What's Really Terrible, Second-Rate, Pretend, Doris Lessing

“What's really terrible is to pretend that second-rate is the first-rate. To pretend that you don't need love when you do, or you like your work when you know quite well you're capable of better.” - Doris Lessing

Found in Quotes for Nasty Women: Empowering Wisdom from Women Who Break the Rules, by Linda Picone, page 94.

Sustained Outrage, Unthinking Respect, Molly Ivins

“What you need is sustained outrage...there's far too much unthinking respect given to authority.” - Molly Ivins

Found in Quotes for Nasty Women: Empowering Wisdom from Women Who Break the Rules, by Linda Picone, page 50.

Know the Truth, Odd, Flannery O'Connor

“You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you odd.” - Flannery O'Connor

Found in Quotes for Nasty Women: Empowering Wisdom from Women Who Break the Rules, by Linda Picone, page 88.

Make Up Horrors, Cope, Stephen King

“We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.” ― Stephen King

Found on Goodreads. You can view it here.

Writing a Novel, Driving a Car at Night, Anne Lamott, E.L. Doctorow

“E.L. Doctorow said once said that 'Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.' You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice on writing, or life, I have ever heard.” ― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Found on GoodReads at Anne Lamott's quote page.

Excited About Nothing, Marry Him, Cher

“The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing – and then marry him.” - Cher

Found in Wild Words from Wild Women: An Unbridled Collection of Candid Observations & Extremely Opinionated Bon Mots, Compiled by Autumn Stephens, page 127.

Victoria's Secret, Mary Ann Nichols

“I'll tell you what Victoria's Secret is. The secret is that nobody that's thirty-four inches or thirty-four years can fit into that shit.” - Mary Ann Nichols

Found in Women's Lip: Outrageous, Irreverent and Just Plain Hilarious Quotes, edited by Roz Warren, page 126.

Common Misconception, Strong Women, Nicole Curtis

“A common misconception about strong women is that we don't need the hand-holding, the flowers, and the nice gestures, and what I've found to be true is that it's the strong women who want it the most.” - Nicole Curtis

Found in Quotes for Nasty Women: Empowering Wisdom from Women Who Break the Rules, by Linda Picone, page 33.

Dangerous Place, Albert Einstein

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." - Albert Einstein.

Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins143096.html

Never Gossips, Interested in People, Barbara Walters

“Show me someone who never gossips, and I'll show you someone who isn't interested in people.” - Broadcast newswoman Barbara Walters, a very caring conversationalist.

Found in Wild Words from Wild Women: An Unbridled Collection of Candid Observations & Extremely Opinionated Bon Mots, Compiled by Autumn Stephens, page 9.

Whoever is Happy, Anne Frank

“Whoever is happy will make others happy too.” - Anne Frank

Found in The Quotable Woman, by Running Press, Editor, page 98.

Healthy and Strong, Asks for Help, Rona Barrett

“The healthy and strong individual is the one who asks for help when he needs it. Whether he's got an abscess on his knee or in his soul.” - Rona Barrett

Found in The Quotable Woman, by Running Press, Editor, page 93.

Fight, Ladylike, Women, Mary "Mother" Jones

"No matter the fight, don't be ladylike! God almighty made women and the Rockefeller gang of thieves made the ladies." - Militant labor organizer Mary "Mother" Jones, one mean maternal unit to mess with.

(Found in Loose Cannons: Devastating Dish from the World's Wildest Women, compiled by Autumn Stephens.)

Sorrow's Kitchen, Mountain Wrapped in Rainbows, Zora Neale Hurston

"I have been in Sorrow's kitchen and licked out all the pots. Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows, with a harp and sword in my hands." - Zora Neale Hurston

Found on Brainy Quote. Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/zora_neale_hurston_399481.

Lie Habitually, Unconscious, Truth, Adrienne Rich

“To lie habitually, as a way of life, is to lose contact with the unconscious. It is like taking sleeping pills, which confer sleep but blot out dreaming. The unconscious wants truth. It ceases to speak to those who want something else.” - Adrienne Rich

From The Sun, May 2017, pg.48, “Sunbeams”

Found Wisdom, Being a Fool, Erica Jong

“No one has ever found wisdom without also being a fool.” - Erotic novelist Erica Jong, a fearless frequent flyer.

Of course, not every fool finds wisdom...

Found in Loose Cannons: Devastating Dish from the World's Wildest Women, complied by Autumn Stephens, page 78.

Cub, Roaring Like a Lion, Howl, Carry Nation

“You have put me in here a cub, but I will come out roaring like a lion, and I will make all hell howl!” - Temperamental temperance crusader Carry Nation, utterly unsubdued by her stint in the slammer.

Found in Loose Cannons: Devastating Dish from the World's Wildest Women, complied by Autumn Stephens, page 59.

Deer Heads, Beautiful Animal, Photographs, Ellen Degeneres

"I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say, 'Because it's such a beautiful animal.' There you go! I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her." - Ellen Degeneres.

Found in Women's Lip: Outrageous, Irreverent and Just Plain Hilarious Quotes, edited by Roz Warren.

History, Let it, Diane di Prima

"History repeats itself/only if we let it." - Diane di Prima

from "Revolutionary Letter #62," page 79, in Revolutionary Letters, by Diane di Prima.

Standing in the Middle, Both Sides, Margaret Thatcher

"Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by traffic from both sides." - "'Iron Maiden' Margaret Thatcher, England's unswervingly Conservative PM," in Loose Cannons: Devastating Dish from the World's Wildest Women, compiled by Autumn Stephens.

Ran to Make History, Ran to Make Change, Rep. Ayanna Pressley

“None of us ran to make history. We ran to make change...and change is on the way.” - Rep. Ayanna Pressley.

Found in Ms. Magazine, Winter 2019, page 27.

Broom of Anger, Beast of Fear, Zora Neale Hurston

"Grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear." - Zora Neale Hurston

From BrainyQuote. Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/zora_neale_hurston_158891.

Rage, Writers, Anomaly, Nikki Giovanni

"Rage is to writers what water is to fish. A laid-back writer is like an orgasmic prostitute - an anomaly." - Nikki Giovanni, impassioned poet. (Found in Loose Cannons: Devastating Dish from the World's Wildest Women, compiled by Autumn Stephens.)

My Goal, Being Strident, Susan Faludi

“My goal is to be accused of being strident.” - Susan Faludi

Found in Quotes for Nasty Women: Empowering Wisdom from Women Who Break the Rules, by Linda Picone, page 76.

Tough, Ambitious, Madonna

“I'm tough, ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.” - Madonna

Found in Wild Words from Wild Women: An Unbridled Collection of Candid Observations & Extremely Opinionated Bon Mots, Compiled by Autumn Stephens, page 2.

Never Let the Hand You Hold, Denisea Trammell

“Never let the hand you hold, hold you down.” ― Denisea Trammell

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/445229-never-let-the-hand-you-hold-hold-you-down.

Critical Moment in History, Anger, Pain, Denial, Fear, Abuse, Cover-Up, Jennie Willoughby,

“We are at a critical moment in history and there are three things I know to be true: Where there is anger, there is underlying pain. Where there is denial, there is underlying fear. Where there is abuse, there is cover-up.” - Jennie Willoughby, ex-wife of former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, writing for Time in response to President Donald Trump calling her a liar.

Found in Ms. Magazine, Spring 2018, page 6.

Poor and Happy, Rich and Miserable, Moderately Rich and Just Moody, Princess Diana

“They say it is better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable, but how about a compromise like moderately rich and just moody?” - Princess Diana

Found in Quotes for Nasty Women: Empowering Wisdom from Women Who Break the Rules, by Linda Picone, page 36.

I Am, Hooligan, Emmeline Pankhurst

“I am what you call a hooligan!” - Emmeline Pankhurst, England's most insufferable suffragette.

Found in Loose Cannons: Devastating Dish from the World's Wildest Women, complied by Autumn Stephens, page 60.

We Come in Peace, Mean Business, Pay Inequality, Hanelle Monae

“We come in peace, but we mean business. ...We say time's up for pay inequality, time's up for discrimination, time's up for harassment of any kind. And time's up for the abuse of power.” - Hanelle Monae, presenting at the Grammy Awards in January 2018.

Found in Ms. Magazine, page 6, Spring 2018.

Brevity, Lingerie, Dorothy Parker

“Brevity is the soul of lingerie.” - Dorothy Parker

Found in Women's Lip: Outrageous, Irreverent and Just Plain Hilarious Quotes, edited by Roz Warren, page 126.