• "The sexiest parts of my body? My brain, my spine, and my guts."
• "I do get called a bitch quite often. What I do NOT get called is pushover, stupid, sweetheart, dear or doormat. Works for me."
• "Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have the obligation to be one. You cannot make any useful contributions in life unless you do that."

-- Eleanor Roosevelt

• "The victimization culture of today's psychology has done a great disservice to too many people. Somewhere along the way, therapists forgot to teach their patients that the 'right to have your feelings' does not mean the right to act like a raging asshole."
• "Sometimes you have to learn how to open your mouth for more than just giving head, especially in you really want to get somewhere in life."
• "I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass."

-- Maya Angelou

• "My idea of feminism is self-determination, and it's very open-ended: every woman has the right to become herself, and do whatever she needs to do. "

-- Ani DiFranco

• "Couldn't, wouldn't, mustn't, shouldn't - these are the laments of the spineless. I can and I will, but not because I must or I should!"
• "Parroting your spouse and agreeing with everything he/she says is no substitute for, nor is it the same as having a spine of your own. And remember, spines DO bend and move. They aren't rigid. Don't confuse having an iron rod stuck up your ass with having a spine.
• "He tried to tell me I was too angry, but that always struck me as being more about him than about me. I think I threatened him. And I think it threatens a lot of people when you are angry but even more so when you have a good reason for it."

-- Janet Eldred

• "I used to think 'bad boys' were diamonds in the rough, but then I realized, they were really just lumps of coal."

-- Henrietta Bristow

• "I was thought to be 'stuck up.' I wasn't. I was just sure of myself. This is and always has been an unforgivable quality to the unsure."

-- Bette Davis

• "If you do not tell the truth about yourself, you can't tell it about other people."

-- Virginia Woolf

• "Principles only mean something if you stick by them when they are inconvenient."
• "We don't make room on our couch for any emotional cripples."
• "I like to look good, that makes me a tease. I like to eat, that makes me a pig. I like to get off, that makes me a slut. I like to be treated with respect, that makes me a man-hating dyke. Trust me, I have no problem being labeled a bitch."

-- Maddy

• "Once a woman passes a certain point in intelligence, it is almost impossible to get a husband: she simply cannot go on listening [to men] without snickering."

-- H.L. Mencken

• "I like my agression up front where I can see it and deal with it. I'm tired of the weak-minded passive-aggressive bullshit that people fling while claiming to be "non-confrontational". Anyone who can't confront/address issues head-on isn't someone I care to spend much time in the company of."
• "My guess is the point of the "male-basher" label is that I'm supposed to back down... ditto buzzwords like "aggressive" and "bitch," among others. Someone throwing those words up does not do so by accident. They are trying to trigger a meta-message, to get our goody-goody, desperate-for-acceptance inner girly-girl to take over. Guess what? I've got that little twit gagged, I was sick of her mealy-mouthed whining holding me back!"

-- Erica Jackson

• "I may be many things, but I am no man's consolation prize."

-- The Morrigan

• "How can you say you're misunderstood? You're an idiot-there's not a whole lot that needs understanding there."
• "I tried the subtle guidance thing, more than once, and it just didn't work. If a man isn't strong enough to be honest with me, I'm not going to make an effort to coddle his ego."
• "Expecting life to treat you well because you are a good person is like expecting an angry bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian."

-- Shari R. Barr

• "I say, I don't care if you want to act like a child -- I'm going to treat you like an adult. Which means that your actions have adult consequences. Pouting and shouting will only make me leave not stay and hug and comfort for irrational and unacceptable behavior. I feel proud/lucky to have never 'trained' a boyfriend. They don't make it past the first date if they're not house-broken."

-- Roethke

• "The Problem is: many terrific women have made themselves overqualified for the job of wife, because many men are looking for a woman with 'receptionist-level wife skills', not 'CEO-level wife skills'. Meaning: If a woman doesn't hang on a man's every word, is too independent, challenges his leadership, wants to create her own hours, demands emotional raises, then there won't be as many openings for the kind of wife position she is seeking. One of the big problems with marriages in the nineties: no room for two husbands."

-- Karen Salmansohn, (From "How to Succeed in Business without a Penis")