Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond.
–Hypatia (370-415)

I am a lioness
And will never allow my body
To be anyone’s resting place.
–‘Aisha bint Ahmad al-Qurtubiyya

Riches and power are but gifts of blind fate, whereas goodness is the result of one’s own merits.
–Héloise (1098-1164)

. . . the lady Ought to do exactly for her lover
As he does for her, without regard to rank;
For between two friends neither one should rule.
–Marie de Ventadorn (12th century)

Courage is relaxed by delay.
–Aldrude (12th century)

Make two homes for thyself, my daughter. One actual home… and another spiritual home, which thou art to carry with thee always.
–Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)

They tell me nothing but lies here, and they think they can break my spirit. But I believe what I choose and say nothing. I am not so simple as I seem.
–Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536)

All creatures are flames of love.
–Catherine Cibo (1501-1557)

Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life, which is short and has to be lived by you alone; and there is only one glory, which is eternal. If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing.
–Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

For the face, I grant, I might well blush to offer, but the mind I shall never be ashamed to present. For though from the grace of a picture the colours may fade by time, may give by weather, may be spotted by chance; yet the other … time with her swift wings shall [not] overtake, nor the misty clouds with their lowerings may darken, nor chance with her slippery foot may overthrow.
–Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603)

Man was created of the dust of the earth, but woman was made of a part of man, after that he was a living soule: yet was she not produced from his head to be his superior, but from his side, neare his heart, to be his equall.
–Rachel Speght

We see nothing, we walk gropingly, and … ordinarily things do not come about as they have been foreseen and advised. One falls and, just when one thinks oneself at the bottom of an abyss, one finds oneself on one’s feet.
–Marie de L’Incarnation (1599-1672)

Tie yourself to a daily self-examination.
–Brilliana Harley (1600-1643)

When we know the truth in our own consciences, it is unnecessary to be troubled about anything else.
–Madeleine de Scudéry (1607-1701)

I want to learn from traveling. I want the opportunity to prove myself. I want to learn about myself, and, if possible, I want the whole world to know my name.
–Madeleine de Scudéry (1607-1701)

It is better to find glory in one’s own merit. In fact it is more important to have self-respect than to gain respect from others, and it is better to earn glory than to publicize it.
–Madeleine de Scudéry (1607-1701)

You are women; in creation, noble; in Redemption, gracious; in use, most blessed; be not forgetfull of yourselves.
–Ester Sowernam

I had rather die in the adventure of noble achievements, than live in obscure and sluggish security.
–Margaret Cavendish

Endeavor to be innocent as a dove, but as wise as a serpent.
–Ann Fanshawe (1625-1680)

This life is like an inn, in which the soul spends a few moments on its journey.
–Christina of Sweden (1616-1689)

I have always had a dread of becoming a passenger in life.
–Margrethe II of Denmark

It is the mind that makes the body.
–Sojourner Truth

Women have been called queens for a long time, but the kingdom given them isn’t worth ruling.
–Louisa May Alcott

People call me feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.
–Rebecca West

Friendship with oneself is all-important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.
–Eleanor Roosevelt

You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
–Eleanor Roosevelt

Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.
–Eleanor Roosevelt

Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.
–Hedy Lamarr

Taking joy in life is a woman’s best cosmetic.
–Rosalind Russell

It’s the friends you can call up at 4 A.M. that matter.
–Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992)

It matters more what’s in a woman’s face than what’s on it.
–Claudette Colbert

As we discover we remember, remembering, we discover, and most intensely do we experience this when our separate journeys converge.
–Eudora Welty

To eat bread without hope is still slowly to starve to death.
–Pearl S. Buck

It may be that religion is dead, and if it is, we had better know it and set ourselves to try to discover other sources of moral strength before it is too late.
–Pearl S. Buck

I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions.
–Lillian Hellman

You mustn’t force sex to do the works of love or love to do the work of sex.
–Mary McCarthy

I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.
–Gloria Steinem

Only she who attempts the absurd can achieve the impossible.
–Robin Morgan

Be critical. Women have the right to say: This is surface, this falsifies reality, this degrades.
–Tillie Olsen

We cannot take anything for granted, beyond the first mathematical formulae. Question everything else.
–Maria Mitchell

Sexiness wears thin after a while and beauty fades, but to be married to a man who makes you laugh every day, ah, now that’s a real treat!
–Joanne Woodward

A woman is like a teabag–you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.
–Nancy Reagan

I don’t need a man to rectify my existence. The most profound relationship we’ll ever have is the one with ourselves.
–Shirley MacLaine

We haven’t come a long way, we’ve come a short way. If we hadn’t come a short way, no one would be calling us “baby”.
–Elizabeth Janeway

My goal is to be accused of being strident.
–Susan Faludi

A diet counselor once told me that all overweight people are angry with their mothers and channel their frustrations into overeating. So I guess that means all thin people are happy, calm, and have resolved their Oedipal entanglements.
–Wendy Wasserstein

I’ve always been independent, and I don’t see how it conflicts with femininity.
–Sylvia Porter

I can, therefore I am.
–Simone Weil

Girlhood … is the intellectual phase of a woman’s life, that time when, unencumbered by societal expectations or hormonal rages, one may pursue any curiosity from the mysteries of a yo-yo to the meaning of infinity. These two particular pursuits were where I left off in the fifth grade when I discovered a hair growing in the wrong place and all hell broke loose.
–Alice Kahn

This is a youth-oriented society, and the joke is on them because youth is a disease from which we all recover.
–Dorothy Fuldheim

I enjoy my wrinkles and regard them as badges of distinction–I’ve worked hard for them!
–Maggie Kuhn