Be inspired by these quotes by famous women who are renowned as writers and great thinkers of their time. On this page you will find a curated list of more than 40 quotes by women writers who have left a legacy of life quotes that go beyond the everyday and speak to all women about how they can harness their power.
It is worth taking a few moments to savior these inspirational quotes by famous women as there is a wealth of truth and wisdom to be gleaned from their observations about life.
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| "40+ Quotes by Famous Women Writers to Live By and Empower You |
Quotes by Famous Women You Can Live By
Over the years famous women writers in response to social and economic changes in the world have questioned the rights of women and their role in society. The distilled knowledge of their wisdom comes to us in the form of life quotes. These reflections speak to women of empowerment and are motivational nuggets that are just as relevant for women of today as yesterday.
Some of the common themes covered within these quotes by famous women include:
- taking risks
- being true to yourself
- carving out your own happiness
- not allowing fear to control what you do
- taking action in the now to get what you want
- putting yourself outside your comfort zone in order to achieve your goals
- embracing the points of difference that make you uniquely who you are
- persisting in the face of adversity
- rewarding yourself to maintain motivation
- accepting failure as part and parcel of any process
- rebuilding even from rock bottom
- learning from your mistakes
- not letting regret hold you back
- living your own life rather than living through someone else whether it be a partner or husband
- maintaining a sense of humor
- creating a life rather than it creating you
The list below includes wisdom from many voices across time including George Eliot, Anaïs Nin, Eleanor Roosevelt, Maya Angelou and Alice Walker to name a few. Study these famous women quotes, think about how you can apply them to your own life. Consider sharing any that particularly resonate with you on Facebook or Pinterest.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Eleanor Roosevelt
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| "Do one thing every day that scares you." Eleanor Roosevelt Quote |
It's never too late to be what you might have been.
George Eliot
One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats.
Iris Murdoch
- You are in charge of how you react to the people and events in your life. You can either give negativity power over your life or you can choose happiness instead.
Anais Nin
Don’t wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get, you’ve got to make yourself.
Alice Walker
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| "Don’t wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get, you’ve got to make yourself." Alice Walker Quote |
- I'm choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I'm making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises.
Elizabeth Gilbert
- Happiness is a matter of one's most ordinary and everyday mode of consciousness being busy and lively and unconcerned with self.
Iris Murdoch
I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.
Louisa May Alcott
Women are the real architects of society.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Whoever is happy will make others happy.
Anne Frank |
| "Whoever is happy will make others happy." Anne Frank Quote on happiness |
- My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.
Maya Angelou
- Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.
Nora Ephron
- Empowering women means trusting them.
Isabel Allende
- If you are always trying to be normal, you’ll never know how amazing you can be.
Maya Angelou
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt
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| "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Eleanor Roosevelt Quote on holding your power |
The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.
Alice Walker
The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.
Ayn Rand
Women are always saying, “We can do anything that men can do”. But men should be saying, “We can do anything that women can do.
Gloria Steinem
How wrong is it for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself.
Anaïs Nin
We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already.
J.K. Rowling
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| "We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already." J.K. Rowling quote |
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
When you get into a tight place, and everything goes against you till it seems as if you couldn’t hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that’s just the place and time that the tide’ll turn.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
I raise up my voice - not so I can shout, but so those without a voice can be heard ... we cannot succeed when half of us are held back.
Malala Yousafzai
You should never let your fears prevent you from doing what you know is right.
Aung San Suu Kyi
Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it; it's only good for wallowing in.
Katherine Mansfield
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| "Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it; it's only good for wallowing in." Katherine Mansfield quote |
Well-behaved women rarely make history.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
J. K. Rowling
One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.
Simone de Beauvoir
Humor is one of the best ingredients of survival.
Aung San Suu Kyi
You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.
Maya Angelou
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| "You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them." Maya Angelou quote on dealing with adversity |
A word after a word after a word is power.
Margaret Atwood
If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.
Toni Morrison
Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.
Barbara Kingsolver
You can’t please everyone, and you can’t make everyone like you.
Katie Couric
Adventure is not outside man, it is within.
George Eliot
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| "Adventure is not outside man, it is within." George Eliot quote about empowering yourself from within rather than looking for it externally |
To acknowledge the presence of fear is to give birth to failure.
Katherine Mansfield
Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth.
Katherine Mansfield
One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.
Virginia Woolf, The Moment and Other Essays
It isn't what we say or think that defines us but what we do.
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
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| "It isn't what we say or think that defines us but what we do." Jane Austen quote on taking action rather just thinking about it |
If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.
Eleanor Roosevelt
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| "Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be." Eleanor Roosevelt quote on life |
Final Thoughts
Hope you are feeling empowered by this list of quotes by famous women. Please feel free to bookmark it and share this article. This page will continue to expand as I find more great quotes by women writers to live by and be empowered by.
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