50 Inspiring Strong Women Quotes to Share with Your Friends (2024)

There's no doubt about it: to be a woman, you've got to be resilient, resolute, and resourceful. From raising kids to caregiving parents, running the household to kicking butt in the workplace, women can (and do!) handle it all. In honor of formidable ladies everywhere, we've put together 50 of the finest strong woman quotes that speak to the power and grace of the fairer sex.

Share them with your squad, and keep them in mind for social media posts on International Women's Day and Women's Equality Day, too. They're sure to empower and encourage, whether you or your BFFs are facing challenges from being a single mom, fighting breast cancer, or a nursing a broken heart. (We especially love author and healer Alex Elle's uplifting message, "I am thankful for my struggle because, without it, I wouldn’t have stumbled across my strength.")

Or, if you're in the market for a feisty bit of funniness, you might want to consider Mae West's famous quip, "When I’m good, I’m very good. But when I’m bad, I’m better." No matter your mood, we've found quotes sure to rouse and inspire from female trailblazers including Malala Yousafzai, Oprah Winfrey, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Billie Jean King. After you've taken a peek, check out Empowering Women Quotes Everyone Needs to Hear from more tough and tenacious female authors, public servants, performers, and athletes.

Best Strong Women Quotes

• "The energy you’ll expend focusing on someone else’s life is better spent working on your own. Just be your own idol." —Sophia Amoruso
• "Ignore the glass ceiling and do your work. If you’re focusing on the glass ceiling, focusing on what you don’t have, focusing on the limitations, then you will be limited." —Ava DuVernay
• "If you can dance and be free and be embarrassed, you can rule the world." —Amy Poehler
• "You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them." —Maya Angelou
• "If you don’t see a clear path for what you want, sometimes you have to make it yourself." —Mindy Kaling
• "I can never be safe; I always try and go against the grain. As soon as I accomplish one thing, I just set a higher goal. That’s how I’ve gotten to where I am." —Beyoncé
• "The woman who doesn’t require validation from anyone is the most feared individual on the planet." —Mohadesa Najumi
• "Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." —Helen Keller
• "Be happy with being you. Love your flaws. Own your quirks." —Ariana Grande
• "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

Inspirational Strong Women Quotes

• "I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept." —Angela Davis
• "I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles." —Audrey Hepburn
• "There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women." —Malala Yousafzai
• "I say if I’m beautiful. I say if I’m strong. You will not determine my story—I will." —Amy Schumer
• "Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness." —Oprah Winfrey
• "They'll tell you you're too loud, that you need to wait your turn and ask the right people for permission. Do it anyway." —Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
• "I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art." —Madonna
• "When girls are given the right tools to succeed, they can create incredible futures, not only for themselves but also for those around them." —Meghan Markle
• "Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else." —Maya Angelou
• "A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform." —Diane Mariechild

Funny Strong Women Quotes

• "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle." —Gloria Steinem
• "For most of history, Anonymous was a woman." —Virginia Woolf
• "When I’m good, I’m very good. But when I’m bad, I’m better." —Mae West
• "I have bursts of being a lady, but it doesn't last long." —Shelley Winters
• "If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased." —Katharine Hepburn
• "I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it." —Marilyn Monroe
• "A woman is like a tea bag: You can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water." —Eleanor Roosevelt
• "Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then." —Katharine Hepburn
• "I married beneath me. All women do." —Nancy Astor
• "Why is it that men are permitted to be obsessed about their work, but women are only permitted to be obsessed about men?" —Barbra Streisand

Powerful Strong Women Quotes

• "I am thankful for my struggle because, without it, I wouldn’t have stumbled across my strength." —Alex Elle
• "Once I learned to like me more than others did, then I didn't have to worry about being the funniest or the most popular or the prettiest. I was the best me and I only ever tried to be that." —Issa Rae
• "I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart." —Anne Frank
• "Love yourself first and everything else falls into line." —Lucille Ball
• "The most important thing one woman can do for another is expand her sense of actual possibilities." —Adrienne Rich
• "She is water. Strong enough to drown you, soft enough to cleanse you, and deep enough to save you." —Rupi Kaur
• "You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody." —Maya Angelou
• "True champions aren't always the ones that win, but those with the most guts." —Mia Hamm
• "You should never let your fears prevent you from doing what you know is right." —Aung San Suu Kyi
• "The question isn't who's going to let me; it's who is going to stop me." —Ayn Rand

Short Strong Women Quotes

• "You don’t have to play masculine to be a strong woman." —Mary Elizabeth Winstead
• "Life is tough, my darling, but so are you." —Stephanie Bennett-Henry
• "Champions keep playing until they get it right." —Billie Jean King
• "You have to believe in yourself when no one else does." —Serena Williams
• "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." —Eleanor Roosevelt
• "Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you." —Margaret Thatcher
• "Am I good enough? Yes, I am." —Michelle Obama
• "I can if I want to because it's my business." —Tabitha Brown
• "She needed a hero. So that’s what she became." —Unknown
  
• "Whatever the problem, be part of the solution." —Tina Fey