Favorite Female Quotes Expressing Moxie

 

In honor of Women's History Month (arriving on March 1st), I am celebrating trailblazing women. Understanding female power is understanding the minds of these and other extraordinary trailblazing women who have paved the way for future generations. They exhibit a positive mind-set and moxie in spades. They offer inspiration that we should hold onto in our respective journeys forward. 

This list of quotes is just a start -- I urge you to explore the personalities and attitudes of those you admire. Most accomplished women are incredibly courageous, spirited, optimistic and confident -- in other words, they possess and exhibit POSITIVITY and MOXIE, and they offer fabulous advice on how to view oneself and one’s place in the world.

These are their words. . .

Being A Woman

Be the heroine of your life. 

-- Nora Ephron

...if you want something done, ask a woman. 

-- Margaret Thatcher

Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness. 

– Oprah Winfrey

Women should do for themselves what men have already done—occasionally what men have not done—thereby establishing themselves as persons, and perhaps encouraging other women toward greater independence of thought and action. 

– Amelia Earhart

My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent. 

– Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Courage

The best protection any woman can have … is courage.  

-- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.”  

-- Marie Curie

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. 

-- Anais Nin

The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.

--  Ayn Rand

One of the most courageous things you can do is identify yourself, know who you are, what you believe in and where you want to go. 

--Sheila Murray Bethel

The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud. 

-- Coco Chanel

I'm not funny. What I am is brave.

-- Lucille Ball

Optimism

One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself. 

--Lucille Ball

Overcoming Obstacles/Failure

Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult. 

-- Charlotte Whitton

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. 

-- Alice Walker

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

You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through. 

-– Rosalynn Carter

When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another. 

– Helen Keller

At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.

--Frida Kahlo

Nothing is worth more than laughter. It is strength to laugh and to abandon oneself, to be light. 

– Frida Kahlo

I'm happy that I have brought laughter because I have been shown by many the value of it in so many lives, in so many ways. 

-- Lucille Ball

Success is often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable.

--Coco Chanel

Confidence; Overcoming Fear

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

Don’t ever make decisions based on fear. Make decisions based on hope and possibility. Make decisions based on what should happen, not what shouldn’t. 

– Michelle Obama

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

– Eleanor Roosevelt

If you're always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be. 

– Maya Angelou

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained. 

– Marie Curie

I was a person with dignity and self-respect, and I should not set my sights lower than anybody else just because I was black. 

– Rosa Parks

There's power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice. 

– Michelle Obama

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

Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world. 

-- Lucille Ball

Unity

You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. 

– Indira Gandhi

Tolerance and compassion are active, not passive states, born of the capacity to listen, to observe and to respect others. 

– Indira Gandhi

Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you. 

– Ruth Bader Ginsburg

You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.

– Shirley Chisholm

A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men. 

-- Gloria Steinem

Action

Social change is brought about by those who dare and act, who can think unconventionally and who can court unpopularity. 

– Indira Gandhi

Do what you feel in your heart to be right–for you’ll be criticized anyway. 

– Eleanor Roosevelt

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.” 

– Maya Angelou

Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.

– Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done. 

--Lucille Ball

Luck? I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it and I'm afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: Hard work - and realizing what is opportunity and what isn't. 

-- Lucille Ball

The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity. 

– Amelia Earhart

Self-Challenge

Technique and ability alone do not get you to the top; it is the willpower that is most important. 

– Junko Tabei, first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest

Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challenge instead of competence. 

– Eleanor Roosevelt