Maria Konnikova Quotes

Years ago, I worked in a newspaper office, and there were men that would have fits of temper, and it was just accepted that that's who they were, and everyone would laugh about it, but if a woman got upset or angry, something wasn't right: she was 'hysterical' or 'a little unhinged.' It didn't have the same sort of connotation at all.

Men are rarely questioned on their spouses or their partners, and nor should they be. And the question to ask is why is this done to women?

A man is educated and turned out to work. But a woman is educated and turned out to grass.

If it's unseemly and possibly dangerous for a man to be angry, it's totally unacceptable for a woman to be angry.

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.'

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.

Men make angry music and it's called rock-and-roll; women include anger in their vocabulary and suddenly they're angry and militant.

Basically, women have to prove they are strong at all times. And then when they go on the attack, they have to not appear mean because those women often get the label of being catty.

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.

'Tis strange what a man may do, and a woman yet think him an angel.

You think once you've shown what you can do, and your movies have been successful, that snap, you work. So to discover the difference between guys' roles and girls' roles made me plain mad. It's unjust.

Growing up in Texas, you were either pretty or smart. Smart didn't get you very far, because there weren't too many job opportunities for women. I wondered why you couldn't be both.

Men are able to sustain a career into their 50s and 60s and still present themselves as sex symbols. With women, on the other hand, people say, 'Why doesn't she retire?'

A woman can laugh and cry in three seconds and it's not weird. But if a man does it, it's very disturbing. The way I'd describe it is like this: I have been allowed inside the house of womanhood, but I feel that they wouldn't let me in any of the interesting rooms.

If a woman gets tough in negotiations, she's difficult, whereas a man would be considered a brilliant businessman.

A man can be 43, and people will say, 'Oh, he's a cool bachelor, and he just hasn't settled down,' but with a woman, it's, 'Oh, she must have really wanted to get married, but she didn't.' I honestly think that attitude is a little bit sexist.

Men never get free from morality, only women.

We're not accustomed to giving women the space to express the full range of emotions and flaws that men are permitted. Anger and aggressiveness aren't part of the scale of what is acceptable behavior in women, whereas men - in reality and in fiction - are allowed a much fuller range of emotion.

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

For women, even if she's nerdy enough to be Steve Jobs, she's undateable.

It's hard for women every single day; we have to be nice, but not too nice, ambitious, but not too ambitious. It puts a lot of pressure on what we should and can be.

Woman is a vulgar animal from whom man has created an excessively beautiful ideal.

It is still more likely that a woman's power would be seen as aggression, and a man's power would be seen as assertion.

Often, women as little girls are sent off on a track for them to live a perfect life and be a perfect woman. Not for boys, who can be themselves with their mood and their temper.

It is far easier for a woman to lead a blameless life than it is for a man; all she has to do is to avoid sexual intercourse like the plague.