H. L. Mencken Quotes

I didn't want to be a boy, ever, but I was outraged that his height and intelligence were graces for him and gaucheries for me.

It's acceptable for men to act the fool. When women try, they're considered aggressive and opinionated.

What works for a man, still does not work for a woman - both in terms of how they see themselves and how we see them.

If you're a man and you ask questions, you're a genius; if you're a woman, you're difficult.

There's still a narrower band of acceptable behavior for women than men.

I really feel like females have to go 50 extra miles. Not just one - 50 extra miles to be accepted or taken seriously.

Women have to compensate more in the personality department in order to get the things that men get. And they don't have as much leeway for being divas or jerks.

Women all live a double standard.

A man is commanding - a woman is demanding. A man is forceful - a woman is pushy. A man is uncompromising - a woman is a ball-breaker. A man is a perfectionist - a woman's a pain in the ass. He's assertive - she's aggressive. He strategizes - she manipulates. He shows leadership - she's controlling. He's committed - she's obsessed. He's persevering - she's relentless. He sticks to his guns - she's stubborn. If a man wants to get it right, he's looked up to and respected. If a woman wants to get it right, she's difficult and impossible.

And then also I think it's harder for women because comedy is so opposite of being ladylike.

Housework is the only activity at which men are allowed to be consistently inept because they are thought to be so competent at everything else.

Every woman is supposed to have the same set of motives, or else to be a monster.

The industry is quite chauvinistic generally. Expectations of women, girls, what they should look like, how they should be, what they should say, what they should wear, how their hair should be, what colour their skin should be.

There are still people who have an issue working with a woman director. Women can be viewed as 'difficult' even though they work in the same way as men.

A man is as good as he has to be, and a woman as bad as she dares.

How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being.

Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, "She doesn't have what it takes." They will say, "Women don't have what it takes.”

It can be frustrating when you're put in a category with others. Women do get lumped together in this reductive grouping, and you think, 'Gosh, that rarely happens with the boys.' I'm sure people don't say to Eddie Redmayne, 'How do you feel about Andrew Garfield?'

I've been called pushy and aggressive and all the negative words that are rarely applied to men with the same traits. But it doesn't bother me.

When men do wrong, it is out of hardness; when women do wrong, it is out of weakness.

You know, it's not fair. Women are judged inferior until we prove ourselves, and men are judged superior until they prove what assholes they are.

All sorts of articles and letters appear in the papers about women. Profound questions are raised concerning them. Should they smoke? Should they work? Vote? Marry? Exist? Are not their skirts too short, or their sleeves? Have they a sense of humor, of honor, of direction? Are spinsters superfluous? But how seldom similar inquiries are propounded about men.

Why were the little girls all frightened To be just what they are The boys were told to ask themselves How high how far The girls were told to reach the shelves While the boys were reaching stars That's why little girls were frightened To be just what they are.

You’ve got to be prepared for the names they are going to call you compared to your male peers… You will be a floozy and a slattern. He will be virile and a ladies’ man. You will be a freakshow, a retching wretch, a sloppy drunk. He will be charismatic, vainglorious, a ferocious drunk and Dionysian. You will be indiscriminate and desperate. He will be generous, tortured and driven.

If I were a guy, it would be, you know, just a different set of problems I have to carry along.