Elizabeth Barrett Browning Quotes

A woman needn't be dragged down by her functions.

People say, 'Gee, you don't really do political music.' Well, I sing a lot of songs about how men and women and lovers treat each other, and none of us want to be talked down to or belittled or ignored or disrespected... So I'm proud to be a feminist.

We wanted to be achievers, but being an achiever didn't mean that you stopped being a woman.

In the face of patriarchy, it is a brave act indeed for both men and women to embrace, rather than shame or attempt to eradicate, the feminine.

A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.

I'm very proud of being a woman, and as a woman, I don't even like the word 'feminism' because when I hear that word, I associate it with women trying to pretend to be men, and I'm not interested in trying to pretend to be a man. I don't want to embrace manhood; I want to embrace my womanhood.

I wouldn't say I'm a feminist, but I don't like girls pretending to be stupid because it's easier.

It was not seen that woman’s place was in the home until she began to go out of it; the statement was a reply to an unspoken challenge, it was attempted resistance to irresistible change.

All theories of chivalry and generosity and vicarious representation fall, before the fact that woman has been grossly wronged by man. That being the case, the only modest and honest thing for man to do is to say, "Henceforward have a voice in making your own laws." Till this is done, she has no sure safeguard, since otherwise the same men who made the old barbarous laws may at any time restore them.

Stop trying to be men. Let's be women. And let's let men be men. Let's empower them to be men, because I fell like they're falling away.

Women feel empowered when they can do the things that are supposed to be only for men, you know? It breaks boundaries, it's liberating, and it's empowering when you feel like, 'Well, I can do that, too.'

We're told that to be successful girls, we have to be small and quiet. Yet to be successful humans, we have to become big and have a voice. There's an inherent contradiction.

The world should not be organized to require heroines, and when one is required but fails to appear, we should not judge.

The old lessons of submissiveness and fragility made us victims. Women are so much more than that. You can be a businesswoman, a mother, an artist, and a feminist - whatever you want to be - and still be a sexual being. It's not mutually exclusive.

The whole land seems aroused to discussion on the province of woman, and I am glad of it. We are willing to bear the brunt of thestorm, if we can only be the means of making a break in that wall of public opinion which lies right in the way of woman's rights, true dignity, honor and usefulness.

All the genres of philosophy, science, high art, athletics and politics were invented by men. But by the Promethean law of conflict and capture, woman has a right to seize what she will and vie with man on her own terms.

Trying to be a man is a waste of a woman?

A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.

I demanded more rights for women because I know what women had to put up with.

I still consider myself a feminist.

I consider myself a rampant feminist.

I'm not big on women looking naive.

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.

There are some people who still feel threatened by strong women. That's their problem. It's not mine.

We women are going to bring change. We are speaking up for girls' rights, but we must not behave like men, like they have done in the past.