Mostly I'm telling people that they don't have to be victims. They can be survivors but I don't as a rule put "messages" in my writing.

Even when we talk about such incidents, we still refer to them as 'victims'. Referring to them as survivors is a recent phenomenon. Most women are victimised by their families. In fact, I'd pick being murdered over being raped because of the stigmas associated with the latter.

A common misperception of me is that I am a victim. I am not a victim. I am just honest about how things affect me.

A victim is in a position of weakness and subject to the whims of others. Heroes are people who determine their own fate and their own future. A victim had nothing to give and no choice to make. A hero has the strength and ability to be generous and forgiving and the power and freedom that come from being able to make the choice of forgiveness.

The whole question here is: am I a monster, or a victim myself?

I can choose either to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It's all a question of how I view my life.

The last thing I want to say is this. I haven't written this essay in the hope that anybody will get out a violin for me, not even a teeny-weeny one. I'm extraordinarily fortunate; I'm a survivor, certainly not a victim.

You’re forgetting. A people who see themselves primarily as victims are doomed. And we’re not doomed, are we?

The big diffrence between a warrior and a victim is that the victim represses and the warrior refrains.

Perhaps the turning point in one's life is realizing that to be treated like a victim is not necessarily to become one. (1984)

I am a real survivor because I survived, even if some days it feels like I didn't survive at all.

Being a victim is more palatable than having to recognize the intrinsic contradictions of one's own governing philosophy.

we celebrate survival, but being a survivor does not necessarily make you a good person.

I’ve been through racism, discrimination, violence and abuses from men. […] I’ve been through a lot in my life as a woman. I gave love but I was abandoned when I needed help – but all that I’ve been through made me better and stronger. I am a survivor!