In honor of International Women’s Day—a day to celebrate all the amazing women across the globe, and the endless work of striving toward gender equality—College News has rounded up our favorite words of wisdom from our favorite women to inspire you.
Michelle Obama, former First Lady
“No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens.”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court justice
“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made… It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.”
Maragaret Thatcher, former U.K. Prime Minister
If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.
Malala Yousafzai, Activist and Nobel Prize Laureate
“I raise up my voice—not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard. We cannot succeed when half of us are held back.”
Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady
“Well behaved women seldom make history.”
Sylvia Plath, writer and poet
“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”
Tina Fey, actress
“Know what? Bitches get stuff done.”
Frida Kahlo, artist
“I used to think I was the strangest person in the world, but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there, and read this, and know that, yes, it’s true I’m here, and I’m just as strange as you.”
Toni Morrison, author, professor, and Nobel Prize winner
“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”
Elastigirl (of The Incredibles)
“Leave the saving of the world to the men? I don’t think so.”
See also: Your Seven Day Break on the Pill is Bogus—Here’s Why