Selected Ann Richards Quotations
• I'm not afraid to shake up the system, and government needs more shaking up than any other system I know.
• I have very strong feelings about how you lead your life. You always look ahead, you never look back.
• The here and now is all we have, and if we play it right it's all we'll need.
• I have always had the feeling I could do anything and my dad told me I could. I was in college before I found out he might be wrong.
• They blame the low income women for ruining the country because they are staying home with their children and not going out to work. They blame the middle income women for ruining the country because they go out to work and do not stay home to take care of their children.
• I feel very strongly that change is good because it stirs up the system.
• I did not want my tombstone to read, 'She kept a really clean house.' I think I'd like them to remember me by saying, 'She opened government to everyone.'
• I've always said that in politics, your enemies can't hurt you, but your friends will kill you.
• Teaching was the hardest work I had ever done, and it remains the hardest work I have done to date.
• Let me tell you, sisters, seeing dried egg on a plate in the morning is a lot dirtier than anything I've had to deal with in politics.
• Power is what calls the shots, and power is a white male game.
• If you think taking care of yourself is selfish, change your mind. If you don't, you're simply ducking your responsibilities.
• I'm really glad that our young people missed the Depression, and missed the great big war. But I do regret that they missed the leaders that I knew. Leaders who told us when things were tough, and that we would have to sacrifice, and these difficulties might last awhile. They didn't tell us things were hard for us because we were different, or isolated, or special interests. They brought us together and they gave us a sense of national purpose. [1988 keynote address, Democratic National Convention]
• I have a real soft spot in my heart for librarians and people who care about books.
• You can put lipstick and earrings on a hog and call it Monique, but it's still a pig.
• Women elected Bill Clinton this time. He acknowledges it, the country acknowledges it, and the columnists acknowledge it, and when you have that kind of political clout, you can effect change and do it well. And I'm real proud to have been a part of that.
• I get a lot of cracks about my hair, mostly from men who don't have any.
• Let me tell you that I am the only child of a very rough-talking father. So don't be embarrassed about your language. I've either heard it or I can top it.
• The public does not like you to mislead or represent yourself to be something you're not. And the other thing that the public really does like is the self-examination to say, you know, I'm not perfect. I'm just like you. They don't ask their public officials to be perfect. They just ask them to be smart, truthful, honest, and show a modicum of good sense.
• I believe in recovery, and I believe that as a role model I have the responsibility to let young people know that you can make a mistake and come back from it.
• There is a lot more to life than just struggling to make money.
• I thought I knew Texas pretty well, but I had no notion of its size until I campaigned it.
• Women, it was painfully clear, weren't going to be allowed to use their brains and I certainly wanted to use mine.
