17 Courage Quotes That Help Women Move Forward With Strength
The courage that moves women forward with strength is not the absence of the fear or the certainty of the outcome. It is the specific, practiced choosing of the forward motion in spite of the fear, in the presence of the uncertainty, and through the resistance of the environment that has historically made the forward motion harder than it needed to be. The strength that the courage produces in the moving forward is not the strength of the invulnerable. It is the strength of the person who has been fully aware of the vulnerability the forward motion requires and has moved forward anyway, because the remaining in the position the fear preferred was the greater cost.
These 17 courage quotes are chosen for the specific quality of the forward-with-strength illumination they carry for the woman who is building the courage to move in the direction the genuine life most requires. Each one carries a particular truth about what the courage asks for, what it produces, and what becomes available on the other side of the choosing it. Read them with the specific forward motion most present in the current season in mind.
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Get the Free Self-Care Starter Kit1. I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship. — Louisa May Alcott
“The courage that moves women forward with strength is not the absence of the fear or the certainty of the outcome. It is the specific, practiced choosing of the forward motion in spite of the fear, in the presence of the uncertainty, and through the resistance of the environment that has historically made the forward motion harder than it needed to be.”
This courage quote from Louisa May Alcott carries the specific truth about the relationship between the courage and the competence that the building of the courage most directly develops: the not-being-afraid of the storms is not the condition that precedes the sailing. It is the outcome of the learning-to-sail that the sailing through the storms produces. The courage to move forward with strength is the learning, the practicing, the accumulating of the navigation experience that converts the storm from the terrifying into the navigable. The ship is being sailed. The sailing is the learning. The learning is the courage that makes the storm something to be navigated rather than something to be afraid of. Sail the ship. The not-being-afraid follows the sailing.
2. Well-behaved women seldom make history. — Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
This courage quote from Laurel Thatcher Ulrich carries the specific, honest recognition of what the forward motion with strength has historically required of the women who have moved history forward: the departure from the behavior prescribed by the environment that preferred the women to remain in the position the prescription maintained. The courage this quote illuminates is the specific courage of the not-behaving-well when the well-behaved is the behavior that serves the environment’s preference rather than the genuine life and the genuine contribution. The women who have moved history have been the women who chose the history-making over the well-behaving when the well-behaving was the specific obstacle to it. Move forward. The history is made from the forward motion, not the prescribed staying.
3. I figure, if a girl wants to be a legend, she should go ahead and be one. — Calamity Jane
“Well-behaved women seldom make history. The women who have moved history forward have been the women who chose the history-making over the well-behaving when the well-behaving was the specific obstacle to the forward motion. Move forward. The history is made from the forward motion, not the prescribed staying.”
This courage quote from Calamity Jane carries the specific, direct permission and the specific, practical instruction in the same sentence: if you want to be it, go ahead and be it. The going-ahead-and-being-it is the courage that the wanting-to-be-it requires in the specific form of the acting-as-if the arrival has already occurred rather than the waiting-for-the-permission that the environment provides to those it has already decided are the legend material. The woman who goes ahead and is the legend is the woman who does not require the environment’s prior endorsement before beginning the legend-making. Go ahead. The being-it is available from the going-ahead that does not wait for the permission the environment most commonly withholds until the being-it has already demonstrated itself.
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Visit Premier Print Works4. I have chosen to no longer be apologetic for my femaleness and my femininity. — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This courage quote from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie carries the specific courage of the choosing to no longer apologize for the self that the environment has been training the woman to offer the apology for: the femaleness, the femininity, the specific qualities and the specific occupations of the feminine life that the dominant culture has historically rewarded the apology for more reliably than the unapologetic claiming of. The courage to move forward with strength includes the specific courage of the no-longer-apologizing: the claiming of the self and the life and the capability and the desire without the qualifying apology that the environment has trained the woman to offer before the claiming. Choose the no-longer-apologetic. The strength of the unapologetic forward motion is the strength the apology has been consistently reducing.
5. You are more powerful than you know; you are beautiful just as you are. — Melissa Etheridge
This courage quote from Melissa Etheridge carries the specific, foundational encouragement that the courage to move forward with strength most directly requires: the honest acknowledgment that the power is already present and the beauty is already real, both of them available from the current position rather than from the improved position that the self-doubt has been suggesting the courage requires the arrival at before it can be genuinely accessed. The power is available right now, from the current position, for the forward motion the current position makes possible. The beauty is already as it is. The courage is built from the knowing of both of these things rather than from the waiting for the environment to confirm them before the knowing becomes available.
6. Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness. — Oprah Winfrey
“You are more powerful than you know. The power is available right now, from the current position, for the forward motion the current position makes possible. The courage is built from the knowing of this rather than from the waiting for the environment to confirm it before the knowing becomes available.”
This courage quote from Oprah Winfrey carries the specific reorientation toward the failure that the courage to move forward with strength most directly requires: the queen’s relationship to the failure is not the self-defining verdict that the fear-of-failure makes it in the person who is not yet thinking like the queen. It is the stepping stone, the specific, available, information-rich surface the greatness is built by crossing. The not-being-afraid-to-fail is not the indifference to the outcome. It is the specific courage of the person who has reoriented the relationship to the failure from the verdict to the stepping stone and who can therefore move toward the greatness without the failure-fear that the verdict relationship most consistently prevents. Think like a queen. The stepping stone is underfoot. The greatness is built by crossing it.
7. I am not lucky. You know what I am? I am smart, I am talented, I take advantage of the opportunities that come my way and I work really hard. Don’t call me lucky. Call me a badass. — Shonda Rhimes
This courage quote from Shonda Rhimes carries the specific reclamation of the earned achievement from the diminishment of the luck attribution that the courage to claim the own capability most directly challenges: the woman who has worked hard, developed the genuine talent, and taken advantage of the real opportunities has earned the acknowledgment of the specific, deliberate, effort-based achievement that the luck attribution most consistently withholds from the woman and most consistently grants to the man in the equivalent position. The courage to move forward with strength includes the courage to claim the earned achievement as the earned achievement rather than the fortunate accident. Call it what it is. The badass is the accurate description. Use it.
8. Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim. — Nora Ephron
“The courage to move forward with strength includes the courage to claim the earned achievement as the earned achievement rather than the fortunate accident. The work was real. The talent was developed. The opportunity was recognized and taken. Call it what it is. The badass is the accurate description.”
This courage quote from Nora Ephron carries the specific instruction about the role in the own story that the courage to move forward with strength most directly requires the choosing of: the heroine rather than the victim. Not the denial of the genuine difficulty, the genuine injustice, or the genuine harm that the victim has experienced. But the specific, courageous choosing of the heroine’s role in the response to those experiences: the forward motion, the agency, the authoring of the next chapter from the position of the person who is acting rather than the position of the person to whom things are only being done. Be the heroine. The victim narrative is the accurate description of what happened. The heroine narrative is the courageous description of what happens next.
9. Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world. — Hillary Clinton
This courage quote from Hillary Clinton carries the specific, expansive truth about what the collective courage of the women moving forward with strength is building toward: the tapping of the largest untapped reservoir of the human talent available in the world. The individual woman moving forward with strength is the individual contribution to the collective tapping that the world most essentially needs and has most consistently been prevented from accessing by the specific, historical conditions that the courage to move forward despite them is most directly challenging. The courage is personal. The impact of the collective courage is the world that benefits from the reservoir that the individual forward motions together are opening.
10. I am a woman with thoughts and questions and shit to say. I say if I’m beautiful. I say if I’m strong. You will not determine my story. I will. — Amy Schumer
“The individual woman moving forward with strength is the individual contribution to the collective tapping of the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world. The courage is personal. The impact of the collective courage is the world that benefits from the reservoir the individual forward motions are together opening.”
This courage quote from Amy Schumer carries the specific, essential reclamation of the authority over the own story that the courage to move forward with strength most fundamentally requires: the I will determine my story rather than the you will. The woman who moves forward with strength is the woman who has specifically claimed the authority over the own narrative, the own beauty, the own strength, and the own story from the external sources that have historically held the authority to determine them and have used that authority in the ways that served the determining rather than the determined. You will not determine my story. I will. The claiming of the authority is the courage. The moving forward from the claimed authority is the strength.
11. I’m tough, I’m ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay. — Madonna
This courage quote from Madonna carries the specific courage of the unapologetic claiming of the qualities that the courage to move forward with strength most consistently requires and that the environment most consistently penalizes in the woman while rewarding in the man: the toughness, the ambition, the knowing-exactly-what-you-want. The courage to claim these qualities without the qualifying apology that the environment trains the woman to offer before the claiming is the specific courage that the moving forward with strength most directly requires. The penalty the environment offers for the claiming, the label, the bitch, is named and accepted and set aside in the same sentence. The moving forward continues regardless. The okay is the courage in its most direct available form.
12. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others. — Amelia Earhart
“The courage to claim the toughness, the ambition, and the knowing-exactly-what-you-want without the qualifying apology the environment trains the woman to offer before the claiming is the specific courage the moving forward with strength most directly requires. Name the penalty. Set it aside. Move forward anyway.”
This courage quote from Amelia Earhart carries the specific, honest acknowledgment of what the moving forward with strength requires the woman to be willing to do that the safety of the not-trying does not: the trying, the genuine attempting of the thing, and the failing of it when the failing comes, as the specific, necessary, courage-demonstrating act that the woman attempting the thing is doing on behalf of the women who will attempt it next. The failure of the genuinely attempted thing is the challenge to others that advances the collective capacity. The Earhart quote honors the failing as the courageous act it is alongside the succeeding, because the failing-at-the-genuinely-attempted is the demonstration of the trying that the not-trying never provides.
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Let these courage quotes be the reminder that moving forward with strength starts with the daily self-care practices that keep you grounded and genuinely connected to the inner strength the courage is built from. The free Self-Care Starter Kit gives you those practices. Download it free today.
Get the Free Self-Care Starter Kit13. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. — Eleanor Roosevelt
“The failing of the genuinely attempted thing is the challenge to others that advances the collective capacity. The Earhart quote honors the failing as the courageous act it is alongside the succeeding, because the failing-at-the-genuinely-attempted is the demonstration of the trying that the not-trying never provides.”
This courage quote from Eleanor Roosevelt carries the specific reclamation of the authority over the own sense of worth that the moving forward with strength most directly requires the protecting of: the consent. The inferiority that the external judgment most commonly tries to produce in the woman moving forward with strength requires the specific consent of the woman experiencing it. The courage to withhold the consent, to decline the invitation to feel inferior that the diminishing judgment extends, is the specific inner courage that protects the forward motion from the specific external obstacle of the diminishment. Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent. Withhold the consent. The forward motion is protected by the withholding.
14. The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me. — Ayn Rand
This courage quote from Ayn Rand carries the specific, direct inversion of the permission-seeking orientation that the courage to move forward with strength most fundamentally departs from: not who is going to let me, which places the authority for the forward motion in the external granter of the permission, but who is going to stop me, which places the authority for the forward motion in the internal determination of the person who has already decided to move and is assessing the obstacles rather than the permissions. The courage to move forward with strength begins from the who-is-going-to-stop-me orientation rather than the who-is-going-to-let-me one. The forward motion is the default. The stopping requires the external force. The permission is not the prerequisite.
15. I am not afraid of my truth anymore and I will not omit pieces of me to make you comfortable. — Alex Elle
This courage quote from Alex Elle carries the specific courage of the full claiming of the own truth that the moving forward with strength most essentially requires the willingness to do: the not-omitting-pieces-of-the-self for the comfort of the environment that would prefer the comfortable, partial version to the complete, truthful one. The woman who moves forward with strength is the woman who has arrived at the specific, liberating courage of the not-being-afraid-of-her-truth-anymore: not the performing of the unafraid but the genuine release of the afraid that the truth-claiming produces when the staying-silent has become the greater cost. Omit nothing. The truth is the complete self the forward motion is built from and that the omission was reducing to the partial version the comfort of others preferred.
16. I raise up my voice not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard. — Malala Yousafzai
“The woman who moves forward with strength has arrived at the courage of the not-being-afraid-of-her-truth-anymore: the genuine release of the afraid that the truth-claiming produces when the staying-silent has become the greater cost. Omit nothing. The truth is the complete self the forward motion is built from.”
This courage quote from Malala Yousafzai carries the specific quality of the forward-with-strength that is most expansive in its reach: the courage that raises the voice not for the own speaking alone but for the giving of the voice to those who have been silenced by the same forces that the raising of the voice is most directly challenging. The moving forward with strength in the service of the others who cannot yet move is the courage that produces the most significant available impact from the individual forward motion: the voice raised to carry the unheard, the strength used to open the path that the pathless are waiting for the opened path to enter. Raise the voice. The volume is not the point. The carrying is.
17. There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish. — Michelle Obama
This courage quote from Michelle Obama closes the list with the one that most directly names the ultimate horizon that the courage to move forward with strength is building toward: the no-limit. The we-as-women who are collectively moving forward with strength are collectively building toward the specific, genuinely available future in which the limit that most commonly appears in the woman’s path forward is the limit that has been placed there rather than the limit that has grown there, and the courage to move forward is the specific, individual, and collective act of removing the placed limit from the path and continuing past the position where the limit was. There is no limit to what we can accomplish. The courage is the moving past the placed limit that the no-limit requires. Move past it. The accomplishing follows the moving.
How Kezia and Amara Each Found the Courage Quote That Most Specifically Named the Forward Motion Their Current Season Was Most Requiring Them to Choose
Kezia had been in the specific season of the forward motion that the Nora Ephron quote most precisely names: the choice between the heroine and the victim in the own story. The genuine difficulty of the recent season had been real. The genuine injustice of certain aspects of it had been real. The victim narrative that the genuine difficulty and the genuine injustice had been inviting had been real and had been partially accepted in the way that the genuine difficulty most naturally produces the genuine victim narrative in the person experiencing it. The Ephron quote arrived not as the denial of the genuine difficulty or the dismissal of the genuine injustice but as the specific, honest naming of the choice available in the response to both: the heroine of the life or the victim of the story. She chose the heroine. Not because the victim narrative was inaccurate about what had happened but because the heroine narrative was the only available orientation for what happened next. The choosing of the heroine orientation did not erase the difficulty or the injustice. It changed the direction from which the next chapter of the life was being authored. The heroine authors the next chapter. The victim waits for the next chapter to be authored by the forces that authored the difficulty. She is authoring the next chapter. The Ephron quote named the choice that the authoring required.
Amara’s courage quote was the Eleanor Roosevelt one: no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. She had been in the specific pattern of the woman whose forward motion had been most consistently slowed by the specific, recurring experience of the inferiority that the professional environment had been producing through the specific, recurring pattern of the diminishment that the professional environment most readily offers to the woman moving forward in the direction where the diminishment is most conveniently available as the slowing mechanism. The Roosevelt quote arrived as the naming of the specific mechanism the slowing had been operating through: the consent. She had been granting the consent. The forward motion had been slowing in proportion to the granted consent. The practice she took from the quote was the specific, deliberate withdrawal of the consent: the decision not to accept the inferiority that the diminishment was offering, not through the performance of the unaffected but through the specific inner work of the genuinely-not-consenting that the Roosevelt quote most directly invites. The diminishment continues to arrive. The consent is no longer being granted. The forward motion is less slowed from the withdrawn consent. The Roosevelt quote named the specific, available intervention that the consent withdrawal required.
The Courage to Move Forward With Strength These 17 Quotes Are Illuminating Is the Specific, Practiced, Daily-Chosen Forward Motion That the Woman Who Has Decided the Forward Motion Is Worth the Courage It Requires Is Building Right Now.
Moving forward with strength is built from the specific, daily choosing of the forward motion over the staying in the position the fear, the diminishment, and the prescribed behavior most commonly invite the remaining in: the not-being-afraid of the storms because the sailing-through-them is building the capability that replaces the fear, the going-ahead-and-being-the-legend without the prior permission, the claiming of the earned achievement without the luck attribution’s diminishment, the being-the-heroine of the own life, and the moving forward past the placed limit toward the no-limit that the collective moving forward is building toward. These seventeen courage quotes are the specific companions for the daily choosing of the forward motion that the moving forward with strength most essentially requires.
Find the two or three quotes on this list that most specifically name what the forward motion the current season most requires. Carry them into the specific situation where the forward motion is most tested. Let them be the reminder of the choosing in the moment when the staying is most available as the easier option. The strength is in the choosing. The courage is the choosing made. Move forward.
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Let these courage quotes be the reminder that moving forward with strength starts with the daily self-care practices that keep you genuinely grounded in the inner life the courage is built from. The free Self-Care Starter Kit gives you those practices. Download it free today.
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