Love Quote by Candice Bergen

Independence here isn’t a personality trait; it’s a set piece men claim to admire until it threatens to upstage them. Bergen’s line lands because it frames the problem as performance: “Men say” signals the public script, the enlightened posture, the cocktail-party feminism that costs nothing. The turn comes fast - “but” - and then she switches to demolition, a verb that doesn’t allow for misunderstanding. This isn’t a disagreement or a “communication issue.” It’s structural sabotage.

The “brick by brick” detail is the dagger. It suggests the erosion is incremental, almost tender in its method: the casual discouragement disguised as concern, the jokes that make ambition seem unbecoming, the subtle re-centering of a woman’s choices around his comfort. Bergen implies that independence isn’t taken in one dramatic blow; it’s dismantled through everyday negotiations that are rigged from the start. That specificity gives the quote its bite and its realism.

As an actress who came up in an era when “strong female character” often meant “palatable, self-contained, and not too hard to live with,” Bergen is speaking from inside the machine. Her intent reads less like abstract social critique and more like lived pattern recognition: a warning about how admiration can function as a trap. Compliment the independence, then punish it - all while keeping the moral high ground of having “always supported” her.