As we stand on the cusp of International Women’s Day, it’s an opportune moment to pay homage to female writers, whose prose serves as a testament to the enduring spirit and indomitable courage of women around the world.
May their words resonate with you, inspire change, and foster a deeper appreciation for the diversity and strength that women bring to literature and, by extension, to the world. Here are quotes from some of my favorite writers.
Happy International Women’s Day!
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
― George Eliot
“I am the sole author of the dictionary that defines me.”
― Zadie Smith
“I am Woman, Phenomenally, Phenomenal Woman, that’s me.”
― Maya Angelou
“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
“The connections between and among women are the most feared, the most problematic, and the most potentially transforming force on the planet.”
―Adrienne Rich
“…her wings are cut and then she is blamed for not knowing how to fly.”
― Simone de Beauvoir (The Second Sex)
“Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.”
—Bell Hooks
“I will not have my life narrowed down. I will not bow down to somebody else’s whim or to someone else’s ignorance.”
—Bell Hooks
“No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.”
—Alice Walker
“I never change, I simply become more myself.”
—Joyce Carol Oates (Solstice)
“No woman gets an orgasm from shining the kitchen floor. ”
—Betty Friedan
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”
—Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale)
“Ask the mirror, the name of your savior.”
—Forough Farrokhzad
“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”
—Toni Morrison (Beloved)
“You look ridiculous if you dance/ You look ridiculous if you don’t dance/So you might as well/dance.”
—Gertrude Stein (Three Lives)
“Possibility is not a luxury; it is as crucial as bread.”
—Judith Butler (Undoing Gender)
“She resented the fact that her veil, which to her was a symbol of scared relationship to god, had now become an instrument of power, turning the women who wore them into political signs and symbols.”
—Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books)
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
―Alice Walker
“what’s the greatest lesson a woman should learn? / that since day one. she’s already had everything / she needs within herself. it’s the world that / convinced her she did not.”
―Rupi Kaur
They said, “You are a savage and dangerous woman.” I am speaking the truth. And the truth is savage and dangerous.
—Nawal El Saadawi (Woman at Point Zero)
“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.”
―Audre Lorde
Thank you for joining me in this celebration of literature and the incredible women who enrich it. Share with us your favorite feminist quote in the comments below. Until next time, keep reading, keep sharing, and keep inspiring change. And once more happy International Women’s Day!
