Who are the women in your life? Are they mothers or sisters? Daughters or friends? What about the women who inspire you? Your teachers or your coaches, your boss or your co-workers, even actors or athletes you look up to?
In honor of Women’s History Month, we celebrate all of them today, this month, and always. Their ambition. Their strength. Their courage. Start with these 30 empowering quotes from women across all generations.
“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it.” — Brené Brown
“If you don’t see a clear path for what you want, sometimes you have to make it yourself.”— Mindy Kaling
“I think beauty comes from actually knowing who you are. That’s real beauty to me.” — Ellen Degeneres
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s the power of using your voice.” — Michelle Obama
“Know what sparks the light in you so that you, in your own way, can illuminate the world.” — Oprah Winfrey
“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
“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!” — Audrey Hepburn
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity.” — Amelia Earhart
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” — Maya Angelou
“We just need to be kinder to ourselves. If we treated ourselves the way we treated our best friend, can you imagine how much better off we would be?” — Meghan Markle
“One of the first steps to happiness is deciding that you want to be happy and knowing what that means.” — Julia Roberts
“Accentuate the positive, not the negative. It sounds so trite, but a lot of people will pick out something to complain about, rather than say, ‘Hey, that was great!’ It’s not hard to find great stuff if you look.” — Betty White
“I don’t believe in perfection. I don’t think there is such a thing. But the energy of wanting things to be great is a perfectionist energy.” — Reese Witherspoon
“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.” — J.K. Rowling
“I avoid looking back. I prefer good memories to regrets.” — Grace Kelly
“There are people out there who are struggling and I’m struggling, and it’s okay to come to terms with that being okay, to realize that it’s gonna be a bit of a journey.” — Chrissy Teigen
“I’ve come to believe that seeking happiness is not a frivolous pursuit. It’s honorable and necessary. And most people forget even to think about it.” — Goldie Hawn
“If you’re comfortable with yourself and know yourself, you’re going to shine and radiate and other people are going to be drawn to you.” — Dolly Parton
“If you were born with the weakness to fall, you were born with the strength to rise.” — Rupi Kaur
“Just to be alive is a grand thing.” — Agatha Christie
“The older I get, the greater power I seem to have to help the world; I am like a snowball – the further I am rolled the more I gain.” — Susan B. Anthony
“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” — Lucille Ball
“At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.” — Frida Kahlo
“The challenge is not to be perfect… it’s to be whole.” — Jane Fonda
“I really think a champion is defined not by their wins but by how they can recover when they fall.” — Serena Williams
“Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.” — Helen Keller
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” — Marilyn Monroe
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
“True freedom is understanding that we have a choice in who and what we allow to have power over us.” — Meryl Streep
“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” — Rosa Parks
This article was originally published in March 2020 and has been updated.
Photo by Crystal Sing/Twenty20.com
