Women From The United States

"The tricky thing about fencing is that there are no secrets. Once you get on the strip, it's almost like I have all the information about you that I could ever want. The same goes for you against me. It comes down to a battle of minds, really."

"The past eight years of conflict in Ukraine have already inflicted profound and lasting harm to children. With the escalation of the conflict, the immediate and very real threat to Ukraine’s 7.5 million children has grown. Homes, schools, orphanages, and hospitals have all come under attack. Civilian infrastructure like water and sanitation facilities have been hit, leaving millions without access to safe water. For many, life has moved underground as families seek safety in shelters, subways, or basements, often for hours on end. Women are giving birth in makeshift maternity wards with limited medical supplies. Most stores are closed, making it hard for people to buy essential items, including basic necessities for children like diapers and medication. And even if stores were open, millions of people are too afraid to venture outside for food or water because of continuous shelling and shooting. The intensification of the armed conflict is posing severe human costs, which are increasing exponentially by the day."

"I didn't judge people when I couldn't see and after I got my eyesight, I still didn't."

"Society tells us a false story of who we are supposed to be. I generally ignore it."

"But the only thing that's ending on Saturday night is your five-hundred-day title reign when I become the Raw Women's Champion."

"People really don't understand what being blind actually is. You can be blind for any number of reasons — injury, genetics, disease, etc. — so of course, a person's own experience being blind will be different than someone else's."

"I do believe it's very important for the government of Honduras to continue their relationship with the government of Taiwan. I think it can be beneficial, obviously. It has been in the past, and I think it will continue to be so."

"It’s so idealized, like, your life must be perfect if you can hold a balance posture on the beach. But the actual practice of yoga isn’t about that at all. The image isn’t important. The practice is."

"I didn’t realize that in truth what makes you a good teacher is really living your own practice, and living it so much that you request it to other people. Ultimately, everything you do that you teach someone else is something that you’re working through to teach yourself, and that practice of really digging within yourself, it feels like having your soul cracked open."

"We often think that yoga is only about the combination of postures, breathing, and meditation, but it results in a lot of internal work, too. That work has led me to understand my own liberation — not just of my physical body, but of my emotional and spiritual bodies. A huge part of that has been recognizing that I am a sexual being, and that's not something that I need to apologize for or be ashamed of."

"Glorifying Christ comes first, always. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t look to Christ in my times of need or doubt. When we turn to Christ, our joys are multiplied."

"Wheelchair racing to me is so similar to this feeling of flying – the feeling of going so fast that it’s almost effortless at the same time. When all of the biomechanics line up in the right way, the sport is so elegant."

"It takes a village to become an Olympian and I can confidently say that my faith and the support I've received from the staff and students at St. John’s have been instrumental in this journey."

"I hope to remember my perseverance and courage that went behind achieving my goal. I also hope to remember that the lessons I've learned up to this point will serve future generations as they pursue wheelchair racing."

"The biggest challenge we faced during post-production was how to integrate all the different elements involved in the film. The topic of the one-child policy and its consequences are massive and complex. We went through a lot of trial and error to decide which characters to include and how to transit from my personal and family story to a larger national and international story."

"Our goal was to make a film that in 50 or 100 years will survive as a reliable account of what really happened during the one-child policy. It can serve as a rebuttal to the official narrative, which in China already is pure propaganda. Even outside of China, many people we’ve spoken with have told us how surprised they were by the details of the film, which shows how effective the propaganda promoting the policy truly has been."

"We all want certain things. We all want transparency. We all want accurate information. And especially with the experience of coming from China, knowing how somebody could firmly believe in something that was not true. I would never look at any of the subjects in China who say they love, they admire, they appreciate Xi Jinping and they appreciate what the Chinese government does with contempt or with disgust. I would never do that. Because I know what they came from, and I know what made this happen."

"I think empathy is not learned. Maybe I’m wrong, but in my experience it’s not."

"Memory is the central part of the individual identity… and I think that’s true with a nation, too. What a nation is how the nation remembers its past, and with the authoritarian government in China, so far recent history has been written in the authorities’ narrative; how they came into power, and what has happened since they came into power, have been revised in a way that fits into the official narrative."

"During filming, it never occurred to me that I was going to be a part of either film. I was always trying to cut my voice out by having subjects include my question in their answers."

"The most repressed countries often produce some of the most amazing films. I think that it will push people to find a way to express their ideas in new ways."

"Misinformation is just like a virus. There is an origin. It’s hard to find where the origin is, but it starts with a small group of people and it takes human hosts to spread from person to person. All the people who voted for Trump or believed that COVID didn’t exist, you need to go back to see where did it start and how long have we ignored that. I do want people to look at it, and not to place judgement but to look beyond those superficial issues."

"I’m conscious what things were not positive. And I, as a storyteller, as a filmmaker, and as a citizen, I felt that it’s my responsibility to expose that and to reveal that, to raise awareness so people could see. That’s the only way I feel you could really push the country to move forward, to improve, and hold the authorities accountable."

"I’m pretty pessimistic about the Chinese government because I think there is no balance within it or any institution, country or organization that can hold it accountable. So, I don’t know what the future will be."

"I think the first step of any change comes from the people who live in China. And that's why I think the most important impact I hope that documentaries would have is to change people's perception. Because personally, I experienced how I have learned so much, and unlearned so much, about what I was taught growing up about China."

"We all like to believe that our world has clear heroes and villains and that the heroes are going to save us after all, but that’s not the reality."

"People in China who praise the government despite that they have family that died from Covid because of the lack of medical response and lack of care from the government, but they still say they are appreciative of the government, I look at those people and they could be my family or my friends. I would never look at them with disgust or contempt or as morally superior. I understand how they became that and how they got their information, how their ideology was formed."

"There is a difference between disinformation and misinformation. Disinformation is somebody giving the wrong information but unknowingly. They did not know it was wrong, so maybe they could say they are working with the information they had at the time but it’s still wrong. Misinformation is intentionally spreading wrong information. At what point the disinformation turned to misinformation is really hard to go back and find. The people who are at the level of government, whose responsibility it is to present transparency and truthful information, those people need to be held accountable for giving inaccurate information."

"I’m trying to take a beat to digest the Rittenhouse verdict. My son just asked me how it’s possible that he didn’t get charged for anything. How is that possible? I don’t have an answer for him."

"The idea [the government's 'You Win' campaign] is that instead of young people in Nigeria waiting to get employment, they should create their own jobs and employ their peers and employ other people."

"Don’t be scared to live your faith. When I was young and went on my first trip I was hesitant to speak up and say that I wanted to go to Mass. When I stuck to it and showed that I lived my faith I got respect from my teammates."

"We will be judged on cowardice. If we don't do what's right for women in sport. It's a very worthy cause. What women have been given through sport in this role in their life, it's really priceless. And so we can decide that that's worth saving, that's worth holding on to and investing in for our future. Or we can just say, hey you know what: we've got this little side agenda that has a strong really loud voice and we're either going to yield to it or not."

"I believe that when you find problems, you should also find solutions."

"In the 73 years of GATT WTO, I am honoured to be First Woman and First African to lead. But now the real work begins. Ready to tackle the challenges of WTO. Forget Business as usual!"

"I’m told, I’m like my father, and he was the most wonderful man. But I think he was gentler than me."

"“Nigeria does have a problem with corruption. And so do many other countries, including developed countries. I don’t like the fact that when people mention the name Nigeria, the next thing they say is corruption.”"

"There is no right way to be a woman leader. Be true to yourself."

"Get anyone you know talking about gender stereotypes. These false assumptions cannot survive being held up to the light of day."

"“On my first day I sat in that chair and said Oh My God I can't do this. There are just too many things: we have to reform the budget, to fight corruption, do this, do that. But once I had set out the matrix, which became like a bible, I suddenly got a burst of confidence.”"

"Don’t take a backward step. Don’t shy away from taking up space in the world. Don’t assume you are too junior or that people are too busy. Reach out and network."

"“At present, these institutions have a combined balance sheet of about $70 billion, but our infrastructure needs alone exceed $200 billion annually. Instead of looking outward for financial support, we must strengthen our own institutions,”"

"I’ve developed my own style. It’s a colourful one. It’s African, and it is me."

"“The biggest pension funds are in South Africa, followed by Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco, Botswana, and Namibia. These resources are hugely significant, and we need to find ways to tap into them,”"

"There is always guilt. Just make it work."

"So we were not able to save when we should have. That is why you find that Nigeria is now in the situation it is in."

"If you have a sense of purpose that drives you, then aim high and become a leader and make room as you go."

"“One of the first big things we did was to delink the budget from the oil price ... Any surplus above that we saved — and we announce to Nigerians how much we had saved each quarter.”"

"“Our focus should be on two key areas — attracting investment and mobilising domestic resources.”"

"“Africa’s opportunity lies not in aid — but in adding value, building trust, and using our resources wisely,”"

"“Our critical minerals are in demand — but instead of giving them away raw, we must negotiate smartly, add value locally, create jobs, and become a true hub of global manufacturing and innovation""