Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Gloria Steinem ’56 and the late Molly Ivins ’66 are two of Smith’s most iconic—and quotable—alumnae.

To mark the publication of Steinem’s latest book, The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off! Thoughts on Life, Love, and Rebellion, as well as the theatrical release of the documentary Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins, test your knowledge of these two icons by playing a game of quotation identification. Can you correctly attribute the following quotes to either the fearless feminist or the tough-talkin’ Texan? The answers are at the bottom.

Photograph by Melanie West

1. “Polarizing people is a good way to win an election and a good way to wreck a country.”
2. “Sit up, join up, stir it up, get online, get in touch, find out who’s raising hell and join them. No use waiting on a bunch of wussy politicians.”
3. “Democracy begins with owning our bodies. By that measure, women have rarely lived in a democracy.”
4. “What you need is sustained outrage. There’s far too much unthinking respect given to authority.”
5. “Only when the bottom moves does the whole hierarchy topple.”
6. “Anything that affects males is often seen as more serious than anything that affects ‘only’ the female half of the human race.”
7. “Voting isn’t the most we can do, but it’s the least.”
8. “It really is possible to disagree with someone’s policies without hating them. Grown-ups can do that.”
9. “The thing about democracy, beloveds, is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet. It requires a certain relish for confusion.”
10. “The Constitution does not begin with ‘I, the president.’ It begins with ‘We, the people.’”

Photograph by Beowulf Sheehan

This story is part of the Smithies Create column in the Winter 2019-20 issue of the Smith Alumnae Quarterly.

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