We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls 'You can have ambition, but not too much'.

We teach girls shame; close your legs, cover yourself, we make them feel as though by being born female they're already guilty of something.

If I were not African, I wonder whether it would be clear to me that Africa is a place where the people do not need limp gifts of fish but sturdy fishing rods and fair access to the pond. I wonder whether I would realize that while African nations have a failure of leadership, they also have dynamic people with agency and voices.

One of the things that struck me when I came to the U.S. was discovering American poverty.

If you start thinking about being likable you are not going to tell your story honestly.

How [stories] are told, who tells them, when they’re told, how many stories are told — are really dependent on power.

There are people who dislike you because you do not dislike yourself.