Maya Angelou quotes about a woman's independence

Ask for what you want and be prepared to pay for what you get.

At last, I'll be able to eat the whole breast of a roast chicken by myself.

Never, never let a person know you're frightened. And a group of them … absolutely never.

There is a silent scream, which tears through the veins, separating the muscles, pinching the nerves, yet the body seems to remain immobile.

I'll put my foot in that door up to my hip until women of every color can walk over my foot, get in that union, get aboard a ship and go to sea.

I deserved everything beautiful and I merited putting my long black feet on Oriental carpets as much as Lady Astor.

I love you, Mom. Maybe now you'll have a chance to grow up.

there were too many old females and not nearly enough women.

They spell my name W-O-M-A-N, 'cause the difference between a female and a woman is the difference between shit and shinola.

Accepting the first drink from a strange man is very much like a nice girl having sex on a first date.

I still admired and appreciated him. I even loved him, I simply was not in love with him.

A man's supposed to be in charge. That's the order of nature.

I didn't know then that all wives of freedom fighters lived their lives on the edge of screaming desperation.

We, in Kenya, are women, not just wombs. We have shown during Mau Mau that we have ideas as well as babies.

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

Does my sassiness upset you?

I was born to work but I ain’t no mule.

Does my haughtiness offend you?

You’re all that I can call my own.

I never learned to spell it.

Don’t bring me no rocking chair.

The birth of my son caused me to develop enough courage to invent my life.

I gave birth to one child, a son, but I have thousands of daughters.

Independence is a heady draft, and if you drink it in your youth it can have the same effect on the brain as young wine.

Being a woman is hard work. Not without joy and even ecstasy, but still relentless, unending work.