Outburst from quiet oaf about maintaining independence (7)
I believe the answer is:
passion
'outburst' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'quiet oaf about maintaining independence' is the wordplay.
'quiet' becomes 'p' (music symbol for 'piano', ie soft or quiet).
'oaf' becomes 'ass' (both can mean a stupid person).
'about' becomes 'on' (as in a book 'on' a certain topic).
'maintaining' indicates putting letters inside.
'independence' becomes 'I'.
'ass'+'on'='asson'
'asson' going around 'i' is 'assion'.
'p'+'assion'='PASSION'
'from' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for passion that I've seen before include "Ardent emotion" , "Ardent love" , "Intense emotion, anger or love" , "Strong emotion, anger or love" , "Rage" .)