Empowering Inspirational Quotes for International Women's Day

"Women are the backbone of any society."

- Diane Mariechild

"How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants rather than to create it herself."

- Anais Nin

"What’s the greatest lesson a woman should learn? That since day one, she’s already had everything she needs within herself. It’s the world that convinced her she did not."

- Rupi Kaur

"Feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength."

- G.D. Anderson

"Do not live someone else's life and someone else's idea of what womanhood is. Womanhood is you."

- Beyoncé

"I am woman phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that’s me."

- Maya Angelou

"At some point in a woman’s life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time. After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is."

- Elizabeth Gilbert

"In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders."

- Sheryl Sandberg

"I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own."

- Audre Lorde

"Women are like teabags. We don’t know our true strength until we are in hot water."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish."

- Michelle Obama

"A girl should be two things: who and what she wants."

- Coco Chanel

"Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights."

- Hillary Clinton

"Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry."

- Gloria Steinem

"A strong woman is a woman determined to do something others are determined not be done."

- Marge Piercy

"Don't think about making women fit the world—think about making the world fit women."

- Gloria Steinem

"I do not wish women to have power over men, but over themselves."

- Mary Shelley

"The most alluring thing a woman can have is confidence."

- Beyonce

"Each time a woman stands up for herself she stands up for all women."

- Maya Angelou

"I want every girl to know that her voice can change the world."

- Malala Yousafzai

"Where there is a woman, there is magic."

- Ntozake Shange

"There’s something so special about a woman who dominates in a man’s world. It takes a certain grace, strength, intelligence, fearlessness and the nerve to never take no for an answer."

- Rihanna

"A strong woman understands that the gifts such as logic, decisiveness, and strength are just as feminine as intuition and emotional connection. She values and uses all of her gifts."

- Nancy Rathburn

"I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life—and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do."

- Georgia O’Keeffe

"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any."

- Alice Walker

"Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception."

- Ruth Bader Ginsburg

"I encourage women to step up. Don’t wait for somebody to ask you."

- Reese Witherspoon

"I’ve never been interested in being invisible and erased."

- Lucille Ball

"The success of every woman should be the inspiration to another. We should raise each other up. Make sure you’re very courageous: be strong, be extremely kind, and above all be humble."

- Serena Williams

"Today, we are celebrating the strength, determination, and resilience of women everywhere."

- Michelle Obama

"Women should be celebrated every day…It doesn’t just honor the iconic women who have changed history, but encourages new generations to dream big and know that anything is possible."

- Molly McCook

"No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens."

- Michelle Obama

"Women make up more than half of the world’s population and potential, so it is neither just nor practical for their voices, for our voices, to go unheard at the highest levels of decision-making."

- Meghan Markle

"Organize, agitate, educate, must be our war cry."

- Susan B. Anthony

"You never completely have your rights, one person, until you all have your rights."

- Marsha P. Johnson

"It’s okay if you fall down and lose your spark. Just make sure that when you get back up, you rise as the whole damn fire."

- Colette Werden

"The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who’s going to stop me."

- Ayn Rand

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"A woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination prepared to be herself and herself only."

- Maya Angelou

"A woman is like a tea bag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"I am a feminist. I’ve been a female for a long time now. It’d be stupid not to be on my own side."

- Maya Angelou

"Be free, be fierce, but most of all, have fun while being a feminist."

- Nimco Ali

"Fearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own life that the more I exercise it the more natural it becomes to not let my fears run me."

- Arianna Huffington

"Girls should never be afraid to be smart."

- Emma Watson

"You can carve your own path. Be your own kind of leader."

- Jacinda Ardern

"Nothing can dim the light which shines from within."

- Maya Angelou

"If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair."

- Shirley Chisholm

"A feminist is any woman who tells the truth about her life."

- Virginia Woolf

"Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim."

- Nora Ephron

"The best protection any woman can have is courage."

- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

"I can promise you that women working together - linked, informed, and educated - can bring peace and prosperity to this forsaken planet."

- Isabel Allende

"I am a woman and I get to define what that means."

- Swati Sharma

"If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader."

- Dolly Parton

"Always be a first-rate version of yourself instead of a second-rate version of somebody else."

- Judy Garland

"Believe in yourself and be proud of who you are. Don't let anyone tell you differently. There is beauty in everyone and no one should stop you from growing into a confident and strong young person."

- Isabel Allende

"I can encourage the women who are striving to get their footing in the world to keep pushing and to express themselves."

- Angela Yee

"I have learned you are never too small to make a difference."

- Misty Copeland

"Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you."

- Misty Copeland

"Never ever mistake her silence for weakness. Remember that sometimes the air stills before the onset of a hurricane."

- Nikita Gill

"She has a voice. If you can’t hear it, it’s because you’re too busy talking."

- Helen Keller

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."

- Helen Keller

"Women are the real architects of society."

- Cher

"Well-behaved women seldom make history."

- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

"Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world."

- Hillary Clinton

"She believed she could, so she did."

- R. S. Grey

"There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself."

- Hannah Gadsby

"Doubt is a killer. You just have to know what you stand for and go for it."

- Venus Williams

"In our society, the women who break down barriers are those who ignore limits."

- Arnold Schwarzenegger

"Women are the real superheroes."

- Vanessa Paradis

"A woman with a voice is, by definition, a strong woman."

- Melinda Gates

"Women are the glue that holds everything together."

- Jada Pinkett Smith

"A woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination prepared to be herself and only herself."

- Maya Angelou

"Women are the heartbeat of humanity."

- DJ Cuppy

"The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me."

- Ayn Rand

"Strong women don’t have ‘attitudes’, we have standards."

- Marilyn Monroe

"There’s nothing a man can do, that I can’t do better and in heels."

- Ginger Rogers

"She who overcomes her fears will truly be free."

- Edna Pontellier

"The empowered woman is powerful beyond measure and beautiful beyond description."

- Steve Maraboli

"Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance."

- Verna Myers

"The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud."

- Coco Chanel

"If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman."

- Margaret Thatcher

"Extremists have shown what frightens them most. A girl with a book."

- Malala Yousafzai

"There is no force more powerful than a woman determined to rise."

- W.E.B. Du Bois

"I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves."

- Mary Shelley

"Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength."

- G.D. Anderson

"If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it."

- Margaret Fuller

"A strong woman looks a challenge dead in the eye and gives it a wink."

- Gina Carey

"I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept."

- Angela Y. Davis

"The challenge is not to be perfect… it’s to be whole."

- Jane Fonda

"A strong woman understands that gifts such as logic, decisiveness, and strength are just as feminine as intuition and emotional connection. She values and uses all of her gifts."

- Nancy Rathburn

"Where there is a woman there is magic."

- Ntozake Shange

"I will always be the girl who believed she could make it to the moon, in a world that still debates whether girls should have an education and whether women should have reproductive rights."

- G.D. Anderson

"Every woman's success should be an inspiration to another. We're strongest when we cheer each other on."

- Sheryl Sandberg

"We are greater than, and greater for, the sum of us."

- Madeleine Albright

"The worst thing that we can do as women is not stand up for each other, and this is something we can practice every day, no matter where we are and what we may believe, it is both possible and, more importantly, it becomes powerful to come together in common purpose and common effort."

- Oprah Winfrey

"You don’t have to play masculine to be a strong woman."

- Mary Elizabeth Winstead

"Do not live someone else’s life and someone else’s idea of what womanhood is. Womanhood is you."

- Viola Davis

"Why be a star when you can make a constellation?"

- Octavia Butler

"As women achieve power, the barriers will fall. As society sees what women can do, as women see what women can do, there will be more women out there doing things, and we’ll all be better off for it."

- Michelle Obama

"Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others."

- Amelia Earhart

"I can promise you that women working together—linked, informed, and educated—can bring peace and prosperity to this forsaken planet."

- Isabel Allende

"Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong; it's about changing the way the world perceives that strength."

- G.D. Anderson

"Women are leaders everywhere you look—from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household. Our country was built by strong women, and we will continue to break down walls and defy stereotypes."

- Nancy Pelosi

"Women have discovered that they cannot rely on men’s chivalry to give them justice."

- Helen Keller

"My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent."

- Ruth Bader Ginsburg

"Well-behaved women rarely make history."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"If fighting for women’s health care and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the women’s card, then deal me in."

- Hillary Clinton

"Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult."

- Charlotte Whitton

"I am grateful to be a woman. I must have done something great in another life."

- Jane Goodall

"A strong woman looks a challenge in the eye and gives it a wink."

- Gina Carey

"There's something so special about a woman who dominates in a man's world. It takes a certain grace, strength, intelligence, fearlessness and the nerve to never take no for an answer."

- Rihanna

"I have chosen to no longer be apologetic for my femaleness and my femininity. And I want to be respected in all of my femaleness because I deserve to be."

- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

"Women that believe in each other can survive anything. Women who believe in each other create armies that will win kingdoms and wars."

- Nikita Gill

"A really strong woman accepts the war she went through and is ennobled by her scars."

- Carly Simon

"What I want young women and girls to know is: You are powerful and your voice matters. You’re going to walk into many rooms where you may be the only one who looks like you or who has had the experiences you’ve had. So you use that voice and be strong."

- Kamala Harris

"The true republic—men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less."

- Susan B. Anthony

"One is not born a woman, but becomes one."

- Simone de Beauvoir

"I don't know a woman alive who isn't courageous."

- Reese Witherspoon

"To tell a woman everything she cannot do is to tell her what she can."

- Spanish Proverb

"Life is tough, my darling, but so are you."

- Stephanie Bennett Henry

"When the world tells you to shrink, expand."

"Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them."