Shirley Chisholm quotes

Shirley Chisholm was an American politician, educator, and author who made history as the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. Known for her fearless advocacy for minority rights and social justice, she broke barriers in U.S. politics. She inspired generations by running for President and championing equality throughout her career. Here are 37 of her quotes:

I don't measure America by its achievement but by its potential.

Shirley Chisholm

You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.

Shirley Chisholm

When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom that profit loses.

Shirley Chisholm

Of my two handicaps, being female put many more obstacles in my path than being black.

Shirley Chisholm

The difference between de jure and de facto segregation is the difference between open, forthright bigotry and the shamefaced kind that works through unwritten agreements between real estate dealers, school officials, and local politicians.

Shirley Chisholm

I was well on the way to forming my present attitude toward politics as it is practiced in the United States; it is a beautiful fraud that has been imposed on the people for years, whose practitioners exchange gelded promises for the most valuable thing their victims own: their votes. And who benefits the most? The lawyers.

Shirley Chisholm

At present, our country needs women's idealism and determination, perhaps more in politics than anywhere else.

Shirley Chisholm

Tremendous amounts of talent are lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt.

Shirley Chisholm

Congress seems drugged and inert most of the time... its idea of meeting a problem is to hold hearings or, in extreme cases, to appoint a commission.

Shirley Chisholm

If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.

Shirley Chisholm

Racism is so universal in this country, so widespread, and deep-seated, that it is invisible because it is so normal.

Shirley Chisholm

Congress seems drugged and inert most of the time.

Shirley Chisholm

The Constitution they wrote was designed to protect the rights of white, male citizens. As there were no black Founding Fathers, there were no founding mothers - a great pity, on both counts.

Shirley Chisholm

Service is the rent that you pay for room on this earth.

Shirley Chisholm

I'd like them to say that Shirley Chisholm had guts. That's how I'd like to be remembered.

Shirley Chisholm

That I am a national figure because I was the first person in 192 years to be at once a congressman, black, and a woman proves, I would think, that our society is not yet either just or free.

Shirley Chisholm

Our representative democracy is not working because the Congress that is supposed to represent the voters does not respond to their needs. I believe the chief reason for this is that it is ruled by a small group of old men.

Shirley Chisholm

The liberals in the House strongly resemble liberals I have known through the last two decades in the civil rights conflict. When it comes time to show on which side they will be counted, they excuse themselves.

Shirley Chisholm

The Constitution they wrote was designed to protect the rights of white, male citizens. As there were no black Founding Fathers, there were no founding mothers - a great pity, on both counts. It is not too late to complete the work they left undone. Today, here, we should start to do so.

Shirley Chisholm

Laws will not eliminate prejudice from the hearts of human beings. But that is no reason to allow prejudice to continue to be enshrined in our laws - to perpetuate injustice through inaction.

Shirley Chisholm

America has the laws and the material resources it takes to insure justice for all its people. What it lacks is the heart, the humanity.

Shirley Chisholm

My greatest political asset, which professional politicians fear, is my mouth, out of which come all kinds of things one shouldn't always discuss for reasons of political expediency.

Shirley Chisholm