Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Maggie Kuhn (American Activist)

Margaret Eliza Kuhn (1905–95) was an American social activist. She helped establish the group that became known as the Gray Panthers, which works for the rights and welfare of the elderly. She popularized the phrase, “The best age is the age you are.”

Born in Buffalo, New York, Kuhn graduated from the Flora Stone Mather College of Case Western Reserve University, majoring in English and sociology. She developed an interest in social activism while working with Cleveland’s Young Women’s Christian Association and, later, the United Presbyterian Church in New York City. Focusing on women’s rights, medical care, housing, and the elderly, Kuhn wrote Get Out There and Do Something About Injustice (1972) and Maggie Kuhn on Aging (1977.)

After being forced to retire in 1970 at the age of 65 per the church’s mandatory retirement policy, Kuhn met with other retirees to discuss injustices they faced and formed an advocacy group for the rights of the elderly called Consultation of Older and Younger Adults for Social Change. The group became known as the Gray Panthers when a news anchor compared it to the Black Panthers political movement. In 1973, Kuhn’s organization merged with Ralph Nader’s Retired Professional Action Group. It began a study of nursing homes that resulted in Nursing Homes: A Citizens’ Action Guide (1977.)

During the late ’80s the ’90s, Kuhn and the Gray Panthers also advocated for national health-care federal support for housing, reduced military spending, and fighting health care fraud. Kuhn’s autobiography is No Stone Unturned: The Life and Times of Maggie Kuhn (1991.)

More: Wikipedia READ: Works by Maggie Kuhn

The worst indignity is to be given a bedpan by a stranger who calls you by your first name.
Maggie Kuhn
Topics: Respect, Respectability

Old age is not a disease—it is strength and survivorship, triumph over all kinds of vicissitudes and disappointments, trials and illnesses.
Maggie Kuhn
Topics: Age, Aging

Men and women approaching retirement age should be recycled for public service work, and their companies should foot the bill. We can no longer afford to scrap-pile people.
Maggie Kuhn
Topics: Retirement, Aging

A healthy community is one in which the elderly protect, care for, love and assist the younger ones to provide continuity and hope.
Maggie Kuhn
Topics: Love

Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.
Maggie Kuhn
Topics: Character

There must be a goal at every stage of life! There must be a goal!
Maggie Kuhn
Topics: Goals

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