(01 of22)
Open Image ModalWithout Gloria Steinem's passionate zest for change and equality, women would not be where we are today.To celebrate the feminist author, activist and all-around awe-inducing goddess on her 80th birthday, we've compiled some of her best quotes and lessons from over the years.Here are 21 things Gloria has taught us: (credit:Susan Wood via Getty Images)
1. Logic trumps all:(02 of22)
Open Image Modal"A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle." (credit:Ron Galella vis Getty Images)
2. Never lose sight of your dreams:(03 of22)
Open Image Modal"Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning." (credit:Marianne Barcellona)
3. Ask questions, be curious, stay hungry for answers:(04 of22)
Open Image Modal"God may be in the details, but the goddess is in the questions. Once we begin to ask them, there's no turning back." (credit:Susan Wood/Getty Images)
4. Don't be afraid to use some muscle:(05 of22)
Open Image Modal"Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself." (credit:Facebook)
5. Seek out knowledge whenever you can:(06 of22)
Open Image Modal"We need to remember across generations that there is as much to learn as there is to teach."
6. Everything you read isn't always true:(07 of22)
Open Image Modal"Most women's magazines simply try to mold women into bigger and better consumers." (credit:Facebook)
7. Stay grounded:(08 of22)
Open Image Modal"A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space." (credit:Facebook)
8. Even if we don't want to, sometimes we need to hear it:(09 of22)
Open Image Modal“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.” (credit:Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
9. Don't take everything at face value:(10 of22)
Open Image Modal"The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn." (credit:NBC via Getty Images)
10. Feminism really is for everyone:(11 of22)
Open Image Modal“A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.” (credit:Jonathan Liebson via Getty Images)
11. Don't be afraid to try new things:(12 of22)
Open Image Modal“So whatever you want to do, just do it...Making a damn fool of yourself is absolutely essential.” (credit:Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images)
12. Not everyone's going to like you and it's O.K. to be O.K. with that:(13 of22)
Open Image Modal“Once we give up searching for approval we often find it easier to earn respect.” (credit:Astrid Stawiarz via Getty Images)
13. Women work their asses off:(14 of22)
Open Image Modal"If women could sleep their way to the top, there'd be a lot more women at the top." (credit:Mandel Ngan via Getty Images)
14. Feminism is only one part of a greater whole:(15 of22)
Open Image Modal“Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie." (credit:Getty)
15. Keep growing, keep moving:(16 of22)
Open Image Modal"The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day; a movement is only people moving." (credit:Duane Howell via Getty Images)
16. The women's movement is not the only one we need to support:(17 of22)
Open Image Modal“This is no simple reform. It really is a revolution. Sex and race because they are easy and visible differences have been the primary ways of organizing human beings into superior and inferior groups and into the cheap labor on which this system still depends. We are talking about a society in which there will be no roles other than those chosen or those earned. We are really talking about humanism." (credit:The Washington Post via Getty Images)
17. We can learn so much from the people around us:(18 of22)
Open Image Modal“Each others' lives are our best textbooks.” (credit:Angle Franco via Getty Images)
18. The female anatomy is truly amazing (and unique):(19 of22)
Open Image Modal“I didn’t hear words that were accurate, much less prideful. For example, I never once heard the word clitoris. It would be years before I learned that females possessed the only organ in the human body with no function than to feel pleasure. (If such an organ were unique to the male body, can you imagine how much we would hear about it—and what it would be used to justify?)” (credit:Robin Marchant via Getty Images)
19. We need to love and support one another in order to succeed:(20 of22)
Open Image Modal"Any woman who chooses to behave like a full human being should be warned that the armies of the status quo will treat her as something of a dirty joke. That’s their natural and first weapon. She will need her sisterhood." (credit:The Washington Post via Getty Images)
20. We cannot achieve full equality until men are given the same opportunities as women in all areas of life:(21 of22)
Open Image Modal"Women are not going to be equal outside the home until men are equal in it." (credit:NBC via Getty Images)
21. Value our differences:(22 of22)
Open Image Modal"For women… bras, panties, bathing suits, and other stereotypical gear are visual reminders of a commercial, idealized feminine image that our real and diverse female bodies can’t possibly fit. Without these visual references, each individual woman’s body demands to be accepted on its own terms. We stop being comparatives. We begin to be unique." (credit:Bloombger via Getty)