Top 50 Ayanna Pressley Quotes

I knew I would be demonized as entitled and what no woman can ever be: ambitious.

True enough, Trump is a formidable foe, and systemic inequalities and disparities are worsening under this administration. But they existed long before that. And I want to lead, organize, and legislate to disrupt these disparate outcomes.

My life as an advocate for those most in need is inspired by my mother’s example. She believed in the potential inherent in each of us, and that belief is the foundation of my work.

Plans without price tags are simply pandering.

I’m asking people to vote for me because I’m an activist leader and a problem solver.

My mother did not raise me to ask for permission to lead.

I’m an only child, so I don’t come from a big family. But it has been my observation from friends who do come from big families that usually, when you have a family fight, on the back end you come out better and stronger for it.

I am probably an outsider because I challenge conventional narratives about who should have a seat at the table.

We make a mistake when we stereotype neighborhoods as ‘bad’ and not worth our attention or investment.

Players who take a knee during the national anthem do so to protest injustice across the country – fulfilling a patriotic duty to never accept injustice, but to call it out when we see it.

Because boys tend to dominate the narrative for who’s at risk, sometimes they dominate the lion’s share of services, too.

I’ve always had a love affair with Boston.

Let me be abundantly clear: I am black, and I am a woman, and I embrace both of those facts.

I have been a policymaker proven in tackling some very complex social issues on the municipal level here in Boston.

I’ve just kept going, like millions of people do every day, because life does not allow them to do anything else.

Thanks to my mother’s sacrifices, I was able to attend one of the best schools in Chicago.

My priority will remain supporting those courageous individuals and organizations, among both Israelis and Palestinians, committed to bringing peaceful coexistence to the region.

My mother informed me that the way to be a change agent to create change, the first line of defense, or however you want to phrase that, is politics and government.

When I hear ‘politics,’ I hear ‘relationships.’

From drug companies to health insurers to Wall Street banks, big corporations are spending millions to buy influence in Washington and drown out the voices of regular people.

We want Boston to be the safest bicycling city.

When I was ready to buy my first home after years of renting, I immediately zeroed in on Dorchester.

At some point or another, everyone has felt unseen and unheard and marginalized.

Neighborhood restaurants matter.

I’m very confident about my ability to earn votes in every neighborhood.

I went to a school with the kids of judges and elected officials and architects, civil leaders, and influencers. And I felt very much a minority in every way. But it did expose me to incredible things.

If you look at the Affordable Care Act, ultimately that was saved not solely by lawmakers but because of the courage of individuals and families who went to Washington, who organized, who mobilized and said ‘We’re not turning around.’

I will sit at the table and compromise with anyone in the name of progress, but there are things I’m not willing to compromise and negotiate on, and that is the rights of women, of immigrants, of workers, and of the LGBTQIA community.

I don’t put too much stock in polls.

An increase in bicycle ridership brings an increased need for measures to ensure the safety of cyclists.

I am black and a woman and unapologetically proud to be both. But I’ve never asked anyone to vote for me because I’m black and a woman.

Our immigration system is fundamentally broken, and ICE’s role in supporting the existing system – including separating families seeking refuge in the United States and conducting indiscriminate deportation raids in our communities – is creating an atmosphere of toxic fear and mistrust in immigrant communities.

It’s important that people see themselves mirrored in government.

We should be uncomfortable with the growing gaps in our society, and we cannot allow ourselves to become desensitized to these injustices.

I never thought I had the monopoly on struggle or suffering.

I know, given my own life challenges, that there are many non-academic barriers that get in the way of the scholastic and life success of our children and that complicate teaching.

We need a permanent solution to TPS recipients and develop a path to citizenship. And, more fundamentally, we need to ensure that our immigration policies treat those coming to this country with the dignity and compassion that should be afforded to all human beings and immediately stop tearing families apart.

One of my priorities is criminal justice reform, and there is certainly bipartisan appetite for that. I think we need to eliminate the cash bail system. We need to eliminate mandatory minimums. We need sentencing reform. I think we need parole reform as well.

We must acknowledge that issues like systemic racism, economic inequality, and the achievement gap are the result of manmade policies.

Bad influences and distractions were around every corner. But I also learned that my neighborhood could be a nurturing, positive place to grow up.

Race is a factor in everything.

I used to turn in, like, 20 money orders to pay my rent – $20 for this one, $30 for this one. I didn’t have a checking account.

When I was growing up, ‘Ebony Magazine’ was a must read in our household. In those pages I found our news, our stories, and my pride.

I think people want to live in a city that is welcoming and inclusive. I don’t think people want to feel that they can only go into a place with a rainbow flag in front.

People close to me personally, politically, have expressed frustration that I’m not the political animal that they wish that I were.

In tech communities, we consider disruption the way to lead to innovation.

I don’t think people that make history set out to make it.

I’m doing what Democrats said we needed to coming out of 2016, after that sobering defeat, which is to build a bench, to usher fresh faces and new voices and new ideas.

I understand and appreciate and respect that any time a barrier is broken or history is made, people want to celebrate it and mark it as progress.

I happen to be black and a woman and unapologetically proud to be both, but that is not the totality of my identity.