85+ Women History Makers Quotes: Lessons from Legends

Little do we think that women in the United States were finally given the right to vote in 1920, and that it wasn’t until 2021 that a woman became Vice President. Throughout history, women have torn down barriers, defied convention, and transformed the world-a task not easily done, considering the obstacles that often met them. Their words of wisdom, courage, and determination continue to inspire generations. From politics to science, literature to activism, women have left their indelible marks on every field of human enterprise. This article presents 100 quotes from the repository of historic women. Lessons in perseverance, leadership, equality, and relentless pursuit of dreams- much to learn from the words of trailblazers, visionaries, and change-makers. Let their voices guide and inspire you on your journey of growth and impact.

On Leadership and Power

1. “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” – Amelia Earhart
2. “If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.” – Dolly Parton
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 question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” – Ayn Rand
5. “Power’s not given to you. You have to take it.” – Beyoncé Knowles-Carter

These quotes remind us of the strength and determination required for leadership. Let’s explore more insights from women who have shaped history:

6. “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” – Alice Walker
7. “No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens.” – Michelle Obama
8. “If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.” – Margaret Thatcher
9. “I raise up my voice—not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard.” – Malala Yousafzai
10. “The day will come when men will recognize woman as his peer, not only at the fireside, but in councils of the nation. Then, and not until then, will there be the perfect comradeship, the ideal union between the sexes that shall result in the highest development of the race.” – Susan B. Anthony

On Equality and Justice

11. “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” – Audre Lorde
12. “Equality is not a concept. It’s not something we should be striving for. It’s a necessity. Equality is like gravity. We need it to stand on this earth as men and women.” – Joss Whedon
13. “Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights.” – Hillary Clinton
14. “There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” – Michelle Obama
15. “I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves.” – Mary Wollstonecraft

These powerful statements highlight the ongoing struggle for equality and justice:

16. “The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.” – Gloria Steinem
17. “I am not ashamed to dress ‘like a woman’ because I don’t think it’s shameful to be a woman.” – Iggy Pop
18. “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made.” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg
19. “A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.” – Gloria Steinem
20. “The best protection any woman can have… is courage.” – Elizabeth Cady Stanton

On Education and Knowledge

21. “One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.” – Malala Yousafzai
22. “The highest result of education is tolerance.” – Helen Keller
23. “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
24. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela
25. “I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.” – Abraham Lincoln

These quotes emphasize the transformative power of education:

26. “You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.” – Brigham Young
27. “The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” – Malcolm Forbes
28. “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” – William Butler Yeats
29. “The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.” – B.B. King
30. “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X

On Courage and Perseverance

31. “I learned a long time ago that there is something worse than missing the goal, and that’s not pulling the trigger.” – Mia Hamm
32. “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
33. “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.'” – Mary Anne Radmacher
34. “The most effective way to do it, is to do it.” – Amelia Earhart
35. “I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life—and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

These quotes remind us of the importance of courage and perseverance in the face of adversity:

36. “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
37. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
38. “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” – Dolly Parton
39. “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
40. “Courage is like a muscle. We strengthen it by use.” – Ruth Gordon

On Creativity and Innovation

41. “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein
42. “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou
43. “Creativity is just connecting things.” – Steve Jobs
44. “The chief enemy of creativity is good sense.” – Pablo Picasso
45. “To create one’s own world takes courage.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

These quotes highlight the importance of creativity and innovative thinking:

46. “Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye.” – Dorothy Parker
47. “The creative adult is the child who survived.” – Ursula K. Le Guin
48. “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams
49. “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” – Pablo Picasso
50. “Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” – Albert Einstein

On Success and Achievement

51. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
52. “Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and build a life you’re proud to live.” – Anne Sweeney
53. “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” – Maya Angelou
54. “I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” – Estée Lauder
55. “Success isn’t about how much money you make; it’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.” – Michelle Obama

These quotes offer diverse perspectives on what it means to be successful:

56. “The key to success is to focus on goals, not obstacles.” – Unknown
57. “Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.” – Roy T. Bennett
58. “The difference between successful people and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.” – Vince Lombardi
59. “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
60. “The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire, the size of your dream, and how you handle disappointment along the way.” – Robert Kiyosaki

On Change and Progress

61. “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw
62. “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” – Alan Watts
63. “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” – Barack Obama
64. “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
65. “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” – Albert Einstein

These quotes remind us of the importance of embracing change and driving progress:

66. “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston Churchill
67. “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates
68. “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” – John F. Kennedy
69. “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” – Maya Angelou
70. “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” – Albert Einstein

On Resilience and Overcoming Adversity

71. “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” – Maya Angelou
72. “The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.” – Robert Jordan
73. “Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” – J.K. Rowling
74. “When we learn how to become resilient, we learn how to embrace the beautifully broad spectrum of the human experience.” – Jaeda DeWalt
75. “Resilience is very different than being numb. Resilience means you experience, you feel, you fail, you hurt. You fall. But, you keep going.” – Yasmin Mogahed

These quotes highlight the power of resilience in the face of challenges:

76. “The human capacity for burden is like bamboo – far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance.” – Jodi Picoult
77. “Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before.” – Elizabeth Edwards
78. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius
79. “It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop.” – Dieter F. Uchtdorf
80. “The difference between a strong man and a weak one is that the former does not give up after a defeat.” – Woodrow Wilson

On Love and Relationships

81. “The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.” – Victor Hugo
82. “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” – Maya Angelou
83. “The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds.” – Nicholas Sparks
84. “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” – Aristotle
85. “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.” – Eden Ahbez

These quotes remind us of the power and importance of love in our lives:

86. “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” – Oscar Wilde
87. “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” – Morrie Schwartz
88. “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” – Robert A. Heinlein
89. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
90. “Love is friendship that has caught fire.” – Ann Landers

On Legacy and Impact

91. “If you’re not making someone else’s life better, then you’re wasting your time. Your life will become better by making other lives better.” – Will Smith
92. “The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith.” – Billy Graham
93. “Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.” – Shannon L. Alder
94. “The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy.” – Kalu Ndukwe Kalu
95. “Your story is the greatest legacy that you will leave to your friends. It’s the longest-lasting legacy you will leave to your heirs.” – Steve Saint

These final quotes emphasize the importance of leaving a positive impact on the world:

96. “The greatest use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.” – William James
97. “The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.” – Benjamin Disraeli
98. “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” – Pericles
99. “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” – William Shakespeare
100. “The question shouldn’t be ‘What do we want to know about people?’, it should be ‘What do people want to tell about themselves?'” – Mark Zuckerberg

These quotes from history’s leading ladies hold a wealth of wisdom, inspiration, and insight within them. The words range from leadership and equality to education and resilience, serving to remind us of the incredible effect women have made in shaping our world. The resounding core is straightforward: with a little courage, determination, and will to make things different, any one of us has the power to effect change. As we reflect on these powerful words, let us bear in mind that history makers are still possible today in our own rights. Embracing one’s unique strength, daring to stand up for what one believes in, and supporting others-we can move forward with the founding legacy these women began and will create a more just, equal, and compassionate world for all. Allow these quotes to motivate you to dream big, overcome obstacles, and leave your own positive mark on the world.