"It is always disagreeable to take stands. It is always easier to compromise, always easier to let things go. To many women, and I am one of them, it is extraordinarily difficult to care about anything enough to cause disagreement or unpleasant feelings, but I have come to the conclusion that this must be done for a time until we can prove our strength and demand respect for our wishes. We cannot even be of real service in the coming campaign and speak as a united body of women unless we have the respect of men and show that when we express a wish, we are willing to stand by it."
Quote collection
Eleanor Roosevelt quotes (page 13 of 26)
519 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Actors are one family over the entire world."
"One of the first things we must get rid of is the idea that democracy is tantamount to capitalism."
"If anyone were to ask me what I want out of life I would say- the opportunity for doing something useful, for in no other way, I am convinced, can true happiness be attained."
"It is not more vacation we need — it is more vocation."
"Happiness is not a goal, it is a by-product. Paradoxically, the one sure way not to be happy is deliberately to map out a way of life in which one would please oneself completely and exclusively."
"Too often the great decisions are originated and given form in bodies made up wholly of men, or so completely dominated by them that whatever of special value women have to offer is shunted aside without expression."
"I'm so glad I never feel important, it does complicate life!"
"My experience has been that work is almost the best way to pull oneself out of the depths."
"Success must include two things: the development of an individual to his utmost potentiality and a contribution of some kind to one's world."
"I can not believe that war is the best solution. No one won the last war, and no one will win the next war."
"The kind of man who thinks that helping with the dishes is beneath him will also think that helping with the baby is beneath him, and then he certainly is not going to be a very successful father."
"It is so much easier to be enthusiastic than to reason!"
"Beautiful old people are works of art."
"There is nothing to regret, either for those who go, or for those who stay behind — only an inheritance of good accomplishment to be lived up to by those who carry a loving memory in their hearts."
"those who attack always do so with greater fervor than those who defend."
"Autobiographies are only useful as the lives you read about and analyze may suggest to you something that you may find useful in your own journey through life."
"I could not at any age be content to take my place in a corner by the fireside and simply look on."
"Choose a challenge instead of competence"
"People who 'view with alarm' never build anything."