In interviews and emails, Gloria Steinem shared with Associated Press reporters over the years her thoughts on social changes she had witnessed as a leading voice for women, the importance of abortion rights and the correct way to respond when being called the B-word.
The author and feminist icon was typically blunt, but her quotes were also laced with wit and humor. For her 2019 compilation of some of her most famous quotations, Steinem chose the title: “The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off!”
Here are examples of Steinem, who died Wednesday at age 92, in her own words.
“Nobody ever called me beautiful until I was publicly a feminist, and that was in my mid-30s. It was clear that label was being assigned to me. The most hurtful part is that you work very hard, and people say it’s because of your looks.” (August 2011)
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“We know sexism is not inevitable. It’s only about controlling reproduction and therefore controlling women. If we have reproductive freedom, that is the ability to decide for ourselves when and whether to have children and what happens to our bodies, it can be reversed.” (May 2016)
“We live in a democracy that’s one of the few in the world that’s never had a female elected leader. That’s kind of ridiculous. I mean, we’re choosing from half the country’s talent” (March 2026)
“It’s obviously ridiculous to say somebody is ‘pro-abortion.’ Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, ‘I think I’ll have an abortion. It’s a pleasurable experience.’ The question is not pro-abortion or anti-abortion, the question is who makes the decision: a woman and her physician, or the government.” (May 2017)
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“Obviously, without the right of women and men to make decisions about our own bodies, there is no democracy.” (June 2022)
“Women have always taken power over our own bodies, and we will keep right on,” she wrote in an email. “An unjust court can’t stop abortion, but it guarantees civil disobedience and disrespect for the court.” (June 2022)
“It took me years to learn what to do when someone calls you a bitch. Just smile in a calm triumphant way, and say, ‘Thank you!’” (July 2020)
“You can’t do it on the phone or on the web. You have to be there with all five senses. It should be obvious that people can’t empathize with each other unless we’re in the same room.” (October 2015)
“In the wintertime, my father always put the whole family in a house trailer and we were working our way, buying and selling antiques and so on, to Florida or California. I think my family thought because I was always reading books in the back seat, that was enough.” (March 2026)
“If you’re a writer and you really care about writing, you put it off. You wax the floor.” (October 2015)
