Ava DuVernay Quotes

It's not enough even to have one black Barbie... because black women are not a monolith.

Ava DuVernay

• Women
• Black

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Quotes to Explore

• Dangerous people with guns are a threat to women.

  

  Gabrielle Giffords
  • People
  • Women
  • Guns

• From the day of its birth, the anomaly of slavery plagued a nation which asserted the equality of all men, and sought to derive powers of government from the consent of the governed. Within sound of the voices of those who said this lived more than half a million black slaves, forming nearly one-fifth of the population of a new nation.

  

  W. E. B. Du Bois
  • Men
  • Black
  • Day

• There's a tendency among some male writers to make the women in their stories weak and needing of rescue so that their hero looks like a manly man.

  

  Karin Slaughter
  • Women
  • Man
  • Hero

• After marriage, most women keep aside their aspirations and dreams as their priorities change.

  

  Manju Warrier
  • Women
  • Change
  • Marriage

• Working moms commonly testify that they feel guilty when they are away from their children and guilty when they are not at their jobs. Devoted fathers certainly miss their children deeply, but it does not seem to be with the same gnawing, primal anxiety that often afflicts women.

  

  Camille Paglia
  • Women
  • Children
  • Anxiety

• The thing about women playing boys is that we're not going to age, and we're not going to go through puberty in the middle of a long-running series.

  

  Pamela Adlon
  • Long
  • Women
  • Age

• Yiddish, originally, in Eastern Europe was considered the language of children, of the illiterate, of women. And 500 years later, by the 19th century, by the 18th century, writers realized that, in order to communicate with the masses, they could no longer write in Hebrew. They needed to write in Yiddish, the language of the population.

  

  Ilan Stavans
  • Women
  • Children
  • Language

• A lot of women are afraid of loneliness, so when they see a woman who can live alone, then they think, 'Hmm, I can do that.' But you need an example, and that is why I am proud to say I have divorced three husbands.

  

  Nawal El Saadawi
  • Live
  • Women
  • Why

• The man does not beat your head because you got a Cadillac or because you got a Ford; he beats you because you're black!

  

  H. Rap Brown
  • Man
  • Black
  • You

• We have to give feminism a shot. Out of sheer self preservation, we have to stand aside and let women run the show.

  

  Irvine Welsh
  • Women
  • Self
  • Stand

• After Halle Berry does her films and Queen Latifah does her films, it's left to all the black, Latino and Asian actresses to fight over a couple of roles. I opted for some TV. There's just not a ton of work in film.

  

  Gabrielle Union
  • Work
  • Black
  • Couple

• Thank God we're not like America. Everyone wants to look like they're 20. In Europe we admire grown-up women; I think men revere older women.

  

  Francesca Annis
  • Up
  • God
  • Men

• There are so many young women coming up through the ranks. Adele is an amazing singer. Beyonce has great stage presence. She's just a beautiful woman. I love how everyone has just taken charge of their lives and careers.

  

  Pat Benatar
  • Women
  • Beautiful
  • Lives

• We have a vision of South Africa in which black and white shall live and work together as equals in conditions of peace and prosperity.

  

  Oliver Tambo
  • Work
  • Live
  • Together

• What I'm mainly interested in is not having women characters that have to be perfect, obviously. That's something I feel strongly about and have that in every single thing I've ever done.

  

  Callie Khouri
  • Women
  • Done
  • Perfect

• There is some group of Americans who are really, really curious to understand how we ended up at this point, where every week it seems like you can turn on your TV and see some sort of abuse being heaped on black people.

  

  Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • People
  • Up
  • Black

• In Finland we have equal political rights for women and men. We do not regard ourselves according to sex.

  

  Harri Holkeri
  • Men
  • Women
  • Political

• Women aren't as mere as they used to be.

  

  Walt Kelly
  • Women
  • Used
  • Mere

• I don't think women's prisons are environments for dance routines, and I don't think mass murder is humorous.

  

  Natalie Merchant
  • Women
  • Think
  • Dance

• Would I be happy just practicing law? No. Would I be happy just doing TV and speeches? No. I want to do all of these things and be as active as I can... but my main goal is to have some degree of influence on the public discussion.

  

  Ed Rendell
  • Happy
  • Law
  • Influence

• As a mom, I always feel I have to protect them. I talk about them because they are the most important things in my life but they are private people. I won't use them for my own press.

  

  Jami Gertz
  • People
  • Life
  • Important

• The height of success is when you break your business, that is what I say! Just when you think things are really, really going well, that's the time to change.

  

  Edward Zander
  • Time
  • Business
  • Success

• I remember, when I was a teenager, people telling me, 'You know, when you are a mother, you will never feel lonely. You will feel so much love, and you will be fulfilled by this love.' Then I became a mother. And I learnt that is absolutely wrong: you can feel very lonely with your children, even if you love them.

  

  Leila Slimani
  • People
  • Children
  • Remember

• It's not enough even to have one black Barbie... because black women are not a monolith.

  

  Ava DuVernay
  • Women
  • Black