Maria Callas Quotes

I'm not a goddess, for crying out loud. I'm a regular person who took feminism - which I have a deep connection to - and mixed it with music, which I really love to do.

I wanted to be an actress. In college I was a serious feminist and very political. I was determined to get one thing out of my career and that was respect. I didn't want money. I didn't care about fame.

I am a feminist, and what that means to me is much the same as the meaning of the fact that I am Black: it means that I must undertake to love myself and to respect myself as though my very life depends upon self-love and self-respect.

It's absolutely wrong that I don't want guys to challenge me. And the people who say that aren't in the room.

I try not to write songs in which men glamorize their own need for approval from women. That's kinda a bogus way to go out. But I try to do this quietly. I'm not about to go around telling people how they should or shouldn't think. My feminism is for me.

I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.

I'm trying to encourage more women to be themselves, rather than what men want them to be. I don't believe in patronizing either sex.

We as men, need to give the Indian women all the strength that she needs, rightfully asking to be able to walk with head held high.

I would have girls regard themselves not as adjectives but as nouns.

It's all right for a woman to be, above all, human. I am a woman first of all.

I hold doors open for all the women. Men can open the doors for themselves.

The women's movement burst forth when I was fifteen. That was when I began to believe that life might semi-work out after all. The cavalry had arrived. Women were starting to say that you got to tell the truth now, that you had to tell the truth if you were going to heal and have an authentic life.

My mother never made me do anything for my brothers, like serve them. I think that's an important lesson, especially for the Latino culture, because the women are expected to be the ones that serve and cook and whatever. Not in our family. Everybody was equal.

You know, she was a girl. She was a female. And she wasn't like, trying to compete in a man's world and she wasn't trying to be in a man's position, she was just who she was. And I think that was like, a good thing.

I was raised by a strong mother and I never felt like I had to be a role, you know, I was just me, who I am.

If my accomplishments frighten someone, it's nothing to do with me - that's to do with them. But the men who are in my life see me as a person - as a woman - not as a character I've played.

You can, of course, be a sexy, strong female and be a good role model.

I don't care about controversies. I am a young woman with an opinion about certain things. I can't be diplomatic. I am a feminist, and as long as I can be the voice of hundreds of girls out there, I will speak my mind. I don't care what other people think.

One of the things about equality is not just that you be treated equally to a man, but that you treat yourself equally to the way you treat a man.

I really believe that in this industry women have to be very true to themselves about what they're comfortable with.

Why do you think I write these feminist songs, to try and teach myself to respect myself. You know, it's not because I'm a hero.

First and foremost, I'm a feminist. And basically that stems from a strong belief that all people and creatures deserve equal opportunity, rights and respect.

I am a feminist, and I define myself: Be yourself, because if you can get away with it, that is the ultimate feminist act.

I cannot do the piece-of-talking-meat thing, the 'Here's your money, wear a pretty dress and take the cheque.' I'm not made that way. I have to be as good as I can be at whatever I do.

I've never asked for special treatment along the way. And I'm never going to hide the fact that I'm a girl, ever. That's obvious, isn't it?