I am a Woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal Woman, that's me.

The Black female is assaulted in her tender years by all those common forces of nature at the same time she is caught in the tripartite crossfire of masculine prejudice, white illogical hate and Black lack of power.

Lift up your eyes upon This day breaking for you. Give birth again To the dream. Women, children, men, Take it into the palms of your hands. Mold it into the shape of your most Private need. Sculpt it into The image of your most public self. Lift up your hearts Each new hour holds new chances For a new beginning.

It is very dangerous to make a person larger than life because, then, young men and women are tempted to believe, well, if he was that great, he's inaccessible, and I can never try to be that or emulate that or achieve that.

I write because I am a Black woman, listening attentively to her people.

She was a sister-friend to me, we called each other 'children sisters.' She was a great wife, obviously, and a wonderful mother and a great woman, a great American. When I think of great Americans she's one of the people I think of.

I would like to be known as an intelligent woman, a courageous woman, a loving woman, a woman who teaches by being.

Women should be tough, tender, laugh as much as possible, and live long lives.

Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.

I am a Woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal Woman, that's me.

Courage allows the successful woman to fail - and to learn powerful lessons from the failure - so that in the end, she didn't fail at all.

A man is what a woman makes him and a woman makes herself.

“This was my first hint of the truism that depression is anger turned inward; thus women are twice as likely to be depressed.” 

“MY LAST HOPE IS to open up the road—literally. So far it’s been overwhelmingly masculine turf. Men embody adventure, women embody hearth and home, and that has been pretty much it.” 

“The uncomfortable truth seems to be that the amount of talk by women has been measured less against the amount of men's talk than against the expectation of female silence.” 

“Everyone has a home but me.” 

“I'm not black on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and a woman on Thursday, Friday and Saturday” 

“Among their first questions was said to be: Where are the women?” 

“the most revolutionary act for a woman will be a self-willed journey—and to be welcomed when she comes home.” 

“The irony here is that thanks to molecular archaeology—which includes the study of ancient DNA to trace human movement over time—we now know that men have been the stay-at-homes, and women have been the travelers. The rate of intercontinental migration for women is about eight times that for men.” 

“Men can be just as loving and nurturing as women-- it's a libel on men to say they can't-- but we all learn by example. Boys just need nurturing men in their lives so they know it's okay for them to be nurturing.” 

“Women have to learn how to talk as much as we listen. Men have to learn how to listen as much as they talk.” 

“Perhaps because women are seen as good listeners, I find that a traveling woman—perhaps especially a traveling feminist—becomes a kind of celestial bartender.” 

“She didn’t put her finger to the wind; she became the wind.”