“Women, whether subtly or vociferously, have always been a tremendous power in the destiny of the world.” —Eleanor Roosevelt, It’s Up to the Women
“Power is being redefined. Women often explain with care that we mean power to control our lives, but not to dominate others.” —Gloria Steinem, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” —Angela Davis
“If the feminine issue is so absurd, is because the male’s arrogance made it ‘a discussion’.” —Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
“Women have discovered that they cannot rely on men’s chivalry to give them justice.” —Helen Keller
“Well-behaved women seldom make history.” —Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
“Her own thoughts and reflections were habitually her best companions.” —Jane Austin, Mansfield Park
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” —Maya Angelou
“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.” —Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“You don’t have to be pretty. You don’t owe prettiness to anyone... Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked ‘female’.” —Erin McKean
“You have to believe in yourself when no one else does.” —Serena Williams
“Alone she goes to the gates of death to give life to every man that is born into the world.” —Elizabeth Stanton, Solitude of Self
“No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed to an uncharted land.” — Helen Keller, Optimism: An Essay
“Females are the most beautiful, gorgeous creatures in the whole world. And I think that we are gorgeous no matter what size we are.” —Alicia Keys
“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” —Audre Lorde
“Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness.” —Oprah Winfrey
“It’s the mark of a backward society – or a society moving backward – when decisions are made for women by men.” —Melinda Gates, The Moment of Lift
“Since stepping reluctantly into public life, I’ve been held up as the most powerful woman in the world and taken down as an ‘angry black woman’. I’ve wanted to ask my detractors which part of that phrase matters to them the most: Is it ‘angry’ or ‘black’ or ‘woman’?” — Michelle Obama, Becoming
“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
“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
“It’s important to teach our female youth that it’s OK to say, ‘Yes, I am good at this,’ and you don’t hold back.” —Simone Biles
“I can promise you that women working together – linked, informed and educated – can bring peace and prosperity to this forsaken planet.” —Isabelle Allende
