Books

20 Empowering Quotes By Incredible Female Authors

by Alex Weiss

There's always a reasonable excuse to redecorate your office, room, or entire house — but there's never a better time than when spring approaches. Everything is blooming. We no longer have to deal with freezing rain or apocalyptic blizzards, and the world begins to feel much more like a bright and happy place.

While I mostly work from home, my office space tends to get cluttered with papers and millions of post-it notes. And recently, as I looked around, it felt more like a lazy den than a productive space. Whether you work from the comfort of your own home or in a great office, your desk could probably do with some jazzing up. And I don't know a better way to make a space more positive and uplifting than with some phenomenal quotes.

If you're a book nerd like me, then you know some of the most inspiring words of all time have come from the pages of books and the mouths of authors. For me, there's never been a better quote to live by than one said by a working woman, so I thought I'd put together a list of some of the most kick-ass quotes by female authors to help brighten up your office space this spring.

1. "Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that's what makes you strong."

― Sarah Dessen

2. "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will."

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

3. "You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate."

Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

4. "I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives."

Jane Austen, Persuasion

5. "I believe great people do things before they are ready."

Amy Poehler, Yes Please

6. "The beginning is always today"

— Mary Shelley

7. "When you can’t find someone to follow, you have to find a way to lead by example."

Roxane Gay, Bad Feminist

8. "I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass."

― Maya Angelou

9. "We must have ideals and try to live up to them, even if we never quite succeed. Life would be a sorry business without them. With them it's grand and great."

Lucy Maude Montgomery, Ann of Avonlea

10. "There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me."

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

11. "My only advice is to stay aware, listen carefully, and yell for help if you need it."

― Judy Blume

12. "Don't try to comprehend with your mind. Your minds are very limited. Use your intuition."

Madeleine L'Engel, A Wrinkle in Time

13. "It is never too late to be what you might have been."

― George Eliot

14. "What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain."

Maya Angelou, Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now

15. "Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve.”

J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

16. "You should never be surprised when someone treats you with respect, you should expect it."

Sarah Dessen, Keeping the Moon

17. "The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience."

— Emily Dickinson

18. "I am a Woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal Woman, that's me."

―Maya Angelou

19. "What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."

― Jane Goodall

20. "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

Images: Cathryn Lavery/Upspring; Andréa Portilla; solarisgirl; Suzana Fernandaz; Jussi Ollila; Nick Kenrick; United States Mission Geneva; Altug Karakoc; Jenavieve; Pierre Lognoul; Matoff; Stefan; eNriKeFot☮; Stanley Zimny; Satish Krishnamurthy; 古 天熱; aya padrón; Gabriel Rojas Hruska; Zane Mulligan; Olga Ferrer Saladié; Pawel Loj/Flickr