Whether you’re looking to impart wise words during Women’s History Month or simply looking to uplift and inspire your students on the day-to-day, we’ve rounded up 75 phenomenal quotes from history’s most famous ladies. Here, we’ll introduce you to sage advice from greats like Maya Angelou, Helen Keller, Eleanor Roosevelt, and more!
1. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
2. “I would rather be handsome for an hour than pretty for a week.” – Tilda Swinton
3. “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.” – Maya Angelou
4. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
5. “I’m tough, I’m ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.” – Madonna
6. “If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.” – Katharine Hepburn
7. “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.” – Helen Keller
8. “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.” – Diana Ross
9. “There’s no such thing as aging, but maturing and knowledge. It’s beautiful, I call that beauty.” – Celine Dion
10. “You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.” – Barbara De Angelis
11. “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
12. “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” – Simone de Beauvoir
13. “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West
14. “I may be the first woman member of Congress but I won’t be the last.” – Jeannette Rankin
15. “The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” – Ayn Rand
16. “I’d like to be remembered as someone who was not afraid to do what she wanted to do, and as someone who took risks along the way in order to achieve her goals.” – Sally Ride
17. “We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves. We have to step up as women and take the lead.” – Beyoncé
18. “Fear is stupid. So are regrets.” – Marilyn Monroe
19. “When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.” – Malala Yousafzai
20. “I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves.” – Mary Shelley
21. “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
22. “A woman with a voice is, by definition, a strong woman.” – Melinda Gates
23. “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” – Audre Lorde
24. “I don’t go by the rule book… I lead from the heart, not the head.” – Princess Diana
25. “It’s not the absence of fear, it’s overcoming it. Sometimes you’ve got to blast through and have faith.” – Emma Watson
26. “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
27. “In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.” – Margaret Thatcher
28. “You are more powerful than you know; you are beautiful just as you are.” – Melissa Etheridge
29. “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” – Alice Walker
30. “I would like to be known as an intelligent woman, a courageous woman, a loving woman, a woman who teaches by being.” – Maya Angelou
31. “You have to believe in yourself when no one else does.” – Serena Williams
32. “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 that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” – Marie Curie
33. “Do not bring people in your life who weigh you down. And trust your instincts…good relationships feel good. They feel right. They don’t hurt.” – Oprah Winfrey
34. “A woman is like a tea bag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
35. “Step out of the history that is holding you back. Step into the new story you are willing to create.” – Oprah Winfrey
36. “Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.” – Golda Meir
37. “Success isn’t about the end result, it’s about what you learn along the way.” – Vera Wang
38. “The difference between successful people and others is how long they spend time feeling sorry for themselves.” – Barbara Corcoran
39. “I choose to make the rest of my life, the best of my life.” – Louise Hay
40. “It’s not your job to like me, it’s mine.” – Byron Katie
41. “I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know that I’m going to be positive and not wake up feeling desperate.” – Billie Holiday
42. “I am not a has-been. I am a will be.” – Lauren Bacall
43. “If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not making decisions.” – Catherine Cook
44. “Don’t look at your feet to see if you are doing it right. Just dance.” – Anne Lamott
45. “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
46. “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
47. “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
48. “The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.” – Coco Chanel
49. “You can waste your lives drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them.” – Shonda Rhimes
50. “You are the one that possesses the keys to your being. You carry the passport to your own happiness.” – Diane von Furstenberg
51. “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” – Dolly Parton
52. “Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.” – Sara Blakely
53. “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
54. “Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.” – Dr. Mae Jemison
55. “Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.” – Maya Angelou
56. “I didn’t get there by wishing for it or hoping for it, but by working for it.” – Estée Lauder
57. “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
58. “You can never leave footprints that last if you are always walking on tiptoe.” – Leymah Gbowee
59. “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.” – Malala Yousafzai
60. “The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.” – Faye Wattleton
61. “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
62. “The question is not whether we are able to change but whether we are changing fast enough.” – Angela Merkel
63. “Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations… can never effect a reform.” – Susan B. Anthony
64. “Whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles.” – Tina Fey
65. “It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
66. “In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.” – Sheryl Sandberg
67. “Knowing what must be done does away with fear.” – Rosa Parks
68. “There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” – Michelle Obama
70. “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” – Mother Teresa
71. “Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity.” – Coco Chanel
72. “We are here not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers.” – Emmeline Pankhurst
73. “Don’t ever make decisions based on fear. Make decisions based on hope and possibility. Make decisions based on what should happen, not what shouldn’t.” – Michelle Obama
74. “You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute.” – Tina Fey
75. “Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
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