Wise Words of the Week

"Each time a girl opens a book and reads a woman-less history, she learns she is worth less." (Myra Pollack Sadker)

Wise Words of the Week

"People always ask me, 'You have so much confidence. Where did that come from?' It came from me. One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl…It doesn’t have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matters is what you see. Your body is your temple, it’s your home, and you must decorate it." (Gabourey Sidibe)

Wise Words of the Week

"It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret." (Jackie Joyner-Kersee)

Good Advice

A Great Idea for Every Bathroom Mirror

Lessons Learned from Oprah, the Epitome of the Self-Made Woman

Anyone paying the slightest attention knows that the final episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" has now aired. Love her or loathe her, Oprah's incredible success story and the earth-shaking power of her influence, remains undeniable. Her final show (like all the ones before it) left us with some pretty valuable advice and maybe more importantly, a major vacancy in the television landscape left by a powerful female. Here's hoping another worthy woman will step up to fill her shoes. Have you had any "aha moments" watching Oprah over the years?

Wise Words of the Week

"If you look at what you have in life, you'll always have more. If you look at what you don't have in life, you'll never have enough." (Oprah Winfrey)

Wise Words of the Week

“There are two ways of spreading light...To be the candle, or to be the mirror that reflects it.” (Edith Wharton)

Wise Words of the Week

"When faced with sexism or ageism or lookism or even really aggressive Buddhism, ask yourself the following question, 'Is this person between me and what I want to do?' If the answer is no, ignore it and move on. If the answer is yes, you have a more difficult road ahead of you. I suggest you model your strategy after the old Sesame Street film piece, 'Over! Under! Through!' Do your thing and don’t care if they like it." (Tina Fey)

Wise Words of the Week

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." (Eleanor Roosevelt)

Wise Words of the Week

"The trouble with some women is they get all excited about nothing--and then they marry him." (Cher)

Wise Words of the Week

"There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." (Anais Nin)

Wise Words of the Week

"The beauty of empowering others is that your own power is not diminished in the process." (Barbara Colorose)

Wise Words of the Week

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." (Anne Frank)

Wise Words of the Week

"People with clenched fists cannot shake hands." (Indira Gandhi)

Wise Words of the Week

"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." (Alice Walker, author)

Wise Words of the Week

"Woman must not accept; she must challenge. She must not be awed by that which has been built up around her; she must reverence that woman in her which struggles for expression." (Margaret Sanger, women's health and reproductive rights activist)

Uber-Smart Song From Lily Allen

I realize that Lily Allen's "The Fear" is not a new song. But, that doesn't make it any less worthy of a listen. She co-wrote this scathing little gem and hits all the right notes. Unfortunately, it's a pretty dead-on commentary on a growing segment of women (and men) in society. Download it for a musical tutorial on how not to act:

I want to be rich and I want lots of money

I don't care about clever, I don't care about funny

I want loads of clothes and f*ckloads of diamonds

I heard people die while they are trying to find them

And I'll take my clothes off and it will be shameless

'Cause everyone knows that's how you get famous

I'll look at the sun and I'll look in the mirror

I'm on the right track, yeah I'm on to a winner

[Chorus]

I don't know what's right and what's real anymore

I don't know how I'm meant to feel anymore

When do you think it will all become clear?

'Cause I'm being taken over by the fear

Life's about film stars and less about mothers

It's all about fast cars and cussing each other

But it doesn't matter 'cause I'm packing plastic

And that's what makes my life so f*cking fantastic

And I am a weapon of massive consumption

And it's not my fault, it's how I'm programmed to function

I'll look at the sun and I'll look in the mirror

I'm on the right track, yeah we're on to a winner

[Repeat chorus]

Forget about guns and forget ammunition

'Cause I'm killing them all on my own little mission

Now I'm not a saint, but I'm not a sinner

Now everything's cool as long as I'm getting thinner

[Repeat chorus]

Wise Words of the Week

"We have a responsibility in our time, as others have had in theirs, not to be prisoners of history, but to shape history." (Madeleine K. Albright, first female Secretary of State)

Wise Words of the Week

"We've chosen the path to equality; don't let them turn us around." (Geraldine Ferraro, first female vice presidential candidate)