Niceness is a decision, a strategy of social interaction it is not a character trait.

No is a word that must never be negotiated, because the person who chooses not to hear it is trying to control you... Declining to hear no is a signal that someone is either seeking control or refusing to relinquish it.

When a baby is born the mother in particular enters into a new larger relationship with the world. She has become connected to all people. She is part of keeping us on earthnot the us comprised of individuals but the species itself. By protecting this one baby this gift a mother accepts life's clearest responsibility.

Persistence only proves persistence-it does not prove love. The fact that a romantic pursuer is relentless doesn't mean you are special-it means he is troubled.

I encourage people to remember that no is a complete sentence.

intuition is always right in at least two important ways It is always in response to something. it always has your best interest at heart

Every day people engaged in the clever defiance of their own intuition become, in midthought, victims of violence and accidents. So when we wonder why we are victims so often, the answer is clear: It is because we are so good at it.

I've successfully lobbied and testified for stalking laws in several states, but I would trade them all for a high school class that would teach young men how to hear “no,” and teach young women that it's all right to explicitly reject.

It is understandable that the perspectives of men and women on safety are so different - men and women live in different worlds. [...] At core, men are afraid women will laugh at them, while at core, women are afraid men will kill them.

Most men fear getting laughed at or humiliated by a romantic prospect while most women fear rape and death.

You have the gift of a brilliant internal guardian that stands ready to warn you of hazards and guide you through risky situations.

The hijacking of an American jet in Athens looms larger in our concern than the parent who kills a child, even though the one happens rarely, and the other happens daily.