Empowering Quotes to Inspire Young Ladies

"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

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

- Kamala Harris

"The world needs strong women. Women who will lift and build others, who will love and be loved, women who live bravely, both tender and fierce, women of indomitable will."

- Amy Tenney

"The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough."

- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

"What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have. And I’m especially proud, and inspired by all the women who have felt strong enough and empowered enough to speak up and share their personal stories."

- Oprah Winfrey

"To all the little girls who are watching, 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

"I am a woman with thoughts and questions and sh*t to say. I say if I’m beautiful. I say if I’m strong. You will not determine my story – I will."

- Amy Schumer

"I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow. When there’s that moment of ‘Wow, I’m not really sure I can do this,’ and you push through those moments, that’s when you have a breakthrough."

- Marissa Mayer

"We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back. We call upon our sisters around the world to be brave – to embrace the strength within themselves and realize their full potential."

- Malala Yousafzai

"Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you."

- Oprah Winfrey

"Don’t be afraid to speak up for yourself. Keep fighting for your dreams!"

- Gabby Douglas

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

- Maya Angelou

"We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already."

- J.K. Rowling

"We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better."

- J.K. Rowling

"I’m learning how to drown out the constant noise that is such an inseparable part of my life. I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. I only have to follow my heart and concentrate on what I want to say to the world. I run my world."

- Beyoncé

"We can no longer let people in power decide what hope is. Hope is not passive. Hope is not ‘blah blah blah.’ Hope is telling the truth. Hope is taking action. And hope always comes from the people."

- Greta Thunberg

"Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay."

- Simone de Beauvoir

"Women need a seat at the table, they need an invitation to be seated there, and in some cases, where this is not available, they need to create their own table. We need a global understanding that we cannot implement change effectively without women’s political participation."

- Meghan Markle

"Women feel like we need permission… We need to lead and change that."

- Emma Watson

"The type of man who will be intimidated by me is exactly the type of man I have no interest in."

- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

"A feminist is a person who believes in the power of women just as much as they believe in the power of anyone else. It’s equality, it’s fairness, and I think it’s a great thing to be a part of."

- Zendaya

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

- Rosa Parks

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

- Audre Lorde

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

- Maya Angelou

"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

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

- Anna Quindlen

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

- Isabel Allende

"Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights. Let us not forget that among those rights are the right to speak freely—and the right to be heard."

- Hillary Clinton

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

- Gloria Steinem

"We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back."

- Malala Yousafzai

"You must know that you can do this. You are strong. And you will make it. Just hang on and keep believing in yourself, always."

- Heather A. Stillufsen

"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

"We need women who are so strong they can be gentle, so educated they can be humble, so fierce they can be compassionate, so passionate they can be rational, and so disciplined they can be free."

- Kavita Ramdas

"I never dreamed about success. I worked for it."

- Estée Lauder

"And one day she discovered that she was fierce, and strong, and full of fire, and that not even she could hold herself back because her passion burned brighter than her fears."

- Mark Anthony

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

- Melinda Gates

"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

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

- Diane Mariechild

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

- Coco Chanel

"The difference between successful people and others is how long they spend time feeling sorry for themselves."

- Barbara Corcoran

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

- Oprah Winfrey

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

- Audrey Hepburn

"The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it."

- Roseanne Barr

"I’ve interviewed and portrayed people who’ve withstood some of the ugliest things life can throw at you, but the one quality all of them seem to share is an ability to maintain hope for a brighter morning, even during our darkest nights."

- Oprah Winfrey

"The power you have is to be the best version of yourself you can be, so you can create a better world."

- Ashley Rickards

"If you want to run for Prime Minister, you can. If you don’t, that’s wonderful, too. Shave your armpits, don’t shave them, wear flats one day, heels the next. These things are so irrelevant and surface to what it is all really about, and I wish people wouldn’t get caught up in that. We want to empower women to do exactly what they want, to be true to themselves, to have the opportunities to develop. Women should feel free."

- Emma Watson

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

- Ginni Rometty

"In life there is no real safety except for self-belief."

- Madonna

"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

"Women have to harness their power—it’s absolutely true. It’s just learning not to take the first no. And if you can’t go straight ahead, you go around the corner."

- Cher

"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

"As women, we have to start appreciating our own worth and each other’s worth. Seek out strong women to befriend, to align yourself with, to learn from, to collaborate with, to be inspired by, to support, and enlightened by."

- Madonna

"Women asking for raises should not only know their value, but they should ask with the confidence that they’re helping the company to be successful."

- Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement."

- Golda Meir

"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

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

- Oprah Winfrey

"Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. And, when you stumble, keep faith. And, when you’re knocked down, get right back up and never listen to anyone who says you can’t or shouldn’t go on."

- Hillary Rodham Clinton

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

- Sheryl Sandberg

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

- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

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

- Nora Ephron

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage."

- Anaïs Nin

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

- Ayn Rand

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

- Maya Angelou

"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

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style."

- Maya Angelou

"Woman must not accept; she must challenge. She must not be awed by that which has been built up around her; she must reverence that woman in her which struggles for expression."

- Margaret Sanger

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

- Swati Sharma

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

- Alice Walker

"I raise up my voice—not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard."

- Malala Yousafzai

"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

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

- Blake Lively

"Everyone has inside of her a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be, how much you can love, what you can accomplish, and what your potential is."

- Anne Frank

"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

"You are more powerful than you know; you are beautiful just as you are."

- Melissa Etheridge

"When girls are educated, their countries become stronger and more prosperous."

- Michelle Obama

"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

"You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the water-slide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute."

- Tina Fey

"I’ve learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life."

- Maya Angelou

"I choose to make the rest of my life the best of my life."

- Louise Hay

"I learned a long time ago that there is something worse than missing the goal, and that’s not pulling the trigger."

- Mia Hamm

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

- Amelia Earhart

"Courage is like a muscle. We strengthen it by use."

- Ruth Gordon

"And the trouble is, if you don’t risk anything, you risk more."

- Erica Jong

"Not knowing you can’t do something, is sometimes all it takes to do it."

- Ally Carter

"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

"The way in which we think of ourselves has everything to do with how our world see us and how we see ourselves successfully acknowledged by the world."

- Arlene Rankin

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us."

- Helen Keller

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

- Jennifer Lopez

"You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through."

- Rosalynn Carter

"We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes – understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success."

- Arianna Huffington

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

- Coco Chanel

"No one ever became a success without taking chances… One must be able to recognize the moment and seize it without delay."

- Estée Lauder

"If you’re one of those people who has that little voice in the back of her mind saying, ‘Maybe I could do [fill in the blank],’ don’t tell it to be quiet. Give it a little room to grow, and try to find an environment it can grow in."

- Reese Witherspoon

"I found that ultimately if you truly pour your heart into what you believe in — even if it makes you vulnerable — amazing things can and will happen."

- Emma Watson

"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain!"

- Dolly Parton

"Never be ashamed of what you feel. You have the right to feel any emotion that you want, and to do what makes you happy. That’s my life motto."

- Demi Lovato

"I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values – and follow my own moral compass – then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own."

- Michelle Obama

"With each generation, women’s ability to live the lives they choose reaches a place their grandmothers never thought possible. But that doesn’t mean everything is perfect or that our work is finished."

- Cathy McMorris Rodgers

"Success, they taught me, is built on the foundation of courage, hard-work and individual responsibility. Despite what some would have us believe, success is not built on resentment and fears."

- Susana Martinez

"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

"You could certainly say that I’ve never underestimated myself. There’s nothing wrong with being ambitious."

- Angela Merkel

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

- Margaret Thatcher

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

- Anaïs Nin

"There is a stubbornness about me that can never bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me."

- Jane Austen

"Of course I am not worried about intimidating men. The type of man who will be intimidated by me is exactly the type of man I have no interest in."

- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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

- Ayn Rand

"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

"Like art, revolutions come from combining what exists into what has never existed before."

- Gloria Steinem

"What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."

- Jane Goodall

"Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning."

- Gloria Steinem

"Feminism is for everybody."

- Bell Hooks

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

- Helen Keller

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

- Marge Piercy

"She was powerful not because she wasn’t scared but because she went on so strongly, despite the fear."

- Atticus

"Strong women don’t play the victim. Don’t make themselves look pitiful and don’t point fingers. They stand and they deal."

- Mandy Hale

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

- Melinda Gates

"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained."

- Marie Curie

"Be a first-rate version of yourself, not a second-rate version of someone else."

- Judy Garland

"Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help, and brave enough to ask for it."

- Ziad K. Abdelnour

"Don’t let anyone speak for you, and don’t rely on others to fight for you."

- Michelle Obama

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

- Eleanor Roosevelt

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

- Carly Simon

"I urge everyone here and everyone who hears my voice to join me in telling the stories that aren’t told. To honor the girls, the women of color, who are murdered at disproportionate rates in this nation."

- Naomi Wadler

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

- Nikita Gill

"Women will only have true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation."

- Ruth Bader Ginsburg

"I think that passion is the secret ingredient that drives hard work and excellence."

- Kelly Ayotte

"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

"Once you figure out what respect tastes like, it tastes better than attention."

- Pink

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

- Angela Yee

"The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before."

- Albert Einstein

"Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get."

- Ingrid Bergman

"If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not making decisions."

- Catherine Cook

"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

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

- Serena Williams

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

- Eleanor Roosevelt

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

- Mindy Kaling

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

- Beverly Sills

"Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it."

- Julia Child

"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

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

- Eleanor Roosevelt

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

- Calamity Jane

"One of the most courageous things you can do is identify yourself, know who you are, what you believe in and where you want to go."

- Sheila Murray Bethel

"A lot of people are afraid to say what they want. That’s why they don’t get what they want."

- Madonna

"Drama is very important in life: You have to come on with a bang. You never want to go out with a whimper."

- Julia Child

"You can’t please everyone, and you can’t make everyone like you."

- Katie Couric

"Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference. That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying. And that can make a world of difference."

- Nikki Haley

"It’s not your job to like me, it’s mine."

- Byron Katie

"Just because you are blind, and unable to see my beauty doesn’t mean it does not exist."

- Margaret Cho

"Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere."

- Mae West

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

- Margaret Mead

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

- Katharine Hepburn

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

- Stephanie Bennett Henry

"Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands—two equally harmful disciplines."

- Simone de Beauvoir

"Never apologize for being a powerful woman."

"A strong woman stands up for herself. A stronger woman stands up for everybody else."

- Unknown

"When a woman becomes her own best friend life is easier."

"Sí se puede!"

"God is within her, she will not fall."

"She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future."

"By the grace of God, I am what I am."

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

"Declare over yourself: ‘God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.’"