Inspiration Within

From the Minds of Extraordinary Women

Inspiration Within offers the best collection of quotes for women by some of the world’s most brilliant women.

“It’s better to have a rich soul than to be rich.” — Olga Korbut

“The media’s power is frail. Without the people’s support, it can be shut off with the ease of turning a light switch.” — Corazon Aquino

“Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict — alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence.” — Dorothy Thompson

“I think it’s very important for everyone in America to realize right now the state of our country, not just on this issue but on a lot of issues, that it is time to get active again. People have just sat back and just sort of said, oh, let somebody else do it for a long time, and we’re seeing what’s happening to the country, even freedom of speech. It’s not going well. So I think this is a real opportunity for people to see, yes, if you do get out and you do get active, there are other people there. You just have to seek them out.”
— Mary Steenburgen

“Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.” — Oprah Winfrey

“Peace between countries must rest on the solid foundation of love between individuals.” — Indira Gandhi

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.” — Elizabeth Kübler-Ross

“Any woman whose I.Q. hovers above her body temperature must be a feminist.” — Rita Mae Brown

“Whenever people say ‘we mustn’t be sentimental’, you can take it they are about to do something cruel. And if they add, “we must be realistic”, they mean they are going to make money out of it.” — Brigid Brophy

“There’s no difference between one’s killing and making decisions that will send others to kill. It’s exactly the same thing, or even worse.” — Golda Meir

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” — Edith Wharton

“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat. “ — Mother Thersea

“No man or woman is worth your tears and the one that is won’t make you cry.” — Jennifer Ross

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead

“Something which we think is impossible now is not impossible in another decade.” — Constance Baker Motley

“As a woman I have no country. As a woman my country is the whole world.” — Virginia Woolf

“When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom that profit loses.” — Shirley Chisholm

“The first major step towards achieving true world peace, and one of the most important pinnacles in the evolution of mankind, is to shift peoples’ perception of how they view wealth. If we can change the way consumers place value on material versus spiritual wealth, we can demolish the media. We can make the government work for us. We can have Big Business serving the vested interests of the people and we can put a halt to advertising puffery, toxic chemicals in our medicines and foods, wars, violence, and corruption. Peacemakers come from all trades. We can be and will be self-sufficient. It starts now. We far outweigh those setting the rules and limitations.” — Suzy Kassem (also known as Blue Panther)

“When a woman tells the truth she is creating the possibility for more truth around her.” — Adrienne Rich

“Well behaved women rarely make history.” — Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

“Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” — Helen Keller

“Service is the rent we pay to be living. It is the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time.” — Marian Wright Edelman

“Peace has to be created, in order to be maintained. It is the product of Faith, Strength, Energy, Will, Sympathy, Justice, Imagination, and the triumph of principle. It will never be achieved by passivity and quietism.” — Dorothy Thompson

“Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.” — Marianne Williamson

“People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within.” — Ramona L. Anderson

“When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?” — Eleanor Roosevelt

“If we listened to our intellect, we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go into business, because we’d be too cynical. Well, that’s nonsense. You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.” — Annie Dillard

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” — Helen Keller

“Reason guides our attempt to understand the world about us. Both reason and compassion guide our efforts to apply that knowledge ethically, to understand other people, and have ethical relationships with other people.” — Molleen Matsumura

“Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.” — Nikita Krushchev

“We frail humans are at one time capable of the greatest good and, at the same time, capable of the greatest evil. Change will only come about when each of us takes up the daily struggle ourselves to be more forgiving, compassionate, loving, and above all joyful in the knowledge that, by some miracle of grace, we can change as those around us can change too.” — Mairead Maguire

“A feminist is a woman who does not allow anyone to think in her place.” — Michele Le Doeuff

“When we have the courage to speak out – to break our silence – we inspire the rest of the “moderates” in our communities to speak up and voice their views.” — Sharon Schuster

“You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor without having victims.” — Harriet Woods

“The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.” — Pearl S. Buck

“No one worth possessing can be quite possessed.” — Sara Teasdale

“Women should be tough, tender, laugh as much as possible, and live long lives. The struggle for equality continues unabated, and the woman warrior who is armed with wit and courage will be among the first to celebrate victory.” — Maya Angelou

“The happiest excitement in life is to be convinced that one is fighting for all one is worth on behalf of some clearly seen and deeply felt good.” — Ruth Benedict

“Toughness doesn’t have to come in a pinstripe suit.” — Dianne Feinstein

“When I dare to be powerful — to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” — Audre Lourde

“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” — Mother Teresa

“There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness.” — Han Suyin