Empowering Words: A Curated Collection of Inspirational Quotes on Women's Strength

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

- Ruth Bader Ginsburg

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

- Malala Yousafzai

"You have to believe in yourself when no one else does."

- Serena Williams

"To all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful, and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams."

- Hillary Clinton

"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

"Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness."

- Oprah Winfrey

"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

"In the book Soldiers on the Home Front, I was greatly struck by the fact that in childbirth alone, women commonly suffer more pain, illness and misery than any war hero ever does. An what's her reward for enduring all that pain? She gets pushed aside when she's disfigured by birth, her children soon leave, hear beauty is gone. Women, who struggle and suffer pain to ensure the continuation of the human race, make much tougher and more courageous soldiers than all those big-mouthed freedom-fighting heroes put together."

- Anne Frank

"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 am thankful for my struggle because, without it, I wouldn’t have stumbled across my strength."

- Alex Elle

"It’s not about being perfect. It’s not about where you get yourself in the end. There’s power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice."

- Michelle Obama

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

- Michelle Obama

"women don't endure simply because we can; no, women endure because we aren't given any other choice. - they wanted us weak but forced us to be strong."

- Amanda Lovelace

"The strength of a woman is not measured by the impact that all her hardships in life have had on her; but the strength of a woman is measured by the extent of her refusal to allow those hardships to dictate her and who she becomes."

- C. JoyBell C.

"You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody."

- Maya Angelou

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

- Alice Walker

"I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass."

- Maya Angelou

"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

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

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"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

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

- Mary Elizabeth Winstead

"Don’t think about making women fit the world - think about making the world fit women."

- Gloria Steinem

"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

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

- Michelle Obama

"She is water. Strong enough to drown you, soft enough to cleanse you, and deep enough to save you."

- Rupi Kaur

"After all those years as a woman hearing, ‘not thin enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not thin enough, not that enough,’ almost overnight I woke up one morning and thought, ‘I am enough.’"

- Maya Angelou

"…this International Women’s Day, allow me to share what I’ve learned. You don’t need to be ‘one of the guys.’ You are strong, brave, and destined to lead. Own it."

- Tammy Duckworth

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

- Stephanie Bennett Henry

"Am I good enough? Yes, I am."

- Michelle Obama

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

- Sheryl Sandberg

"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

"There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women."

- Malala Yousafzai

"A woman is like a tea bag — you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

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

- Gloria Steinem

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

- Maya Angelou

"Women have always been the strong ones of the world."

- Coco Chanel

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

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"The most important thing one woman can do for another is expand her sense of actual possibilities."

- Adrienne Rich

"Life is about finding yourself, embracing your strengths and weaknesses, and being true to who you are."

- Oprah Winfrey

"The love expressed between women is particular and powerful because we have had to love in order to live; love has been our survival."

- Audre Lorde

"We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained."

- Marie Curie

"It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a Black woman to be selected to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States, but we’ve made it! We’ve made it — all of us."

- Ketanji Brown Jackson

"The easiest way to disregard a woman’s voice is to package her as a scold."

- Michelle Obama

"Well-behaved women seldom make history."

- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

"I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man."

- Sojourner Truth

"Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace."

- Amelia Earhart

"I may be the first woman member of Congress, but I won’t be the last."

- Jeannette Rankin

"You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it’s right."

- Rosa Parks

"We are here, not because we are lawbreakers; we are here in our efforts to be law-makers."

- Emmeline Pankhurst

"What I want young women and girls to know is: You are powerful and your voice matters."

- Kamala Harris

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

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

- Angela Y. Davis

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

- Melinda French Gates

"Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you."

- Margaret Thatcher

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

- Helen Keller

"As women achieve power, the barriers will fall."

- Sandra Day O’Connor

"Love yourself first and everything else falls into line."

- Lucille Ball

"Don’t mistake politeness for lack of strength."

- Sonia Sotomayor

"For one thing we know beyond all doubt: Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says, ‘It can’t be done.’"

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"The future of life as we know it is being determined by everything we’re doing — and not doing. Now."

- Oprah Winfrey

"When I dare to be powerful — to use my strength in the service of my vision — then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid."

- Audre Lorde

"When you get into a tight place, and everything goes against you till it seems as if you couldn’t hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that’s just the place and time that the tide’ll turn."

- Harriet Beecher Stowe

"We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated."

- Maya Angelou

"The energy you’ll expend focusing on someone else’s life is better spent working on your own. Just be your own idol."

- Sophia Amoruso

"Ignore the glass ceiling and do your work. If you’re focusing on the glass ceiling, focusing on what you don’t have, focusing on the limitations, then you will be limited."

- Ava DuVernay

"You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them."

- Maya Angelou

"I can never be safe; I always try and go against the grain. As soon as I accomplish one thing, I just set a higher goal. That’s how I’ve gotten to where I am."

- Beyoncé

"The woman who doesn’t require validation from anyone is the most feared individual on the planet."

- Mohadesa Najumi

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence."

- Helen Keller

"Be happy with being you. Love your flaws. Own your quirks."

- Ariana Grande

"You don’t have to be pretty. You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked 'female.'"

- Erin McKean

"I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles."

- Audrey Hepburn

"I say if I’m beautiful. I say if I’m strong. You will not determine my story—I will."

- Amy Schumer

"They'll tell you you're too loud, that you need to wait your turn and ask the right people for permission. Do it anyway."

- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

"I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art."

- Madonna

"A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform."

- Diane Mariechild

"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

"Do not ever sell yourself short."

- Jameela Jamil

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

- Jane Goodall

"One individual cannot possibly make a difference, alone. It is individual efforts, collectively, that makes a noticeable difference - all the difference in the world!"

- Jane Goodall

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

- Lucille Ball

"I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done."

- Lucille Ball

"The women of today are the thoughts of their mothers and grandmothers, embodied and made alive. They are active, capable, determined and bound to win. They have one-thousand generations back of them...Millions of women dead and gone are speaking through us today."

- Matilda Joslyn Gage

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

- Swati Sharma

"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

"Feminism is not just about women; it’s about letting all people lead fuller lives."

- Brené Brown

"Let go of who you think you’re supposed to be; embrace who you are."

- Emma Watson

"Girls should never be afraid to be smart."

- Emma Watson

"You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try."

- Beverly Sills

"If you don’t see a clear path for what you want, sometimes you have to make it yourself."

- Mindy Kaling

"The only one who can tell you 'you can't win' is you, and you don't have to listen."

- Margaret Fuller

"If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough."

- Oprah Winfrey

"The most beautiful thing a woman can wear is confidence."

- Blake Lively

"I don't really think about other people's opinions or expectations. The only ones I have are that of myself, to improve and get better."

- Greta Thunberg

"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

"It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent."

- Madeleine Albright

"I’m not going to limit myself just because people won’t accept the fact that I can do something else."

- Dolly Parton

"I think realizing that you’re not alone, that you are standing with millions of your sisters around the world is vital."

- Malala Yousafzai

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

- Dolly Parton

"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

"We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women’s voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ignored."

- Sheryl Sandberg

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

- Reese Witherspoon

"Friends. Sisters. Mothers. Professors. When women affirm women, it unlocks our power. It gives us permission to shine brighter."

- Elaine Welteroth

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

- Beyoncé

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

- Audre Lorde

"Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held its ground."

- Rosa Parks

"In politics, If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman."

- Margaret Thatcher

"The problems of our time will be solved only when all of the best mind, conscience and talent in the community are brought to their solution."

- Jane Addams

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

- Ruth Bader Ginsburg

"Women, whether subtly or vociferously, have always been a tremendous power in the destiny of the world."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"You’ve always had the power, my dear, you just had to learn it for yourself."

- Glinda the Good Witch

"My daily challenge to myself is to be part of the solution, to be a joyful warrior in the battle to come."

- Kamala Harris

"When girls are given the right tools to succeed, they can create incredible futures, not only for themselves but also for those around them."

- Meghan Markle

"Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else."

- Maya Angelou

"Think like a Queen. A Queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness."

- Oprah

"I figure if a girl wants to be a legend, she should go ahead and be one."

- Calamity Jane

"Most maidens are perfectly capable of rescuing themselves in my experience, at least the ones worth something, in any case."

- Erin Morgenstern

"Even to me the issue of "stay small, sweet, quiet, and modest" sounds like an outdated problem, but the truth is that women still run into those demands whenever we find and use our voices."

- Brené Brown

"A woman with opinions had better develop a thick skin and a loud voice."

- Anya Seton

"I know that many men and even women are afraid and angry when women do speak, because in this barbaric society, when women speak truly they speak subversively - they can't help it: if you're underneath, if you're kept down, you break out, you subvert. We are volcanoes. When we women offer our experience as our truth, as human truth, all the maps change. There are new mountains. That's what I want - to hear you erupting. You young Mount St. Helenses who don't know the power in you - I want to hear you."

- Ursula K. Le Guin

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

- Margaret Thatcher

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started."

- Mark Twain

"We realize the importance of our voices only when they are silenced."

- Malala Yousafzai

"When anyone tells me I can’t do anything … I’m just not listening anymore."

- Florence Griffith Joyner

"Nothing is impossible. The word itself says, “I’m possible!”"

- Audrey Hepburn

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

- Charlotte Whitton

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

- Coco Chanel

"Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.”"

- Mary Anne Radmacher

"A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult."

- Melinda Gates

"Don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own."

- Michelle Obama

"I used to walk down the street like I was a superstar… I want people to walk around delusional about how great they can be — and then to fight so hard for it every day that the lie becomes the truth."

- Lady Gaga

"I learned to always take on things I’d never done before. Growth and comfort do not coexist."

- Ginni Rometty

"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

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

- Reese Witherspoon

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

- Isabel Allende

"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

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

- Shirley Chisholm

"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

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

- Viola Davis

"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

"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

"Failure is another stepping stone to greatness."

- Oprah Winfrey

"You should never let your fears prevent you from doing what you know is right."

- Aung San Suu Kyi

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

- Ayn Rand

"Champions keep playing until they get it right."

- Billie Jean King

"I can if I want to because it's my business."

- Tabitha Brown

"No matter where you are on your journey, that’s exactly where you need to be. The next road is always ahead."

- Oprah Winfrey

"Alone she goes to the gates of death to give life to every man that is born into the world."

- Elizabeth Stanton

"True champions aren't always the ones that win, but those with the most guts."

- Mia Hamm

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

- Nimco Ali

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

- Margaret Fuller

"Chance is the first step you take, luck is what comes afterward."

- Amy Tan

"Some leaders are born women."

- Geraldine Ferraro

"Behind every great woman ... is another great woman."

- Kate Hodges

"The more you love your decisions, the less you need others to love them."

- Lisa Messenger

"It is never too late to be what you might have been."

- George Eliot

"If everything was perfect, you would never learn, and you would never grow."

- Beyoncé

"If you do what interests you, at least one person is pleased."

- Katharine Hepburn

"I Became a free woman when I decided to stop dreaming, freedom that is waiting for nothing .. and anticipation is a state of slavery"

- Ahlam Mosteghanemi

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

- Ntozake Shange

"blessed be she who is both furious and magnificent"

- Taylor Rhodes

"I am a woman’s rights."

- Sojourner Truth

"Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood."

- Marie Curie

"Every person has a responsibility to be a participant in this society and make it a better place for everybody, in whatever capacity they can."

- Megan Rapinoe

"Her own thoughts and reflections were habitually her best companions."

- Jane Austen

"If you can dance and be free and be embarrassed, you can rule the world."

- Amy Poehler

"I don’t get my inspiration from books or a painting. I get it from the women I meet."

- Emma Raducanu

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

- Helen Keller

"Take the wisdoms of the women in this world and keep them at your side, always."

- Beanie Feldstein

"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed to an uncharted land."

- Helen Keller

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."

- Edith Wharton

"Sometimes things fall apart, so that better things can fall together."

- George Eliot

"Ignite the mind’s spark to rise the sun in you."

- Florence Nightingale

"I do not believe in using women in combat, because females are too fierce."

- Margaret Mead

"How shall we explain to them the meaning of democracy if the same Congress that voted for war to make the world safe for democracy refuses to give this small measure of democracy to the women of our country?"

- Jeannette Rankin

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

- Angela Yee

"Take criticism seriously, but not personally. If there is truth or merit in the criticism, try to learn from it. Otherwise, let it roll right off you."

- Hillary Clinton

"The most effective way to do it, is to do it."

- Amelia Earhart

"Darling, when things go wrong in life, you lift your chin, put on a ravishing smile, mix yourself a little cocktail..."

- Sophie Kinsella

"Always concentrate on how far you have come, rather than how far you have left to go. The difference in how easy it seems will amaze you."

- Heidi Johnson

"I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you."

- Oprah Winfrey

"I’m pretty good at weaseling my way into a job, even if I have no business being there."

- Aubrey Plaza

"Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing."

- Mother Teresa

"Always show more kindness than seems necessary because the person receiving it needs it more than you will ever know."

- Colin Powell

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

"A strong woman knows she has strength enough for the journey, but a woman of strength knows it is in the journey where she will become strong."

"And then I realized that to be more alive I had to be less afraid so I did it…I lost my fear and gained my whole life."

"A strong person is not the one who doesn’t fall down and doesn’t cry. The strong person falls, cries, and then gets up and keeps going."

"Always remember you are BRAVER than you believe, STRONGER than you seem, SMARTER than you think & LOVED more than you know."

"Whether through work or love or art, life becomes more meaningful whenever we take responsibility for something or someone. Responsibility is not always pleasurable or even positive, but it is purposeful."

"The foundation of your wellness journey is presence – quieting the chatter in your head, feeling yourself in the moment and knowing you are okay. Presence leads to clarity, and ultimately, to the joy of being alive. Be present. Let go of yesterday. Put thoughts of tomorrow at bay. You are here. Now. Full of energy. Flooded with calm. Engaged in this one and only moment."

"May you be free from harm. May you be strong and healthy. May you be happy. May you live a life filled with ease."

"She needed a hero. So that’s what she became."