Marlo Thomas Quotes

A man has to be Joe McCarthy to be called ruthless. All a woman has to do is put you on hold.

Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.

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.”

I'd like to get to the point where I can be just as mediocre as a man.

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

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 I started out, there were three things that made film people look at me with condescension, I was young, I was black, and I was female. I have won a certain respect, but I think the film community still sees directing as a male job.

The much vaunted male logic isn't logical, because they display prejudices against half the human race that are considered prejudices according to any dictionary definition.

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.

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

There are so many times that, as a woman in the music industry, you're asked questions no male musician would ever be asked.

The very word woman in the writings of the church fathers stood for the basest of temptations.... As women were lowered in the moral scale because of their identification with her at the very bottom of the pit, so they cannot rise themselves save as they succeed in lifting her with whose sins they are weighed.

Men insist that they don't mind women succeeding so long as they retain their "femininity". Yet the qualities that men consider "feminine" timidity, submissiveness, obedience, silliness, and self-debasement — are the very qualities best guaranteed to assure the defeat of even the most gifted aspirant.

We are still uneasy with women and power…For a man to be ruthless, he has to be like Joe McCarthy. For a woman, she just has to put somebody on hold.

Female-driven shows have to be every single thing and are constantly criticized in a way that male-driven shows are not.

I think, being a woman, we got to prove ourselves twice.

When a woman stands up and is strong and commanding, she's called bossy. When a man does the same thing, people say, 'They're strong.'

The entire social order ... is arrayed against a woman who wants to rise to a man's reputation.

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.

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.

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.

Being a gal, people can be a bit patronizing. 'Oh, look at you using the computer.' They would never say that to a boy. And I don't let them do it to me.

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.

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

Why is it men are permitted to be obsessed about their work, but women are only permitted to be obsessed about men?