Daily Inspiration Quote by Lara Flynn Boyle

Lara Flynn Boyle’s line lands like a red-carpet shrug that accidentally opens onto a much bigger argument. “A very, very long way” does two things at once: it nods to real progress (the safe, broadly agreeable part) while the doubled “very” performs emphasis without specifics. That vagueness is the tell. It’s the language of someone who knows the question is a trap - say too much and you’re branded “difficult,” say too little and you’re accused of complacency. So she splits the difference: gratitude for the gains, vigilance about the gap.

The second clause, “but they have a long way to go,” carries the subtext that the work isn’t only legislative or corporate; it’s also reputational, especially in an industry that turns women into brands and then punishes them for brand management. Boyle came up in the ’90s and early 2000s, a period when actresses were routinely asked to speak for “women” while being reduced to body talk and relationship gossip. In that context, the quote reads less like a thesis and more like survival rhetoric: broad enough to be publishable, pointed enough to signal frustration to anyone listening closely.

Its intent is to acknowledge feminism without claiming ownership of it. The cultural effect is precisely that tension: a mainstream, palatable sentence that still hints at the machinery underneath - unequal power on sets, narrow roles, aging penalties, tabloid scrutiny. Progress, yes. The invoice, unpaid.