100 Quotes to Empower and Inspire Women
Quotes
to Empower and Inspire Women benefit all of us,
regardless of gender. In most developed or developing countries, women
basically have the same rights as men. But despite the wonderful changes in the
way our society works, we, women, still have many reservations when it comes to
asserting our power and individuality. That is why it’s so important to
remember certain quotes to empower and inspire women. It’s as if we are
throwing away all the things past women leaders fought for. I think it’s time
that we learn to take pride in who and what we are. We are women and we can
make a difference in this world. You can begin by taking time to read these
quotes to empower and inspire women… to empower and inspire you.
- Nancy Reagan; Former First Lady of The United States of
America
·
“A woman is like
a tea bag: you cannot tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.”
This
is one of my favorite quotes to empower and inspire women… and it’s so
true for many of us!
2.
Janis Joplin,; American Singer
& Songwriter
·
“Don’t
compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.”
- Angelina Jolie,; ActRESS
·
“Figure
out who you are separate from your family, and the man or woman you’re in a
relationship with. Find who you are in this world and what you need to feel
good alone. I think that’s the most important thing in life. Find a sense of
self because with that, you can do anything else.”
- “Sarah Ban Breathnach; Author of Simple Abundance
·
Our
deepest wishes are whispers of our authentic selves. We must learn to respect
them. We must learn to listen.”
- Judy Garland,; ActRESS & Singer
·
“Always
be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of
somebody else.”
- Mother Teresa; Founder of The Order of
The Missionaries of Charity
·
“We
are all pencils in the hand of God writing love letters to the world.”
- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich; Historian of Early America And The
History of Women
·
“Well-behaved women rarely make history.”
- Suzanne Brogger; Danish Novelist And
Essayist
·
“If
a woman can only succeed by emulating men, I think it is a great loss and not a
success. The aim is not only for a woman to succeed, but to keep her womanhood
and let her womanhood influence society.”
- DEBBIE FORD; AUTHOR, SPEAKER AND FOUNDER OF THE FORD INSTITUTE FOR
INTEGRATIVE COACHING
·
“Remember,
all the answers you need are inside of you; you only have to become quiet
enough to hear them.”
- BENAZIR BHUTTO,; assassinated former
PRIME MINISTER OF PAKISTAN,; SPEECH ON SEPTEMBER 4, 1994 ON MALE DOMINATION OF WOMEN
·
“Women
became the victims of a culture of exclusion and male dominance. Today more
women than men suffer from poverty, deprivation, and discrimination. Half a
billion women are illiterate. Seventy percent of the children who are denied elementary education are girls.
The plight of women in the developing countries is
unspeakable. Hunger, disease, and unremitting toil is their fate. Weak economic
growth and inadequate social support systems affect them most seriously and
directly.”
- Audre Lorde; Caribbean-American Writer,
Poet, And Activist
·
“When
we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are
silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.”
- Anais Nin; French-Cuban Author
·
And the day came when the risk
to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
- Ruth Gordon; Actror And Writer
·
“Courage
is like a muscle. We strengthen it with use.”
- Clementine Paddleford; American Food
Writer
·
“Never
grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone should be.”
- Lena Horne; Singer, ActrESS, Dancer, And
Civil Rights Activist
·
“It’s
not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.”
- Alice Walker; American Author, Poet, And
Activist
·
“The
most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
- Roseanne Barr; ActrESS, Comedian, Writer
·
“The
thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it.”
- CHER; RECORDING ARTIST, AWARD
WINNING ACTRESS, DIRECTOR AND PHILANTHROPIST
·
“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.” and “Until
you’re ready to look foolish, you’ll never have the possibility of being
great.”
- Charlotte Lunsford Berry; Philanthropist
·
“We won’t always know whose lives we touched and made better
for our having cared, because actions can sometimes have unforeseen
ramifications. What’s important is that you do care and you act.”
- Joyce Meyer,;Charismatic Christian Author And Speaker
·
“Positive minds
produce positive lives. Negative minds produce negative lives. Positive
thoughts are always full of faith and hope. Negative thoughts are always full
of fear and doubt.”
- Martha Washington; Wife of George Washington
·
“I’ve learned
from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our
dispositions and not on our circumstances.”
- Agnes Repplier; American Essayist
·
“It is not easy
to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.”
- Anne Frank,;Author And One of The Most Renowned Jewish Victims of
The Holocaust
·
“We all live
with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the
same.”
- Jackie J oyner-Kersee; Retired American Athlete
·
“Age is no
barrier. It’s a limitation you put on your mind.”
- Mary Manin Morrissey; New Thought Minister
·
“Don’t wait for
something big to occur. Start where you are, with what you have, and that will
always lead you into something greater.”
- Liz Carpenter,;Writer And Feminist
·
“Instead of
looking at life as a narrowing funnel, we can see it ever widening to choose
the things we want to do, to take the wisdom we’ve learned and create
something.”
- Erica Jong; American Author And Teacher
·
“Everyone has
talent. What is rare is the courage to follow that talent to the…. place where
it leads.”
- Liz Smith; American Gossip Columnist
·
“Begin
somewhere; you cannot build a reputation on what you intend to do.”
- Anita Roddick; Founder of The Body Shop
·
“If you think
you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito.”
- Sonia Choquette; Author, Storyteller, Vibrational Healer
·
“Your own words are the bricks and mortar of the dreams you
want to realize. Your words are the greatest power you have. The words you
choose and their use establish the life you experience.”
- Diana Ross; American Singer
And Actress
I love quotes to empower and inspire women that come from women who
really have gone after their dreams.
·
“You can’t just sit there and wait for people to give you
that golden dream; you’ve got to get out there and make it happen for
yourself.”
- Helen Keller; American
Author And Political Activist
·
“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 opened for us.”
- Tammy Cravit; Writer
·
“Worrying is all about the illusion of control. When you
worry, you are expending energy, and it feels like you are doing something…
When you stop worrying, you free up energy that can be used more productively.”
- Margaret Young; American Singer
·
“Often people
attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more
money, in order to do more of what they want so they will be happier. The way
it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then,
do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.”
- Ella Fitzgerald; American
Jazz And Song Vocalist
·
“Just don’t give
up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and
inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.”
- Indira Gandhi; Indian Politician
·
“My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of
people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try
to be in the first group; there was much less competition.”
- Marian Wright Edelman; American Children’s Rights Activist
·
“Never work just for money or for power. They won’t save
your soul or help you sleep at night.”
- Mia Hamm; Retired American Soccer Player
·
“So celebrate
what you’ve accomplished, but raise the bar a little higher each time you
succeed.”
- Margaret Thatcher; Former Conservative Prime Minister of The UK
·
“If you just set
out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time,
and you would achieve nothing.”
- Barbara De Angelis; American Relationship And Personal Growth
Adviser
·
“Women need real moments of solitude and self-reflection to
balance out how much of ourselves we give away.”
- Oprah Winfrey; American Media Proprietor, Talk Show Host,
Philanthropist
It’s no surprise that Oprah has one of the quotes to empower and inspire women.
·
“If you neglect to recharge a battery, it dies. And if you
run full-speed ahead without stopping for water, you lose momentum to finish
the race.”
- Wynonna Judd; Country Music
Singer
·
“I learned again
that the mind-body-spirit connection has to be in balance.”
- Bette Midler; Singer,
ActRESS, And Comedian
·
“I always try to balance the light with the heavy: a few
tears of human spirit in with the sequins and the fringes.”
- Jennifer Aniston; ActrESS
·
“The greater
your capacity to love, the greater is your capacity to feel the pain.”
- Lily Tomlin; American
Actress
·
“For fast-acting
relief, try slowing down.”
- Michelle Obama; First
African-American First Lady of The United States of America
·
“Women in particular need to keep an eye on their physical
and mental health, because if we’re scurrying to and from appointments and
errands, we don’t have a lot of time to take care of ourselves. We need to do a
better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to-do’ list.”
- MARY KAY ASH; FOUNDER
OF MARY KAY COSMETICS
·
“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.”
- MARIE BEYON RAY;
AUTHOR
·
“Begin
doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this
moment, sparkling like a star in our hand – and melting like a snowflake.”
- Diane Mariechild; Author of
Mother Wit And Inner Dance
·
“A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to
create, nurture and transform.”
- Anna Quindlen; American Author
This one of my
favorite quotes
to empower and inspire women
·
“The thing that
is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning
the work of becoming yourself.”
- MAYA ANGELOU; AUTHOR AND POET
·
“I’ve learned
that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but
people will never forget how you made them feel.” as well as
“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.”
- candice casrpenter; founder of Ivillage.com
·
“If you are
committed to creating value and if you aren’t afraid of hard times; obstacles
become utterly unimportant. A nuisance perhaps; but with no real power. The
world respects creation; people will get out of your way.”
- ELAINE MAXWELL; AUTHOR
·
“My will shall
shape the future. Whether I fail or succeed shall be no one’s doing but my own.
I am the force. I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the
maze. My choice. My responsibility. Win or lose; only I hold the key to my destiny.”
- BARBARA WALTERS, BROADCAST
JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR
·
“Most of us have
trouble juggling. The woman who says she doesn’t is someone whom I admire but
have never met.”
- COCO CHANEL; FOUNDER OF CHANEL
·
“How many cares
one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.”
- ANNE MCKEVITT; ENTREPRENEUR, TV PERSONALITY, AUTHOR AND
PHILANTHROPIST
·
“Successful
people understand that you don’t need to make things complicated.”
- PHYLLIS BOTTOME; NOVELIST
AND SHORT STORY WRITER
·
“There are two
ways of meeting difficulties. You alter the difficulties or you alter yourself
to meet them.”
- EMILY DICKINSON; POET
·
“Hope is a thing
with feathers / That perches in the soul, / And sings the tune without words /
And never stops at all.”
- RITA MAE BROWN; AUTHOR AND
SCREENWRITER
·
“I believe you
are your work. Don’t trade the stuff of your life, time, for nothing more than
dollars. That’s a rotten bargain.”
- BILLIE BURKE; ACTRESS
·
“Age is
something that doesn’t matter, unless you are a cheese.”
- MADONNA; RECORDING ARTIST, ACTRESS
AND ENTREPRENEUR
·
“A lot of people
are afraid to say what they want. That’s why they don’t get what they want.”
- SARAH
BAN BRETHNACH; AUTHOR
·
“What if you began to expect the best from any situation? Isn’t it
possible that you could write new chapters in your life with happy endings?
Suspend your disbelief? Take a leap of faith? After all, what have you got to
lose but misery and lack?”
- GILDA RADNER; ACTRESS AND
COMEDIAN
·
“I always wanted
a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme,
and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about
not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it,
without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.”
- MARIANNE WILLIAMSON;
SPIRITUAL ACTIVIST, AUTHOR, LECTURER
·
“Our deepest
fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful
beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We
ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’
Actually, who are you not
to be? […] Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing
enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around
you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. […] It’s not just in some of
us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give
other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.”
- CHRISTINA ROSSETTI; AUTHOR
·
“Can anything be
sadder than work left unfinished? Yes; work never begun.”
- EILEEN
FISHER; FASHION DESIGNER
·
“Life-fulfilling work is never about the money – when you feel true
passion for something, you instinctively find ways to nurture it.”
- BILLIE JEAN KING; FORMER
PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER
·
“Be bold. If
you’re going to make an error, make a doozey, and don’t be afraid to hit the
ball.”
- HARRIET
BRAIKER; AUTHOR AND STRESS MANAGEMENT
·
“Striving
for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing.”
- HARRIET BEECHER STOWE;
WRITER
·
“Never give up,
for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
- MAE
WEST; ACTRESS, PLAYWRIGHT, SCREENWRITER
·
“You only live once but if you do it right, once is enough.”
- SUZE ORMAN; FINANCIAL
ADVISTOR, AUTHOR, MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER
·
“In all realms
of life it takes courage to stretch your limits, express your power, and
fulfill your potential.”
- STELLA MCCARTNEY; FASHION
DESIGNER
·
“Now, get out
there and kick ass!”
- SARAH SUSANKA; ARCHITECT AND AUTHOR
·
“Once you make
the unequivocal internal commitment to do something – when you absolutely know
this is the time and the place to act – the world around you will shift in all
sorts of apparently miraculous ways to make it happen.”
- MERYL STREEP; ACTRESS
·
“Start by
starting.”
- SISTER MARY CORITA KENT
·
“Love the
moment, and the energy of that moment will spread beyond all boundaries.”
- JULIA SOU; ACTRESS
·
“If you are
never scared, embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take chances.”
- ANNA QUINDLEN; AMERICAN
AUTHOR, JOURNALIST & COLUMNIST
·
“If your success
is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good
in your heart, it is not success at all.”
- BEVERLY SILLS; AMERICAN
OPERATIC SOPRANO
·
“You may be
disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.”
- JEAN NIDETCH; CO-FOUNDER OF
WEIGHT WATCHERS ORG.
·
“It’s choice –
not chance – that determines your destiny.”
- ERMA BOMBECK; AMERICAN HUMOURIST
& AUTHOR
·
“If you can’t
make it better, you can laugh at it”
- AMELIA EARHART; AMERICAN AVIATION
PIONEER AND AUTHOR
·
“The most effective way to do it, is to do it.”
- ELIZABETH KUBLER-ROSS; SWISS
PSYCHIATRIST, AUTHOR AND PIONEER OF NEAR-DEATH STUDIES (one of my Favorite writers. I use her principles in my work)
·
“It is only when
we truly know
and understand that we have a limited time on Earth and that we
have no way of knowing when our time is up that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it
were the only one we had.”
- KATHERINE HEPBURN; HEADSTRONG
ACTRESS
·
“If you obey all
the rules, you miss all the fun.”
- MARCI SHIMOFF; AUTHOR &
TRANSFORMATIONAL EXPERT
·
“When you
forgive, you heal your own anger and hurt and are able to let love lead again. It’s like spring cleaning for your
heart”
- DIANE ACKERMAN; AMERICAN AUTHOR,
POET & NATURALIST
·
“I don’t want to
get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want
to have lived the width of it as well.”
- ETHYL BARRYMORE; ACTRESS
·
“You grow
up the day you have your
first real laugh at yourself”
- SALLY BERGER
·
“The secret of
getting ahead is getting started”
- CHARLOTTE WHITTON; SOCIAL WORKER,
CANADIAN FEMINIST & FORMER MAYOR OF OTTAWA
·
“Whatever women
do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this
is not difficult.”
- DIANE MARIECHILD; AUTHOR, LECTURER
·
“A woman is the full
circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.”
- SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR; FRENCH WRITER,
EXISTENTIALIST PHILOSOPHER
·
“One is not born
a woman, one becomes one.”
- ELIZABETH CADY STANTON; WOMEN’S
RIGHTS ACTIVIST
·
“The best
protection any woman can have … is courage.”
- ROSALIND RUSSELL; ACTRESS
·
“Taking joy in
living is a woman’s best cosmetic.”
- C. JOYBELL C.; PHILOSOPHICAL WRITER
“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.”
- LAURIE STAVOE HARM
·
“There is a
secret in our culture, And it’s not that childbirth is painful, It’s that women
are strong.”
- JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT; ACTRESS
·
“A world without
men would consist of a bunch of fat, happy women with no crime.”
- CASSANDRA DUFFY; REGULAR GAL
·
“I'd rather be
thought of as smart, capable, strong, and compassionate than beautiful. Those
things all persist long after beauty fades.”
- ROSA PARKS; AFRICAN-AMERICAN CIVIL
RIGHTS ACTIVIST
·
"I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free....so other people would be also free"
- BELL HOOKS; AUTHOR
·
“The one person
who will never leave us, whom we will never lose, is ourself. Learning to love
our female selves is where our search for love must begin.”
- MARILYN MONROE; ACTRESS
·
“Dogs never bite me. Just humans."
- ARLENE
DICKINSON; CANADIAN ENTREPRENEUR & CO-HOST OF “THE DRAGON’S DEN”
·
“It’s not about
being the best. It’s about doing your best.”
