In the midst of a long work week, it can be tough to keep your spirits high and your positivity intact. But try not to let your circumstances get you down for too long—new beginnings may be here before you know it.
Until then, consult these 48 positive quotes from fellow women to add a little brightness to your life—or at the very least, to your work week.
On ambition
-
“You can waste your lives drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them.”
— Shonda Rhimes , TV writer and producer and author
-
“I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done.”
—Lucille Ball, actress comedian, model, entertainment studio executive, and producer
-
“Step out of the history that is holding you back. Step into the new story you are willing to create.”
—Oprah Winfrey, media executive, actress, talk show host, television producer, and philanthropist
-
“Everyone shines, given the right lighting.”
—Susan Cain, writer and lecturer
-
“You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute.”
—Tina Fey, actress, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright
-
“It’s possible to climb to the top without stomping on other people.”
—Taylor Swift, singer and songwriter
-
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
—Alice Walker, novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist
-
“You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.”
—Rosalynn Carter, activist and former First Lady of the United States
-
“If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not making decisions.”
—Catherine Cook, entrepreneur
-
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt, political figure, diplomat, activist, and former First Lady of the United States
Read more: 38 Powerful Quotes from Women Who Don't Mess Around
-
“The most effective way to do it, is to do it.”
—Amelia Earhart, aviation pioneer and author
-
“The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”
—Ayn Rand, author and philosopher
-
“I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.”
—Estée Lauder, business woman and cosmetics pioneer
-
“Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.”
—Ella Fitzgerald, jazz singer
-
“Limit your‘always’ and your‘nevers.’”
—Amy Poehler, actress, comedian, writer, producer, and director
-
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive.”
—Maya Angelou, poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist
Read more: 28 Inspirational Quotes to Get You Out of Your Work Funk
On Strength and self-love
-
“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.”
—Malala Yousafzai, activist, author, and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate
-
“I have stood on a mountain of nos for one yes.”
—B. Smith, restaurateur, model, author, businesswoman, and television host
-
"By doing the work to love ourselves more, I believe we will love each other better."
—Laverne Cox, actress and LGBTQ+ advocate
-
“It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.”
— Madeleine Albright , politician, diplomat, and the first female United States Secretary of State
-
“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”
—Nora Ephron, journalist, writer, and filmmaker
-
“You can’t please everyone, and you can’t make everyone like you.”
—Katie Couric, television personality, journalist, and author
Read more:29 Quotes About Strong Women, by Strong Women
-
“If you find someone you love in your life, then hang on to that love.”
—Princess Diana, activist and former member of the British royal family
-
“I try to live in a little bit of my own joy and not let people steal it or take it.”
—Hoda Kotb, broadcast journalist, television personality, and author
-
“It’s not the absence of fear, it’s overcoming it. Sometimes you’ve got to blast through and have faith.”
—Emma Watson, actress, activist, and model
-
“I am a woman with thoughts and questions and sh*t to say. I say if I’m beautiful. I say if I’m strong. You will not determine my story—I will.”
—Amy Schumer, comedian, actress, and writer
-
“The best protection any woman can have … is courage.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, suffragist, social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early women's rights movement
-
“It’s not your job to like me, it’s mine.”
—Byron Katie, speaker and author
-
“What makes you different or weird, that’s your strength.”
—Meryl Streep, actress
-
“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
―Charlotte Brontë, novelist and poet
-
“Don’t be afraid to speak up for yourself. Keep fighting for your dreams.”
—Gabby Douglas, Olympic gymnast
Read more: 37 Quotes from Badass Women to Remind You How Awesome Women Are
-
“I can’t think of any better representation of beauty than someone who is unafraid to be herself.”
—Emma Stone, actress
-
“No matter what you look like or think you look like you’re special and loved and perfect just the way you are.”
—Ariel Winter, actress
-
“No matter what you're going through, there's a light at the end of the tunnel.”
—Demi Lovato, singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality
-
“Just watch, all of you men. I’ll show you what a woman can do…I’ll go across the country, I’ll race to the Moon… I’ll never look back.”
—Edna Gardner Whyte, aviator and air racer
-
“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.”
—Oprah Winfrey, media executive, actress, talk show host, television producer, and philanthropist
-
"You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose."
—Indira Gandhi, Indian politician and first female prime minister of India
Read more: Women Are Strong as Hell: 25 Empowering Quotes to Live By
On change
-
“If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.”
—Dolly Parton, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actress, author, businesswoman, and humanitarian
-
“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
—Jane Goodall, primatologist and anthropologist.
-
“I choose to make the rest of my life the best of my life.”
—Louise Hay, motivational author
-
“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”
—Mother Teresa, nun and missionary
-
“We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”
—J.K. Rowling, author, film producer, television producer, screenwriter, and philanthropist
-
“Whenever you are blue or lonely or stricken by some humiliating thing you did, the cure and the hope is in caring about other people.”
—Diane Sawyer, TV journalist
-
“Everyone has inside of her a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be, how much you can love, what you can accomplish, and what your potential is.”
—Anne Frank, writer and diarist
-
“If you can’t make it better, you can laugh at it.”
—Erma Bombeck, humorist
-
“It makes a big difference in your life when you stay positive.”
—Ellen DeGeneres, comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer
-
“Every day may not be good... but there’s something good in every day.”
—Alice Morse Earle, historian and author
Read more: 24 Beyonce Quotes That’ll Make You Feel ***Flawless
