These Women’s History quotes will inspire, educate, and empower your team! You’ll find more than nine dozen quotes on success, defying society’s expectations, living courageously, and more for Women’s History Month 2023 and beyond.
Women’s History Month takes place during the month of March. This is a time to celebrate and honor women, including all people who identify as women.
Your team can celebrate all month long by sharing these quotes on your company’s social media, in e-newsletters, or in a special Slack channel devoted to the occasion.
Looking for a fun way to celebrate Women’s History Month with your team? Check out our “She Innovates!” virtual experience – available for a limited time only in March 2023!
TLDR: in this list, you’ll find:
- Empowering quotes for Women’s History Month
- Women’s History Month quotes on success, feminism, courage, and more
- FAQ: What is Women’s History Month? – and more
- The history of Women’s History Month
- Ideas to celebrate Women’s History Month 2023 at work
Women’s History Month Quotes on Feminism and the Power of Womanhood
1. “I am a woman / Phenomenally / Phenomenal woman / That’s me.”
– Maya Angelou
2. “Feminism is for everybody.”
– bell hooks
3. “I raise up my voice—not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard…We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.”
– Malala Yousafzai
4. “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.”
– Audre Lorde
5. “If any female feels she need anything beyond herself to legitimate and validate her existence, she is already giving away her power to be self-defining, her agency.”
– bell hooks
6. “Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
– Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Pictured above: our special Ruth Bader Ginsburg Empower Gift Basket! This popular gift box is a fun surprise for Women’s History Month, birthdays, work anniversaries, and more!
7. “The woman power of this nation can be the power which makes us whole and heals the rotten community, now so shattered by war and poverty and racism. I have great faith in the power of women who will dedicate themselves whole-heartedly to the task of remaking our society.”
– Coretta Scott King
8. “Words have power. TV has power. My pen has power.”
– Shonda Rhimes
9. “There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.”
– Michelle Obama
10. “I am a woman and a warrior. If you think I can’t be both, you’ve been lied to.”
– Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar
Women’s History Month Quotes on Courage, Persistence, and Determination
11. “With a defeat, when you lose, you get up, you make it better, you try again. That’s what I do in life, when I get down, when I get sick, I don’t want to just stop. I keep going and I try to do more. Everyone always says never give up but you really have to take that to heart and really do never definitely give up. Keep trying.”
– Serena Williams
12. “The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.”
– Oprah Winfrey
13. “To me, “Fearless” is not the absence of fear. It’s not being completely unafraid. To me, fearless is having fears. Fearless is having doubts. Lots of them. To me, fearless is living in spite of those things that scare you to death.”
– Taylor Swift
14. “Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.”
– Brené Brown
15. “Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.”
– Sara Blakely
16. “I’ve been absolutely terrified every minute of my life — and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.”
– Georgia O’Keefe
17. “Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That’s what little girls are made of; the heck with sugar and spice.”
– Bethany Hamilton
18. “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.”
– Mary Anne Radmacher
19. “There is a stubbornness about me that can never bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.”
– Jane Austen
20. “Courage is like a muscle. We strengthen it by use.”
– Ruth Gordon
Women’s History Month Quotes on Success
21. “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
22. “Success isn’t about the end result, it’s about what you learn along the way.”
– Vera Wang
23. “I only began to sing because I couldn’t get a job as an actress.”
– Barbra Streisand
24. “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
25. “You have to make your own luck. You make it in practice and with training and conditioning.”
– Simone Biles
26. “No one ever became a success without taking chances… One must be able to recognize the moment and seize it without delay.”
– Estée Lauder
27. “You can waste your lives drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them.”
– Shonda Rhimes
Women’s History Month Quotes on Defying Society’s Expectations
28. “Females are the most beautiful, gorgeous creatures in the whole world. And I think that we are gorgeous no matter what size we are.”
– Alicia Keys
29. “I have chosen to no longer be apologetic for my femaleness and my femininity. And I want to be respected in all of my femaleness because I deserve to be.”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
30. “I say if I’m beautiful. I say if I’m strong. You will not determine my story – I will.”
Amy Shumer
31. “I think transwomen, and transpeople in general, show everyone that you can define what it means to be a man or woman on your own terms. A lot of what feminism is about is moving outside of roles and moving outside of expectations of who and what you’re supposed to be to live a more authentic life.”
– Laverne Cox
32. “My mother always used to say, ‘The older you get, the better you get. Unless you’re a banana.'”
– Betty White
33. “I’m not here to be perfect and I’m not here to be anything but my best, whatever that means for me.”
– Jennifer Lopez
34. “It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.”
– Jane Goodall
35. “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.”
– Ruth Bader Ginsburg
36. “We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women’s voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ignored.”
– Sheryl Sandberg
37. “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
38. “Women have to harness their power – it’s absolutely true. It’s just learning not to take the first ‘no.’ And if you can’t go straight ahead, you go around the corner.”
– Cher
Women’s History Month Quotes on Change & Transformation
39. “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
– Maya Angelou
40. “For me, becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.”
– Michelle Obama
41. “Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.”
– Carol Burnett
42. “Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe you must become its soul.”
– Coretta Scott King
43. “You should never be surprised when someone treats you with respect. You should expect it.”
– Sarah Dessen
44. “We need women who are so strong they can be gentle, so educated they can be humble, so fierce they can be compassionate, so passionate they can be rational, and so disciplined they can be free.”
– Kavita Ramdas
45. “I want all the girls without an exception to have that space for themselves where they have opportunities to be the women they wish to be.”
– Priyanka Chopra
Women’s History Month Quotes on Getting Through Hard Times
46. “In my life, I had come to realize that, when things were going very well, indeed, it was just the time to anticipate trouble. And, conversely, I learned from pleasant experience that at the most despairing crisis, when all looked sour beyond words, some delightful “break” was apt to lurk just around the corner.”
– Amelia Earhart
47. “You are not supposed to be happy all the time. Life hurts and it’s hard. Not because you’re doing it wrong, but because it hurts for everybody. Don’t avoid the pain. You need it. It’s meant for you. Be still with it, let it come, let it go, let it leave you with the fuel you’ll burn to get your work done on this earth.”
– Glennon Doyle
48. “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”
– Mother Teresa
49. “Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.”
– Oprah Winfrey
50. “I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow. When there’s that moment of ‘Wow, I’m not really sure I can do this,’ and you push through those moments, that’s when you have a breakthrough.”
– Marissa Mayer
51. “All you need to know is that the future is wide open and you are about to create it by what you do.”
– Pema Chödrön
52. “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
– Harriet Beecher Stowe
53. “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”
– Helen Keller
Women’s History Month Quotes on Being Brave
54. “I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done.”
– Lucille Ball
55. “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”
– Shirley Chisholm
56. “We know that when a woman speaks truth to power, there will be attempts to put her down… I’m not going to go anywhere.”
– Maxine Waters
57. “So please ask yourself: What would I do if I weren’t afraid? And then go do it.”
– Sheryl Sandberg
58. “When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard nor welcomed, but when we are silent we are still afraid, so it is better to speak.”
– Audre Lorde
59. “I learned a long time ago that there is something worse than missing the goal, and that’s not pulling the trigger.”
– Mia Hamm
60. “Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else.”
– Judy Garland
61. “Women don’t need to find a voice, they have a voice, and they need to feel empowered to use it, and people need to be encouraged to listen.”
– Meghan Markle
Women’s History Month Quotes on Owning Your Power
62. “It’s important to teach our female youth that it’s OK to say, ‘Yes, I am good at this,’ and you don’t hold back.”
– Simone Biles
63. “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
– Alice Walker
64. “Everything is within your power, and your power is within you.”
– Janice Trachtman
65. “Nothing I accept about myself can be used against me to diminish me.”
– Audre Lorde
66. “When a woman rises up in glory, her energy is magnetic and her sense of possibility contagious.”
– Marianne Williamson
67. “Dear Superwoman, let no one demean your intelligence. Let no one dribble you from your happiness. Let no one derail you from success. Be a smart, courageous, and determined woman.”
– Gift Gugu Mona
68. “One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul.”
– Clarissa Pinkola Estés
69. “You could certainly say that I’ve never underestimated myself. There’s nothing wrong with being ambitious.”
– Angela Merkel
70. “Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work.”
– Adrienne Rich
71. “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 Lorde
Women’s History Month Quotes on Women Achieving Together
72. “We need to encourage girls that their voice matters. I think there are hundreds and thousands of Malalas out there.”
– Malala Yousafzai
73. “When you help a woman fulfil her potential, magic happens.”
– Sara Blakely
74. “Friends. Sisters. Mothers. Professors. When women affirm women, it unlocks our power. It gives us permission to shine brighter.”
– Elaine Welteroth
75. “Well-behaved women seldom make history”
– Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
76. “Whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles.”
– Tina Fey
77. “Every woman’s success should be an inspiration to another. We’re strongest when we cheer each other on.”
– Serena Williams
78. “Don’t just stand for the success of other women – insist on it.”
– Gail Blanke
79. “As women achieve power, the barriers will fall. As society sees what women can do, as women see what women can do, there will be more women out there doing things, and we’ll all be better off for it.”
– Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Women’s History Month Quotes on Being Enough
80. “I’m learning how to drown out the constant noise that is such an inseparable part of my life. I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. I only have to follow my heart and concentrate on what I want to say to the world. I run my world.”
– Beyoncé
81. “No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.”
– Virginia Woolf
82. “You don’t have to be pretty. You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don’t owe it to your mother, you don’t owe it to your children, you don’t owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked ‘female.'”
– Erin McKean
83. “The only thing required to be a woman is to identify as one.”
– Amanda Lovelace
84. “You can’t please everyone, and you can’t make everyone like you.”
– Katie Couric
85. “Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that’s what makes you strong.”
– Sarah Dessen
86. “To all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful, and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.”
– Hillary Clinton
Women’s History Month Quotes on Believing in Yourself
87. “Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”
– Julia Child
88. “I always thought that people told you that you’re beautiful–that this was a title that was bestowed upon you … I think that it’s time to take this power into our own hands and to say, ‘You know what? I’m beautiful. I just am. And that’s my light. I’m just a beautiful woman.'”
– Margaret Cho
89. “Do not live someone else’s life and someone else’s idea of what womanhood is. Womanhood is you.”
– Viola Davis
90. “Who knows what women can be when they are finally free to be themselves.”
– Betty Friedan
91. “The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”
– Ayn Rand
92. “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”
– Maya Angelou
93. “You never have to ask anyone permission to lead. When you want to lead, you lead.”
– Kamala Harris
94. “You deserve to be here. You deserve to exist. You deserve to take up space in this world of men.”
– MacKenzi Lee
Celebrate Women’s History Month with Your Team
Learn About Female Innovators Throughout History – One of Our Favorite Virtual Ideas for Women’s History Month!
Act now – this session is available for a limited time only during March 2023!
“She Innovates” is our special virtual event created just for teams like yours to learn about and celebrate Women’s History Month!
During this engaging virtual session, your team will hear the untold stories of female inventors, artists, and leaders from the 1800s to the present day. A highlight of this experience are the live character guides based in the 1800s and 1900s. The guides are similar to live characters you would encounter in Colonial Williamsburg. (We promise, this session won’t be cheesy or eye-roll inducing!)
Your team will be amazed by similarities and differences faced by female inventors over the past three centuries. Moreover, you’ll learn about the ingenuity and perseverance of female inventors. For example, hear about the inventor of Kevlar, the paper bag folding machine, and much more.
This unique virtual event is NOT a lecture, but an immersive and interactive experience that showcases the triumph of female invention. It is a unique celebration of Women’s History Month.
Learn more and book your “She Innovates” session for Women’s History Month!
Gift Feminist Treat Boxes & Support Women-Owned Small Businesses
During Women’s History Month, gift your team members a beautiful box of unique gifts. We curate our Empower Gift Boxes with thoughtful items from female owned and BIPOC-owned small businesses. Perfect for celebrating women’s history or year-round birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and other milestones.
Choose from 3 different Empower Gift Boxes:
- Feminist Foodie Box: filled with delicious food treats, featuring images of iconic women!
- Empower RBG Box: celebrate the memory of your favorite SCOTUS judge, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, with a box of gifts honoring her legacy.
- Empower Frida Box: tap into your creativity with a box celebrating Frida Kahlo.
Browse our Empower Gift Boxes on Unexpected’s Amazon Store, with free Prime shipping.
Frequently Asked Questions about Women’s History Month
What is Women’s History Month?
Women’s History Month is a time to honor and recognize the achievements of incredible women throughout history. Additionally, this is a time to recognize the ways in which women and women’s rights have been suppressed. Finally, Women’s History Month is a time to push forward toward further equity and celebrate the women and girls who are leading us into the future.
When is Women’s History Month?
Women’s History Month is celebrated in March. For an easy way to remember what month is Women’s History Month, just think of the Women’s March.
Where is Women’s History Month celebrated?
Women’s History Month is celebrated in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
In Canada, Women’s History Month is celebrated during October. That’s because October corresponds with Persons Day on October 18. This holiday commemorates the day in 1929 when Canada’s highest court formally decided to include women in the legal definition of “persons.”
Additionally, many people around the world celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8.
How did Women’s History Month begin?
Women’s History Month stems from International Women’s Day, first celebrated on March 8, 1911. Decades later the local school district in Sonoma, CA celebrated Women’s History Week in 1978.
Shortly after, in 1979, several organizations celebrated and advocated for Women’s History Week together: Sarah Lawrence College, the Women’s Action Alliance, and the Smithsonian Institution.
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter declared the week of March 8, 1980, as Women’s History Week, by presidential proclamation. In the following years, Congress passed joint resolutions proclaiming Women’s History Week.
Then, in 1987, Congress passed Pub L 100-9, which officially designated March 1987 as the first Women’s History Month. Since then, Presidents from 1988 onward have all made an annual proclamation of Women’s History Month.
What is the theme for Women’s History Month 2023?
The Women’s History Month theme for 2023 is “Women Who Tell Our Stories.”
The National Women’s History Alliance shares, “This timely theme honors women in every community who have devoted their lives and talents to producing art and news, pursuing truth and reflecting society decade after decade.”
Looking for more Women’s History Month ideas for your virtual team? If so, explore our guide: Virtual Ideas for Women’s History Month.
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