Maya Angelou quotes about a woman's independence

The woman who survives intact and happy must be at once tender and tough.

Women should be tough, tender, laugh as much as possible, and live long lives.

You will always be in fashion if you are true to yourself, and only if you are true to yourself.

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but a woman called by a devaluing name will only be weakened by the misnomer.

I have lived in this body all my life and know it much better than any fashion designer.

The struggle for equality continues unabated, and the woman warrior who is armed with wit and courage will be among the first to celebrate victory.

I looked up the road I was going and back the way I come, and since I wasn’t satisfied, I decided to step off the road and cut me a new path.

Whining is not only graceless, but can be dangerous. It can alert a brute that a victim is in the neighborhood.

If our children are to approve of themselves, they must see that we approve of ourselves.

It is imperative that a woman keep her sense of humor intact and at the ready.

We can too easily become what we are called with all the unwelcome responsibilities the title makes us heir to.

The Black female is assaulted in her tender years by all those common forces of nature at the same time that she is caught in the tripartite crossfire of masculine prejudice, white illogical hate and Black lack of power.

The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerence. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance.

You ask for what you want, and you pay for what you get.

Can't do is like Don't Care. Neither of them have a home.

I believe most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise.

Sympathy is next to shit in the dictionary, and I can't even read.