“If a man is unmarried, he is called a bachelor. If a woman is unmarried, she is called a spinster or an old maid. What is it about an unmarried woman that poses such a threat to the patriarchal order? Mainly, it is that women are no one's property when we're unmarried. We're under no one's control, and neither are our children. There is no telling what we might do or say.”

American self-help author, speaker, and political activist

Marianne Williamson is an American self-help author, speaker, and political activist. She began her career as a spiritual leader at the Church of Today, a Unity church in Warren, Michigan, and later became widely known in the 1990s through her appearances on Oprah Winfrey's show. She wrote several self-help books, including A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, published in 1992 and later a New York Times best seller. She was also known as Winfrey's spiritual advisor, and her work often circles around spirituality, healing, and personal transformation.