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All Quotes by author - Eileen Pollack

" All the societal pressures that make girls feel as if they're too smart, especially in the sciences - 'No one will date them. They won't be popular.' - don't apply to boys. The boys are being encouraged. "

" As a physics major at Yale in the 1970s, I developed crushes on nearly all my male professors. "

" Combating any kind of obstacle is much easier if you know that it's real and not your fault, and it's something you can fight against. "

" Figuring out why people who choose not to do something don't in fact do it is like attempting to interview the elves who live inside your refrigerator but come out only when the light is off. "

" For the individual and for society, the more diversity you have in a field means more ways of solving a problem as well as more creativity and originality. "

" For women, even if she's nerdy enough to be Steve Jobs, she's undateable. "

" Given that many girls are indoctrinated to believe that they should be feminine and modest about their abilities, as well as brought up to assume that girls are not innately gifted at science or math, it is not surprising that so few can see themselves as successful computer scientists. "

" I don't usually feel threatened by the militias. Most members are just indulging their fantasies of being warriors without having to sign up for the Army. They want to be heroes and save their neighbors from disaster. "

" If a female student wants to drop a physics course, no one questions her, but if a male student tries to drop it, he will get pushback and encouraged to stay in, since he will need it later in life. "

" If a person's self-worth derives from being the only woman in the field, how much affection can she feel toward another woman who might challenge that claim to fame? "

" If there's a stereotype that you're not supposed to be good at something, that still gets so badly in your way of concentrating. "

" If you're a white male growing up in this society, you're constantly receiving encouragement to go on in science in the form of all the images that you're receiving. "

" If you're the only anything in the room, you're going to feel so self-conscious of your right to be there. "

" I miss my former teachers, John Hersey and James Alan McPherson. I would love to see either or both and ask what I could do to improve, to deepen my writing. "

" In America, nobody's boyfriend wants them to be smarter than he is, and no one wants to admit it. "

" I think women need to hear more encouragement in any field, because I see it - I teach creative writing. And even though it's mostly women in the room, they're not often - or they didn't used to be the ones who went on to publish books. I know this sounds like a tautology, but encouragement is the key. "

" I was nearly as far behind in calculus as I was in physics. But I wasn't the only woman in the class, so I felt more comfortable asking questions. "

" I write and teach creative nonfiction. I was a reporter. "

" Judging the political climate in my state by walking around lefty Ann Arbor is like a polar bear judging global warming by staring at the ice cube beneath its feet. "

" Knowing how to tactfully criticize someone's work is a mentor's job. "

" Many of my friends are scientists. "

" Most applicants to creative writing programs submit stories about the angst of their suburban childhoods. "

" My brother had been given a chemistry set for his bar mitzvah, but he wasn't interested in it. It was upstairs in the attic, and I would sneak up there and use it at great peril because I was afraid if he found out, he would get very angry at me, but he didn't seem to care. "

" My parents didn't know how to provide me with the encouragement I needed to achieve my dreams. "

" Parents don't want their kids to be nerdy. "

" Science and math are hard for everybody, and it's usually not a matter or being born gifted at it or not. It's hard work, but it can be a lot of fun! "

" Success in math and the hard sciences, far from being a matter of gender, is almost entirely dependent on culture - a culture that teaches girls math isn't cool and no one will date them if they excel in physics. "

" The most powerful determinant of whether a woman goes on in science might be whether anyone encourages her to go on. "

" The truth is, the less a subject had to do with the visible world, the more talented I was at solving problems. "

" The world is a complex place. "

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