If you’re prepared and the opportunity comes up, it’s your good fortune to have been in the right place at the right time and to have been prepared for the job.

I really appreciated that the chancellor addressed all of those concerns. It’s nice to see that administrators can admit they made a mistake and they’re really working in the best interest of the university and the students.

I didn’t want anything to happen and it didn’t.

If you attack the problem right, you’ll get the answer.

I’ve told my grandchildren, ‘First you learn how to work the problem, and then you can go use the computer.’ I never liked that they could use a computer to find the answer.

I considered my work on the Apollo moon missions to be my greatest contribution to space exploration. There had been little time to worry about the issues common in my era, such as misogyny and racism.

I was just excited to have challenging work to do and smart people to work with.

We had to determine so much. Where you were, where the Moon would be and how fast the astronauts were going.

Everybody was concerned about them getting there. We were concerned about them getting back.

Our teachers made such a difference – all my teachers and professors were very supportive and nurturing.

I was excited at something new, always liked something new, but give credit to everybody who helped. I didn’t do anything alone but try to go to the root of the question and succeeded there.

We always worked as a team. It’s never just one person.

We put in some long hours at times, and I had three children at home. But they were very responsible, and I had family and friends who helped look after them.

I’d do anything for anyone.

Know how to learn. Then, want to learn.

Proud to do things right now you are doing and feel happy for those you will get tomorrow.

When you go ahead it’s special when it was impossible.

You must always get the love for something.

He knew I had done (the calculations) before for him and they trusted my work.

We got some quick baskets. We scored on transition and we really pushed the pace.

We wrote our own textbook, because there was no other text about space. I was in at the beginning, I was one of those lucky people.

My interest was the computer I still calculate like it I don’t need to transfer it to computer.

We were all dedicated to NASA.

I had a question every time for what I have been thinking when there is a question why there are girls to mention and ask.

I think it’s important that you learn the background of what you’re working on and how to do it, and you’ll get the right answer.

For appall mission, I feel proud. It was a space journey and I made paths easy.

Experiment for the basket was awesome but I learned something.

The main thing I liked what I was doing, I liked work. I liked the stars and stories we were telling, and it was a joy to contribute to the literature work that was going to be coming out. But little did I think it would go this far.

You are no superior not inferior even if you are rich and you are poor.

When a space program came along I just happened to be working with guys and when they had briefings I asked permission to go, and they said the girls don’t usually go. And I said, well, is there a law? They said no and then my boss said ‘let her go’.

Sometimes I could see that others in the class did not understand what W.W. Schieffelin Claytor was teaching. So I would ask questions to help them. He’d tell me that I should know the answer, and I finally had to tell him that I did know the answer, but the other students did not. I could tell.

Once you took the first step, anything was possible.

You lose your curiosity when you stop learning.

You should always be interested in something.

We’re really young, so there’s a lot of room for growth. If these girls stay together and work together during the off-season they will grow as a team.

There has been a lifeguard shortage for a while, so it’s good that young people are into it.

Even as a professional in an integrated world, I had been the only black woman in enough drawing rooms and boardrooms to have an inkling of the chutzpah it took for an African American woman in a segregated southern workplace to tell her bosses she was sure her calculations would put a man on the Moon.

They let women do some things at NASA… and it’s not because we wear skirts, it’s because we wear glasses.

From time to time I’ve spoken to school groups about my work at NASA. I’ve also been active in my church and my sorority [Alpha Kappa Alpha]. I like to play bridge and other games that involve math.

I’ve spent a lot of time tutoring kids in math as a volunteer. I’ve always enjoyed helping people understand what they can find in math. There’s no judgment there.

I skipped though grades to graduate from high school at 14, from college at 18. While I skipped grades in school, my parents made sure I stayed grounded.

My dad taught us, ‘You are as good as anybody in this town but you’re no better.’

All of the work I did was as part of a team. One of my greatest joys was rolling up my sleeves and working side by side with other brilliant people. It’s a sign of my belief in my own gifts that I’m the first to call attention to the work of others.

I was always around people who were learning something. I liked to learn.

Girls, some of them are reluctant to ask questions. But if you want to know, you ask the question. There’s no such thing as a dumb question. It’s dumb if you don’t ask it.

I finished the report and my name went on it, and that was the first time a woman in our division had her name on something.

You had a mission and you worked on it. And it was important to you to do your job. And play bridge at lunch.

It’s not every day you wake up with a mission in your mind, but I had a mission and I was determined to accomplish it.

I always knew how many of everything there were. Things were there and could be counted and accounted for, and so that’s what I did.

They just said, ‘If she says it’s right, it’s right’ because the guys didn’t do the work. I did it.

We were the pioneers of the space era. You had to read Aviation Week to find out what you’d done.

I’m just lucky — the Lord likes me and I like him.

It’s just there. You can’t do anything without it. It’s in everything. I like to work problems. If you do your best, nobody can ask you to do it over again. I never had to repeat what I did.

They needed information and I had it, and it didn’t matter that I found it. At the time, it was just a question and an answer.

I believed I was where I was supposed to be of my career in the space program. When I was a student, my mentor told me I’d make a good research mathematician. I said, ‘What is that?’ and he told me I’d have to find out for myself. At NASA, I happened to be at the right place at the right time. When you put bright people in a room and they had something to do, they worked on it until they got it done. But honestly, it was never work to me.

There’s nothing to it; I was just doing my job.

Follow your passion. Whatever you’re doing, do your best at all times and make it as correct as possible. Work as if someone is watching you. Then you’ll be prepared when an opportunity presents itself. And you’ll have the answers.

My colleagues and I were committed to the work. We found different ways to deal with the segregation.

All jobs are important to somebody. They had to be important to somebody. My theory is, do the best you can all the time. No fooling around.

I entered college; I was 15. I was going to be a math teacher because that was it. You could be a math teacher or a nurse, but I was told I would make a good research mathematician and they had me take all of the courses in the catalog.

I felt most proud on the success of the Apollo mission.

I see a picture right now that’s not parallel, so I’m going to go straighten it. Things must be in order.

Take all the courses in your curriculum. Do the research. Ask questions. Find someone doing what you are interested in! Be curious!

Math. It’s just there … you’re either right or you’re wrong. That’s what I like about it.

John Glenn’s life will long be remembered for his time in space, his courage, and his service to all Americans.

Girls are capable of doing everything men are capable of doing. Sometimes they have more imagination than men.

I like to learn. That’s an art and a science.

Everything is physics and math.

I had a very, very interesting childhood, but, oh my, education was the primary focus in our family.

Go see ‘Hidden Figures,’ and take a young person! It will give a more positive outlook on what is possible if you work hard, do your best, and are prepared.

I found what I was looking for at Langley. This was what a research mathematician did. I went to work every day for 33 years happy. Never did I get up and say I don’t want to go to work.

Men don’t pay attention to small things.

Many professors tell you that you’d be good at this or that, but they don’t always help you with that career path.

I liked working with smart people.

I’m always interested in learning something new.

Let me do it. You tell me when you want it and where you want it to land, and I’ll do it backwards and tell you when to take off.

Everything was so new – the whole idea of going into space was new and daring. There were no textbooks, so we had to write them.

The women did what they were told to do. They didn’t ask questions or take the task any further. I asked questions; I wanted to know why. They got used to me asking questions and being the only woman there.

I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed … anything that could be counted, I did.

We needed to be assertive as women in those days – assertive and aggressive – and the degree to which we had to be that way depended on where you were. I had to be.

We will always have STEM with us. Some things will drop out of the public eye and will go away, but there will always be science, engineering, and technology. And there will always, always be mathematics.

I don’t have a feeling of inferiority. Never had. I’m as good as anybody, but no better.