to defend their right to do it.

We should let women make their own decisions.

The power of choice. You have it. But you forfeit it when you imagine that you can choose for others. You can't. But you can choose for yourself.

Privacy is a function of liberty.

It is for men to choose whether they will govern themselves or be governed.

My life story is something obviously that belongs to me very personally. And the fact of the matter is that I had choices and chances and opportunities that were provided to me, based on the way I was able to direct my own decision-making. And what I'm working to fight for is to make sure that all women have the ability to do that.

I think the most important thing for all of us to realize is you have to make the decision and be comfortable with it. And every woman should be respected for making her own choice.

The real dividing line between things we call work and the things we call leisure is that in leisure, however active we may be, we make our own choices and our own decisions. We feel for the time being that our life is our own.

If everyting's the same, then there aren't any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things!" (Jonas) "It's the choosing that's imortant, isn't it?" The Giver asked him.

Life is fairer when individuals are free to make their own decisions

I think people have the right to love whoever they want, and I think that women have the right to do whatever they wish to their bodies given the circumstances.

To me, basically, the whole meaning of 'Little Women' and what it conveys to me is the choice of being any kind of woman.