Childlessness Quotes

• It was not my destiny, I kept thinking it would be, waiting for it to happen, but it never did, and I didn't care what people thought ... It was only boring old men who would ask me. And whenever they went, 'What? No children? Well, you'd better get on with it, old girl,' I'd say 'No! F*** off!'

  Helen Mirren

  Girl, Children, Destiny

  "Helen Mirren confronts the final female taboo" By Sarah Rainey, www.telegraph.co.uk. February 4, 2013.

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• There is simply no dignified way for a woman to live alone. Oh, she can get along financially perhaps (though not nearly as well as a man), but emotionally she is never left in peace. Her friends, her family, her fellow workers never let her forget that her husbandlessness, her childlessness - her selfishness, in short - is a reproach to the American way of life.

  Erica Jong

  Peace, Men, Selfishness

  Erica Jong (2013). “Fear of Flying: 40th Anniversary Edition”, p.30, Open Road Media

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• Childlessness doesn't make people selfish; selfishness makes people selfish.

  Elizabeth Gilbert

  Selfish, People, Selfishness

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• I'm completely happy not having children. I mean, everybody does not have to live in the same way. And as somebody said, "Everybody with a womb doesn't have to have a child any more than everybody with vocal cords has to be an opera singer."

  Gloria Steinem

  Children, Mean, Way

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Maybe I wanted children, maybe I didn't, but I wanted the decision to be a choice, not a mandate. Last time I checked, childlessness was only supposed to be a condition of career advancement for nuns.

  Peggy Orenstein

  Children, Careers, Choices

  Peggy Orenstein (2010). “Waiting for Daisy: The True Story of One Couple's Quest to Have a Baby”, p.8, A&C Black

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• I'm not that big a fan of marriage as an institution, and I don't know why women need to have children to be seen as complete human beings.

  Marisa Tomei

  Children, Fans, Needs

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• I'm a woman of a certain age who doesn't have kids and never really settled down ... I enjoy kids but not for long periods. I think they're adorable and funny and sweet, and then I have a headache.

  Kim Cattrall

  Sweet, Kids, Thinking

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• In accordance with my conception of life, I have chosen not to bring children into the world. A coin is examined, and only after careful deliberation, given to a beggar, whereas a child is flung out into the cosmic brutality without hesitation.

  Peter Wessel Zapffe

  Children, Choices, Brutality

  "To Be a Human Being". Documentary, (1989 - 90).

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• If any value is deeply evolutionarily familiar, it is reproductive success. If any value is truly unnatural, if there is one thing that humans (and all other species in nature) are decisively not designed for, it is voluntary childlessness. All living organisms in nature, including humans, are evolutionarily designed to reproduce. Reproductive success is the ultimate end of all biological existence.

  Satoshi Kanazawa

  Ends, Existence, Familiar

  "The Intelligence Paradox". Book by Satoshi Kanazawa, www.theguardian.com. March 22, 2012.

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• Honestly, we'd probably be great parents. But it's a human being, and unless you think you have excellent skills and have a drive or yearning in you to do that, the amount of work that that is and responsibility - I wouldn't want to screw them up! We love our animals.

  Ellen DeGeneres

  Responsibility, Animal, Thinking

  "Ellen on Life, Love and Laughter!" by Ellen Degeneres and Elizabeth Leonard, people.com. March 03, 2014.

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• It's unconscionable to breed with the number of children who are starving to death in impoverished countries.

  Ashley Judd

  Country, Children, Numbers

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• No, what Great Aunt Winifred was suffering from was the persecution every happily single woman suffers: the predictable social condemnation of her independence and childlessness. Dorothy reminded herself of what she'd learned during a university course on feminist history (with a strong Marxist slant): spinsters are a threat to patriarchy.

  Tobsha Learner

  Strong, Aunt, Feminist

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• I don't have children, and I am not sure if I have wanted them or never wanted them. It's weird not to be able to decide. I don't know if I could stand that kind of commitment, or if I am really honest, I don't think that I could handle being that vulnerable to someone else.

  Margaret Cho

  Children, Commitment, Thinking

  "Kids" by Margaret Cho, margaretcho.com. September 6, 2012.

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• Something about family and trying to relate it to the movie with, 'Oh, if I was to have a child how many kids do I want?' And 'do I want a boy or a girl?' I didn't realize you could place orders, I honestly didn't realize it was like a drive-through, that you could talk to a little electronic voice.

  Jennifer Aniston

  Girl, Children, Kids

  "Jennifer Aniston: My Friends & Partner Are My Family". "Good Morning America" Interview, people.com. August 07, 2013.

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• I would have been a terrible mother because I'm basically a very selfish human being. Not that that has stopped most people going off and having children.

  Katharine Hepburn

  Mother, Children, Selfish

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• If I had kids, my kids would hate me. They would have ended up on the equivalent of the Oprah show talking about me; because something [in my life] would have had to suffer and it would've probably been them.

  Oprah Winfrey

  Hate, Kids, Talking

  "Oprah Winfrey on Forgoing Motherhood, Being 'Counted Out' and the Meeting That Turned OWN Around". Interview with Lacey Rose, www.hollywoodreporter.com. December 11, 2013.

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• There have been times when I wanted children and other times I've been grateful not to have them. I am a mess if I have to say goodbye to my dog for longer than five days. I don't know how I would deal with kissing my children as I left for work. I know there are women who are able to do that. I don't know if I could.

  Anjelica Huston

  Goodbye, Dog, Children

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• I definitely don't want to have kids ... I don't think I'd be a great mother. I'm a great aunt or friend of a mother ... I don't want to spend that kind of time. I don't want to have a kid and have it raised by a nanny. I don't have time to raise a child.

  Chelsea Handler

  Mother, Children, Kids

  "11 Female Celebrities Who Are Happy Without Kids" y Emma Gray, www.huffingtonpost.com. May 8, 2013.

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