Top 50 Kirsten Gillibrand Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “When we create hope and opportunity in the lives of others, we allow love, decency and promise to triumph over cowardice and hate.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

2. “I believe transparency in government is key to restoring our nations faith in its elected leaders.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

3. “The biggest mistakes I’ve ever made are when I’ve been rushed. If I’m overwhelmed, I slow down. It’s more effective.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

4. “We must do everything we can to help our service members and veterans transition into civilian life once they return home, and that means preparing them for the tough job market.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

5. “I find that when you open the door toward openness and transparency, a lot of people will follow you through.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

6. “Without your voice being heard in Washington, the decisions we make aren’t as good. I would urge women to consider public service. And if you want to run, give me a call. I’ll help.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

7. “A strong mentor can help a young woman find and advance in the career of her dreams that otherwise may have seemed impossible.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

8. “Supporting women is not just good for women. It’s good for everybody. When you look at the economy as a whole, the companies with the greatest number of women on their boards outperform the companies with the fewest. The number of women on a board correlates positively with social responsibility and reputation. The more women, the better the corporate governance.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

9. “Comments about appearance belittle women professionally. Sadly, that’s the culture we still live in. We need to start trying to change it by calling out undercutting remarks and educating our peers, but we also have to find a way to navigate the current reality.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

10. “Hardworking men and women deserve not only job security, but also a paycheck when they need to take time off to care for a loved one.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

11. “If we expect our children to thrive at our colleges and universities, and succeed in our economy once they graduate – first we must make quality, affordable early childhood education accessible to all.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

12. “My mother is a great hunter – she usually shoots our Thanksgiving turkey.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

13. “While we can never truly repay the debt we owe our heroes, the least we should do for our brave veterans is to ensure that the government takes a proactive approach to delivering the services and benefits they have earned, so they can access the care they need and so richly deserve.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

14. “A typical rapist is a recidivist.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

15. “Each campus should absolutely investigate the use of alcohol, the prevalence of alcohol, and its role in sexual assault. We know that predators will use alcohol as a weapon. We know they will use drugs as a weapon.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

16. “As a 10-year-old girl, I would listen to my grandmother discuss issues, and she made a lasting impression on me.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

17. “While we can’t begin to repay the debt we owe our veterans for their brave service, we can certainly take steps to ease the physical, psychological and financial hardships they may be experiencing.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

18. “There is no greater call to service than that of our brave men and women who serve our country in combat across the globe.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

19. “When a woman has the opportunity to speak truth to power, it’s important that she does, even if it’s just trying to get a crosswalk in her neighborhood. That’s how social change happens!”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

20. “Women asking for raises should not only know their value, but they should ask with the confidence that they’re helping the company to be successful.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

21. “Women’s voices aren’t heard often enough. Congress should reflect the population, but with only 20 percent women in the Senate and 18 percent in the House, it just doesn’t.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

22. “I don’t like the phrase having it all. It implies we’re being greedy, like “have a second piece of pie.””

— Kirsten Gillibrand

23. “My hope is that in the future, women stop referring to themselves as ‘the only woman’ in their physics lab or ‘only one of two’ in their computer science jobs.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

24. “I might want to do a hundred things in a given day, but I know I have to pick up my kids between 5 and 6. That is the most important thing. So I fit in everything else around that. I know what needs to be done, and then I know what I want to get done.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

25. “The Senate is extremely slow: They have enormous difficulty passing the bills that even get through the House. That’s the reality that I’ve recognized in my two years: that it takes time to change the world.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

26. “We should be cultivating our female workers. The truth of the matter is that women just see problems and solutions differently, and that’s valuable.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

27. “If we are going to out-innovate, out-compete, out-educate other countries, it’s going to be women who make a difference, it’s women who are going to lead the way and you know, until women get that rightful place and decision making and leadership and growth, America won’t realize all her potential.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

28. “As a lawyer you never speak with emotion. It’s about the precise facts.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

29. “I realize that for many New Yorkers, this is the first time you’ve heard my name, and you don’t know much about me. Over these next two years you will get to know me, but more importantly, I will get to know you.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

30. “Two: Trust yourself. If you don’t, nobody will believe in you. Confidence is infectious and builds momentum. Share your faith in yourself. You’ll be surprised how quickly others will come to have faith in you, too.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

31. “We are all here to take care of one another. We all know this. Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you. It’s better to give than to receive. These phrases are so timeworn they almost lose meaning. And yet they are well used for a reason: They are the cornerstones of life.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

32. “Ultimately, our tangled views of ambition come down to word choice. Just as many women reject the word ‘feminist’ but believe in opportunity and equality for all, many women reject the word ‘ambition’ but believe in trying to achieve difficult goals.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

33. “How can you get off the sidelines in your own life? Here are just a few ideas to think about. Start with yourself: Wake up thirty minutes earlier in the morning and go for a walk or jog so you can face the day from a stronger, healthier, happier place. Practice compassion with yourself and others. In.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

34. “To be an effective voice for the voiceless, you have to speak and fight from your heart.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

35. “Respondents said they were less likely to vote for power-seeking women compared to power-seeking men and even non-power-seeking women. They perceived ambitious women as only out for themselves. They even reported ambitious women provoking feelings of disgust.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

36. “I’d applied all of my intellect to that case, worked day and night, put in tons of travel, canceled vacations. Now, instead of recognizing my leadership, smarts, or dedication, he was praising my appearance. This would never have happened to a man. No partner would have raised her glass and said, ‘Wow, Joe, you must be working out really hard. Looking good!”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

37. “Our economic policies are undermining our future. The promise of the American dream was that if you worked hard, you could make it into the middle class. If we don’t raise the minimum wage, provide affordable daycare and universal pre-K, and mandate paid family medical leave and equal pay for equal work, we are allowing that dream to fade away.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

38. “You have to explain to people why this is horrible and why it affects them, too.” This was such a simple, effective way of thinking about advocacy. You.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

39. “We need to use the power we have as women to shape a country that supports all of us. We need to vote for elected officials who understand all of our issues. We need to hold our representatives accountable once we’ve elected them.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

40. “The world may be vast and slow to turn, but we will get where we need to go if we’re kind and caring to one another, one small act at a time.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

41. “How, in this country, the wealthiest country in the world, can we allow children to go hungry?”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

42. “We need new and better policies that support women and allow all women to rise. We need to end the cycle of women studying hard, starting careers, climbing through the ranks, taking time off to care for children, and never again finding a job as good as the one they left. We.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

43. “I hate to say this, but we’ve let the women’s movement slip away. In 2010, under a Democratic pro-choice president and with a Democratic pro-choice female speaker of the House, we allowed the Stupak-Pitts Amendment to come to a vote. That amendment sought to deny women the right to purchase healthcare and reproductive services with their own money. What.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

44. “Appearance and how much to think about it is a never-ending question in most women’s minds. I.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

45. “The White House did not want me to introduce the bill. They wanted someone more senior to be in charge and responsible for passing it, someone on the Armed Services Committee, someone perceived as more conservative – specifically, Joe Lieberman. He had gravitas from years in the Senate; plus, he was an independent who could arguably bring in more Republican votes.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

46. “Hillary and her peers made securing women’s rights the fight of their lives. My generation has a responsibility to take the power and freedom they fought for and make the world a better, safer place.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

47. “We need to change the structure of our workplaces to reflect the face of our workforce.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

48. “So, please, let’s stop talking about ‘having it all’ and start talking about the very real challenges of ‘doing it all.’ The old debate pits women against one another and distracts the conversation from what truly matters – figuring out how working mothers can get the support they need to achieve economic security and build better, happier, more-balanced lives.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

49. “Americans need to demand change. Ours is the only nation in the developed world with no paid maternity leave. We have no paid family sick leave. We don’t ensure affordable daycare, or provide universal pre-K, or mandate equal pay for equal work. And what do we do when our representatives fail to fight for these things? Nothing.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand

50. “You have to take risks. You have to go for it. If you wait to feel safe, if you stay on the sidelines, the big thing will never happen.” Amen.”

— Kirsten Gillibrand