Eleanor Holmes Norton quotes:

If diversity is what is a central value in every selective university in the United States, then it ought to be seen as a compelling interest by the Supreme Court.

On the road to equality there is no better place for blacks to detour around American values than in forgoing its example in the treatment of its women and the organization of its family.

There is no reason to repeat bad history.

With children no longer the universally accepted reason for marriage, marriages are going to have to exist on their own merits.

One ought to be against racism and sexism because they are wrong, not because one is black or one is female.

You can't win what you don't fight for.

Racial oppression of black people in America has done what neither class oppression or sexual oppression, with all their perniciousness, has ever done: destroyed an entire people and their culture.

It's difficult to beat making your living thinking and writing about subjects that matter to you.

Men without jobs do not form families.

The essence of a free life is being able to choose the style of living you prefer free from exclusion and without the compulsion of conformity or law.

The only way to make sure people you agree with can speak is to support the rights of people you don't agree with.

There are not many males, black or white, who wish to get involved with a woman who's committed to her own development.

The question has been asked, 'What is a woman?' A woman is a person who makes choices. A woman is a dreamer. A woman is a planner. A woman is a maker, and a molder. A woman is a person who makes choices. A woman builds bridges. A woman makes children and makes cars. A woman writes poetry and songs. A woman is a person who makes choices.

Absolutely the greatest challenges in dealing with discrimination are with the larger group who needs to consider how they think and act in everyday life. It remains the possibility of the majority to accept the call to change.

Affirmative action is the most important modern anti-discrimination technique ever instituted in the United States. It is the one tool that has had a demonstrable effect on discrimination. No one who knows anything about the subject would say it hasn't worked. It has certainly done something, or else it wouldn't have provoked so much opposition.

The spread of feminism is the most spectacular, extraordinary phenomenon in the last twenty years, and I believe we will accomplish our goals in a million different ways.