Self-Advocacy Quotes

I have no intention of being a potted plant, and just getting watered every so often.

Maxim for life: You get treated in life the way you teach people to treat you.

Women should not let anybody take them for a ride. If they face such things, they should talk about it.

If you're the greatest, it's okay to say you're the greatest. My suggestion to everybody is to be their own greatest fan. Weaker personas and personalities define that as egotistical or arrogant, but what it means is their self-esteem isn't that strong.

I was taught to be demure, so it was harder for me to learn how to stand up for myself and go, 'What do I want? What are my desires?'

I've always wanted to write a book relating my experiences growing up as a deaf child in Chicago. Contrary to what people might think, it wasn't all about hearing aids and speech classes or frustrations.

Here's my Golden Rule for a tarnished age: Be fair with others, but keep after them until they're fair with you.

We live in a society of victimization, where people are much more comfortable being victimized than actually standing up for themselves.

You should be a hero to yourself. And if you're not... check it out.

The first time I voted, I voted for myself.

I've demanded respect for myself and my band and my peers, I've demanded full artistic control for my music, I advocate for artists and music education wherever I can. And I'm a nice guy.

It is better to speak up for your rights and then die… I am not afraid of death now. I have seen death…. My death would further the cause of education.

We all stick up for ourselves and I think that's why we stand out, because we really don't care what other people think.

Never be bullied into silence.

I tell all the young guys, don't make choices because somebody else is telling you it's good from a career-maintenance perspective.

Give instruction unto those who cannot procure it for themselves.

No one can take advantage of you without your permission.

I myself started out quite young; when you're working, professionally, even if you are in your teens, you just want to be treated the same as everybody else. You just want people to see you as an actor and not as a kid.

Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.

Advice to intellectuals: let no-one represent you.

I'm confident in my abilities and confident to know what kind of player I am. I've also been educated on the business side of it, getting your value.

I sometimes tell a director that I want to work with him. I tell him twice. After that if he still doesn't give me a call, I move on.

We as African Americans knew that if we wanted to see change, we had to step up to the plate and make that change ourselves. Not everyone comes to that realization in their lives, but thank God Linda Brown's father felt that way.

You'll never find a candidate that you can identify 100 percent with unless you become one yourself.

Every day, women and girls are finding incredible confidence and taking risks. When they change one mind, pretty soon, they have changed one tradition. That changed tradition has changed a village. That one village has changed a country. That new reality means new opportunities for themselves and their daughters.