4 Yearbook Quotes Hilz Definitely Considered

I always thank the good folks at Huntsville High School for not allowing seniors to pick a quote to put under their senior picture in the yearbook. Inevitably mine would have been some obscure line out of some obscure song from a band that would dissolve two years later. I would've thought it was profound; it wouldn't have been. But there are some nuggets of wisdom that I wish we had access to that are forever lost: Like what Hillary Clinton's senior yearbook quote would have been.

Seriously, some people have always been awesome enough to be able to immortalize themselves in such a fashion. Clinton is one of them. I feel like she came out of the womb with an inherent sense of what constitutes a good pant suit and classy but punchy yearbook quote.

Frank Marafiote, a clearly very dedicated HRC historian, runs the web-only publication Hillary Clinton Quarterly. In a 2013 post, he revealed some of the little information that you can find on Clinton's actual yearbook from Maine South High, the school Clinton graduated from in Park Ridge, Illinois. Clinton, according to Hillary Clinton Quarterly and Buzzfeed, was part of senior leaders, a student council representative, National Honor Society, and vice president of her class. Even then, she stayed busy!

Clinton hasn't been shy about sharing her senior photo, though. In fact, it's printed on one of her campaign shirts.

Yaaas, indeed!

Because the Clinton campaign has not responded to my telepathic requests for what her quote would have been if indeed she had one, I have a few ideas of my own. Get back to me if you agree, Hill!

I've yet to be on a campus where most women weren't worrying about some aspect of combining marriage, children, and a career. I've yet to find one where many men were worrying about the same thing. - Gloria Steinem

Imagine a college-bound Clinton, pondering her future and how she would eventually take over the world and coming to grips with the fact that she would be expected to aspire to certain things because of her gender. Clinton has showed time and time again that she wouldn't conform to societal expectations, just like my girl Gloria Steinem. And maybe those campuses where she would've been faced with that kind of inequity is the reason she went to the female-only Wellesley.

When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch. - Bette Davis

Oh, PREACH, Bette! This would have been particularly prophetic for Clinton's 2008 primary campaign, when she often faced sexism that Barack Obama never would. Clinton, for her part, doesn't seem particularly concerned if she's coming off as a bitch. Neither was Bette.

having nothing to struggleagainstthey have nothing to strugglefor. - Charles Bukowski

OK, yes, Bukowski has some pretty questionable texts about women. But I think somehow Clinton would've seen the irony in all of that. Clinton has been noted for her almost unparalleled ability to overcome setbacks, which makes this bit of his poetry perfect for her.

We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves. We have to step up as women and take the lead. - Beyoncé

Bey wasn't even a twinkle in her parents' eyes when Clinton graduated from high school, but I'd be remiss if I didn't include her. Beyoncé and Hillary together are literally everything that I could hope for. They both exhibit grace, power and the ability to restructure the gender norms that women are faced with. I feel like Clinton's lady intuition would have been powerful enough to dream this quote up long before Beyoncé ever existed, much less said it.

Images: HillaryClinton.com (1)