"I wish to see every feminist say to herself: 'Yes, the patriarchy has taken my life from me, but also I have given it. I am not going to waste the rest of it in an avalanche of reproach. I am going to fight the patriarchy, but my real energy goes to the hard, drudging work of making myself human—as well as humane. Men may have taken my life from me—but they cannot give it back to me. Only I can do that, fighting inch by inch to reverse the emotional habits of a lifetime.'"
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Essayists from the United StatesMemoirists from the United StatesWomen authors from the United StatesFeminists from the United StatesWomen born in the 1930s
Original Language: English
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https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vivian_Gornick
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Vivian Gornick
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