100+ Inspirational Women Quotes to Empower and Uplift

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

- Viola Davis

"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

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

- Ruth Bader Ginsburg

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

- Malala Yousafzai

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

- Michelle Obama

"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

"It is past time for women to take their rightful place, side by side with men, in the rooms where the fates of peoples, where their children’s and grandchildren’s fates, are decided."

- Hillary Clinton

"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

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

- Maya Angelou

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

- Serena Williams

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

- 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

"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

"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

"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

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

- Malala Yousafzai

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

- Gloria Steinem

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

- Gloria Steinem

"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

"Do one thing every day that scares you."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"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

"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

"We can do no great things, only small things with great love."

- Mother Theresa

"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

"We have to become the men we wanted to marry."

- Gloria Steinem

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

- Amelia Earhart

"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

"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

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

- Erica Jong

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

- Anaïs Nin

"We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change."

- Sheryl Sandberg

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

- Oprah Winfrey

"Find out who you are and be that person. That’s what your soul was put on this Earth to be. Find that truth, live that truth and everything else will come."

- Ellen DeGeneres

"Don't limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve."

- Mary Kay Ash

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

- Swati Sharma

"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

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

- Reese Witherspoon

"…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

"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

"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

"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

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

- Malala Yousafzai

"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

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

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

- Maya Angelou

"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

"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

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

- Amelia Earhart

"I believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained."

- Marie Curie

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

- Ruth Bader Ginsburg

"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

"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

"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

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

- 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

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

- Oprah

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

- Hillary Clinton

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

- Dolly Parton

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

- Oprah Winfrey

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

- Maya Angelou

"Girls should never be afraid to be smart."

- Emma Watson

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

- Jacinda Ardern

"Be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else."

- Judy Garland

"Being confident and believing in your own self-worth is necessary to achieving your potential."

- Sheryl Sandberg

"You might not be able to control your circumstances, but you can control your response to your circumstances."

- Condoleezza Rice

"Well-behaved women seldom make history."

- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

"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

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

- Melinda Gates

"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

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

- Ayn Rand

"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

"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

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

- Audre Lorde

"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

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

- Eleanor Roosevelt

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

- Angela Y. Davis

"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

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

- Madeleine Albright

"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

"We need to get women to the point where they aren’t apologizing. It’s time to take ownership in our success."

- Tori Burch

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

- Octavia Butler

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

- Malala Yousafzai

"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

"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

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

- Alex Elle

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

- Stephanie Bennett Henry

"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

"Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure you do things differently from everyone else."

- Sarah Blakely

"It is our choices, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

- J.K. Rowling

"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

"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

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

- Helen Keller

"Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you."

- Ruth Bader Ginsburg

"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

"At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can."

- Frida Kahlo

"If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one."

- Dolly Parton

"Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier."

- Mother Teresa

"Find out who you are and be that person. That’s what your soul was put on this Earth to be. Find that truth, live that truth, and everything else will come."

- Ellen DeGeneres

"When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead, they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future."

- Queen Elizabeth

"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

"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

"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

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

- George Eliot

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

- George Eliot

"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

"You can waste your lives drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them."

- Shonda Rhimes

"Normal is not something to aspire to, it’s something to get away from."

- Jodie Foster

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

- Emma Raducanu

"Women are the backbone of any society."

- Diane Mariechild

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

- Oprah Winfrey

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

- Beanie Feldstein

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

- Arnold Schwarzenegger

"Women are the real superheroes."

- Vanessa Paradis

"Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country."

- Margaret Thatcher

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

- Mary Elizabeth Winstead

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

- Helen Keller

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

- Mother Teresa

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

- Edith Wharton

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

- Colin Powell

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

- Lisa Messenger

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

- Calamity Jane

"A charming woman doesn’t follow the crowd; she is herself."

- Loretta Young

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

- Jane Fonda

"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

"Be the type of girl that climbs the ladder wrong by wrong."

- Mae West

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is only enough."

- Mae West

"Women are the real architects of society."

- Cher

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

- Nimco Ali

"If you don’t get out of the box you’ve been raised in, you won’t understand how much bigger the world is."

- Angelina Jolie

"Expect the unexpected, and whenever possible, be the unexpected."

- Lynda Berry

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

- W. P. Kinsella

"No matter what happens in life, be good to people. Being good to people is a wonderful legacy to leave behind."

- Taylor Swift

"I don’t care what you think about me. I don’t think about you at all."

- Coco Chanel

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

- Madonna

"I dwell in possibility."

- Emily Dickinson

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

- Margaret Mead

"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

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

- Charlotte Whitton

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

- Lucille Ball

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

- Kamala Harris

"Our deepest wishes are whispers of our authentic self. We must learn to respect them. We must learn to listen."

- Sarah Ban Breathnach

"Women are the heartbeat of humanity."

- DJ Cuppy

"I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list."

- Susan Sontag

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

- Michelle Obama

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

- Glinda the Good Witch

"After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backward and in high heels."

- Ann Richards

"Women are the glue that holds everything together."

- Jada Pinkett Smith

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

- Helen Keller

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

- Amy Tan

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

- Aubrey Plaza

"If you don’t like being a doormat then get off the floor."

- Al Anon

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

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

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

"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."

"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."