Gwendolyn Brooks was the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for her poetry in 1950, for her series of poems called Annie Allen. The theme of her poems was about the ordinary lives of urban African Americans living with racism and poverty. Gwendolyn taught people that poetry was an art form and brought poetry to the people with public readings and through accessibility. Her poetry had an immense influence on people from all walks of life, and her first poem was published when she was just 14. In 1968 she was named poet laureate for the state of Illinois and has been called a poet who has discovered the neglected miracles of everyday existence.
When you use the term minority or minorities in reference to people, you're telling them that they're less than somebody else.
Poetry is life distilled.
I am a writer perhaps because I am not a talker.
As you get older, you find that often the wheat, disentangling itself from the chaff, comes out to meet you.
Look at what's happening in this world. Every day there's something exciting or disturbing to write about. With all that's going on, how could I stop?"
ZORA NEALE HURSTON
Zora Neale Hurston was an African-American ethnographer and author writing during the Harlem Renaissance. She is now best known for her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, as well as the critically acclaimed Mules and Men, which documents African-American folklore. Her writing is notable for its use of dialect and idiomatic speech patterns – it was controversial in the 1930s as some felt that it caricatured black culture, but modern scholars have praised her ability to capture the spoken language of the time.
I want a busy life, a just mind, and a timely death.
Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to "jump at de sun." We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.
No man may make another free.
It seems to me that trying to live without friends is like milking a bear to get cream for your morning coffee. It is a whole lot of trouble, and then not worth much after you get it.
Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.
Learning without wisdom is a load of books on a donkey's back.
Love, I find, is like singing. Everybody can do enough to satisfy themselves, though it may not impress the neighbours as being very much.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
Eleanor Roosevelt used her stature as First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 to promote civil rights, and remains the most politically active First Lady the country has seen. She was a suffragist who worked tirelessly to enhance the status of working women, and in the 1940s she was a vocal supporter of the United Nations, chairing the committee that drafted and approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
A woman is like a teabag – only in hot water do you realise how strong she is.
I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.
The most important thing in any relationship is not what you get but what you give.
I have never felt that anything really mattered but the satisfaction of knowing that you stood for the things in which you believed and had done the very best you could.
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
MARGARET ATWOOD
Margaret Atwood is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic and feminist, whose work spans four decades and covers themes from environmental issues to women’s relationships with men and with themselves. As well as novels and collections of poetry, she has written children’s books, short stories and collections of essays – as well as penning political cartoons under the pseudonym Bart Gerrard in the 1970s! She is committed to feminist issues and often speaks out about women’s roles in society.
I am certain that a Sewing Machine would relieve as much human suffering as a hundred Lunatic Asylums, and possibly a good deal more. – in Alias Grace.
I would rather dance as a ballerina, though faultily, than as a flawless clown.
Because I am a mother, I am capable of being shocked; as I never was when I was not one.
A voice is a human gift; it should be cherished and used. Powerlessness and silence go together.
Sons branch out, but one woman leads to another.
The Eskimo has fifty-two names for snow because it is important to them; there ought to be as many for love.
We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly.
MARGARET THATCHER
Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, and not only was she the first and only female to lead the UK, she was also the longest serving British Prime Minister since Gladstone. Known best for her conservative policies and economic reforms, it can be said without debate that she is one of the most significant British politicians in recent history.
Below is a short list of insightful quotes from the woman who dared to step inside a traditionally masculine arena. If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.
Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.
Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.
I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.
I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.
I've got a woman's ability to stick to a job and get on with it when everyone else walks off and leaves it.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
MARGARET ATWOOD
MARGARET THATCHER 
