# Jenni Williams

Jenni Williams (born 1962) is a Zimbabwean human rights activist and a founder of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza).

## Quotes

* The power of love can conquer the love of power.
** Amnesty International Honors Activist Jenni Williams for Inspiring Zimbabweans to stand up for freedom and basic rights
* We formed WOZA as a movement to show a peaceful way women of all colours and class could restore dignity for the people of Zimbabwe.
* In Africa, women are regarded as second class citizens and women like me who ‘don’t know their place’ are also a target.
** Jenni Williams’ Voice
* The struggle for women's rights in Zimbabwe continues and needs to be heard by the men who are mismanaging this country.
** Forty-six women were arrested and detained during a Mother's Day march in Zimbabwe on Saturday, Jenni Williams, a spokeswoman for Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), told IRIN
* This pain is not a weakness. It is strength. Our grief binds us. Do you feel it?
** Jen Williams, The Bitter Twins (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy).
* “Any institution that claims to keep women locked up for their own good should be watched very close, in my opinion.”
** Jen Williams, The Ninth Rain (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy)
* There is, it seems to me, a certain type of man who is terrified of the idea of a woman wielding power, of any sort; the type of man who is willing to dress up his terror in any sort of trappings to legitimise it.
** Jen Williams, The Ninth Rain (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy)
* It's always the same with family, Wydrin reflected. You spend your life consumed with guilt that you're letting them down somehow, and then when you meet up with them you can't wait to get away again.
** Jen Williams, The Copper Promise (The Copper Cat)
* Don't be afraid of who you are.
** Jen Williams, The Ninth Rain (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy)
* Show me a people who don't have a bloody history.
** Jen Williams, The Ninth Rain (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy)
* Just between you and me, I've never crawled up a monster's arse before. It's quite exciting.
** Jen Williams, The Ninth Rain (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy)
* What you brought back, darling, was the truth. Which is rarely comfortable and never painless, but often, ultimately, worth knowing.
** Jen Williams, The Poison Song (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy)
* Words are always important,’ said Jolnir. ‘Even normal, non-magical words, in the right place, can change the world.
** Jen Williams, The Copper Promise (The Copper Cat)
* Beginnings are very elusive things, almost as elusive as true endings.
** Jen Williams, The Ninth Rain (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy)
* Our armies, with their shining armour and singing swords are rust and dusty bones. We are like... an echo of something that came before.
** Jen Williams, The Bitter Twins (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy)
* To be suddenly alone when all you have ever known is connection. To be alone in the dark while you felt the distant pieces of yourself decay.
** Jen Williams, The Bitter Twins (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy)
* Dark things are happening here, don't be getting me wrong. Young people lost, their poor families going out of their minds, and that evil thing lurking... It should have been dealt with a long time ago, but how could we have known?
** Jen Williams, The Bitter Twins (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy)
* Not born of love, or affection, but a simple terrible need not to feel alone, just for a little while.
** Jen Williams, The Ninth Rain (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy)
* There was too much, but every moment they were inside she was aware of the terrible danger they were in, and she had the distinct sense that her luck was now the thinnest piece of fragile ice, and they were edging out further and further over and abyss.
** Jen Williams, The Ninth Rain (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy)
* I was empty, just a thing for gathering dust, and now I am full of something, and if that causes me to make poor decisions, then I will live with it. Or die with it. I don't care.
** Jen Williams, The Bitter Twins.
* Life is suffering. Life is war, and sacrifice. Life is victory.
** Jen Williams, The Ninth Rain (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy)
* Judging by the constellations just starting to glint into life, the scent of the wind and the texture of the earth... I would say we're precisely in the middle of nowhere.
** Jen Williams, The Ninth Rain (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy).
* All people need, in my experience, is a little push in the right direction. Or a giant kick up the arse. I am always happy to provide either.
** Jen Williams, The Poison Song (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy)
* Fear can keep you obedient, or the need to stay as free as you can.
* I can suffer all that, I can suffer it and come through stronger, a weapon forged for your hand, but I cannot abide inefficiency.
** Jen Williams, The Poison Song (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy)
* This level of fuck up is an Eboran speciality.
** Jen Williams, The Poison Song (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy).
* A fire that burns in secret, a lethal conflagration that you can only discover when its too late to save anyone.
** Jen Williams, The Poison Song (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy)
* I’d burn the bloody tree down myself if u thought it would bring you back’ he said quietly. ‘Everything is so hopeless anyway, why shouldn’t we be happy for a bit? We could have don’t that, couldn’t we? I think so it would have been messy but… Instead my mind gives me this’ He gestured around at the dream desert, the dream sky. ‘A fucking dream of you. As if that would be enough.
** Jen Williams, The Poison Song (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy).
* Because whoever it is, I’m sure I’ve already forgotten them. I can barely keep track of your brief human lives, you know here one moment gone the next. I should keep a list, so I can tick the names off as they depart.
** Jen Williams, The Poison Song (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy).
* All of us back together under the same roof - that’s a bloody good end to this mess if you ask me.
** Jen Williams, The Poison Song (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy).

## Quotes about Jenni Williams

* Jenni WIlliams demonstrates the strength and perseverance that has become a hallmark of Ginetta Sagan Award recipients
** Amnesty International Honors Activist Jenni Williams for Inspiring Zimbabweans to stand up for freedom and basic rights