Whether you’re in need of a mid-semester pick-me-up, or just some daily inspiration, some of history’s strongest women have graced us with phenomenal quotes to live our lives by. Powerful, hardworking women are the driving source behind many of your favorite role models. They can inspire and push us to reach our greatest potential.
Copy your favorite quotes in your planner, on your mirror, or on sticky notes around your home. Feel empowered at a glance, then keep kicking ass. You’re a queen.
1. “Power’s not given to you. You have to take it.” –Beyoncé Knowles Carter
2. “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
3. “I didn’t get there by wishing for it or hoping for it, but by working for it.” –Estée Lauder
Estée Lauder (1908-2004): Businessperson and co-founder of cosmetic company Estée Lauder.
4. “Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations can never effect a reform.” –Susan B. Anthony
5. “Be first and be lonely.” –Ginni Rometty
6. “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” –Jane Goodall
7. “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” –Eleanor Roosevelt
8. “It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.” –Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou (1928-2014): Poet, memoirist and civil rights activist.
9. “I am always busy, which is perhaps the chief reason why I am always well.” –Elizabeth Cady Stanton
10. “I’m always perpetually out of my comfort zone.” –Tory Burch
11. “If you can’t go straight ahead, you go around the corner.” –Cher
12. “There are two kinds of people, those who do work and who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there.” –Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi (1917-1984): Former Prime Minister of India.
13. “If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.” –Margaret Thatcher
14. “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
15. “Cherish forever what makes you unique, cuz you’re really a yawn if it goes.” –Bette Midler
16. “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
Anaïs Nin (1903-1977): Novelist, essayist and diarist.
17. “Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.” –Harper Lee
18. “We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.” –Malala Yousafzai
19. “Instead of looking at the past, I put myself ahead twenty years and try to look at what I need to do now in order to get there then.” –Diana Ross
20. “I’m tough, I’m ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.” –Madonna
21. “Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got. There is no yesterday, no tomorrow, it’s all the same day.” –Janis Joplin
22. “Don’t mistake politeness for lack of strength.” –Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Sotomayor (1954–): Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
23. “The most effective way to do it, is to do it.” –Amelia Earhart
24. “On my own I will just create, and if it works, it works, and if it doesn’t, I’ll create something else. I don’t have any limitations on what I think I could do or be.” –Oprah Winfrey
25. “Certain people—men of course—discouraged me, saying [science] was not a good career for women. That pushed me even more to persevere.” –Francoise Barré
26. “Don’t let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity.” –Mae Jemison
27. “I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy.” –Marie Curie
Marie Curie (1867–1934): Physicist
28. “There are still many causes worth sacrificing for, so much history yet to be made.” –Michelle Obama
29. “I hope the fathers and mothers of little girls will look at them and say ‘yes, women can.'” –Dilma Rouseff
30. “Never be ashamed of how you feel. You have the right to feel any emotion you want, and do what makes you happy. That’s my life motto.” –Demi Lovato
31. “Hard days are the best because that’s when champions are made.” –Gabby Douglas
Gabby Douglas (1995–): Olympic gymnast