95 Words of Encouragement for Women (to Help You or Someone You Care About)

Three women laughing and enjoying their friendship.

Women often experience pressure and stress from several different directions at the same time. Such as a career combined with usually plenty of work in the home.

And many women in younger generations have experienced even more pressure with the rise of social media in the last 10 years.

So in today’s post I’d like to share the best words of encouragement for women that I’ve found.

I hope that these timeless thoughts can help you out if you’re having a tough time right now. Or that you can use some of them to help a woman in your life that needs support and her spirits lifted today.

And if you want even more uplifting advice and inspirational quotes then check out this post with quotes on being proud of yourself and this one filled with Brené Brown quotes.

Inspirational Words of Encouragement for Women

“You must get your thoughts in line because they determine what comes out of your mouth. Our words are powerful and have the ability to change not only our mood but the direction of our lives.”
– Yvonne Haughton

“I always wanted to be a femme fatale. Even when I was a young girl, I never really wanted to be a girl. I wanted to be a woman.”
– Diane Von Furstenberg

“When you notice that you’re having negative thoughts about how all of this is going to pan out, you need to remind yourself that you are not a very good fortune teller.”
– Donna W. Hill

“A strong woman is a woman determined to do something others are determined not be done.”
– Marge Piercy

Quote: “If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.” - Katharine Hepburn

“If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.”
– Katharine Hepburn

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

“The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode, but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years.”
– Audrey Hepburn

“The age of a woman doesn’t mean a thing. The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“It’s all about confidence and how you feel about yourself. There’s no such thing as a perfect woman. I like imperfections – that’s what makes you unique.”
– Hayley Hasselhoff

“Women wish to be loved without a why or a wherefore; not because they are pretty, or good, or well-bred, or graceful, or intelligent, but because they are themselves.”
– Henri Frederic Amiel

“There is nothing more rare, nor more beautiful, than a woman being unapologetically herself; comfortable in her perfect imperfection. To me, that is the true essence of beauty.”
– Steve Maraboli

“If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.”
– Flavia Weedn

“Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got. There is no yesterday, no tomorrow, it’s all the same day.”
– Janis Joplin

Quote: “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” - Mother Teresa

“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.”
– Mother Teresa

“And one day she discovered that she was fierce and strong, and full of fire and that not even she could hold herself back because her passion burned brighter than her fears.”
– Mark Anthony

“And to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.”
– Hillary Clinton

“I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles.”
– Audrey Hepburn

“It’s a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy.”
– Lucille Ball

Quote: “Each of us has unsuspected power to accomplish what we demand of ourselves, if we care to search for it. You are no exception.” - Claire Weekes

“Each of us has unsuspected power to accomplish what we demand of ourselves, if we care to search for it. You are no exception.”
– Claire Weekes

Insightful Words of Encouragement for Women

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion with one’s courage.”
– Anaïs Nin

“Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are not great because of their technique; they are great because of their passion.”
– Martha Graham

“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.”
– Malala Yousafzai

“If you can dance and be free and be embarrassed, you can rule the world.”
– Amy Poehler

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”
– Helen Keller

“Love yourself first and everything else falls into place.”
– Lucille Ball

“Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.”
– Ann Landers

“Women are leaders everywhere you look—from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household. Our country was built by strong women, and we will continue to break down walls and defy stereotypes.”
– Nancy Pelosi

“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”
– Rosa Parks

“I can’t think of any better representation of beauty than someone who is unafraid to be herself.”
– Emma Stone

“I want to show you that God doesn’t expect you to be happy about what has been torn from your hands—whether it’s a marriage, your health, a job, or someone you love—but if you are willing to trust him, he can turn trash into triumph.”
– Levi Lusko

“Females are the most beautiful, gorgeous creatures in the whole world. And I think that we are gorgeous no matter what size we are.”’
– Alicia Keys

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornments, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”
– 1 Peter 3:3-4 72

“By being yourself you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before.”
– Edwin Elliot

“Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that’s what makes you strong.”
– Sarah Dessen

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
– Maya Angelou

“We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.”
– Malala Yousafzai

“Instead of letting your hardships and failures discourage or exhaust you, let them inspire you.”
– Michelle Obama

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.”
– Mary Anne Radmacher

Motivational Words of Encouragement for Women

“If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.”
– Margaret Thatcher

“Each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women.”
– Maya Angelou

“It doesn’t matter when you start, it doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing. All that matters is that you truly follow your own path, your own way, at your own pace. Be kind to yourself and others, and follow your intuition always. That is real bravery.”
– Diana Shneider

“My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.”
– Ruth Bader Ginsburg

“I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.”
– Florence Nightingale

“Maybe some women aren’t meant to be tamed. Maybe they just need to run free until they find someone just as wild to run with them.”
– Candace Bushnell

“I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.”
– Estée Lauder

“Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.”
– Oprah Winfrey

“I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.”
– Arianna Huffington

“The world needs strong women. Women who will lift and build others, who will love and be loved. Women who live bravely, both tender and fierce. Women of indomitable will.”
– Amy Tenney

“The most effective way to do it, is to do it.”
– Amelia Earhart

“You learn something out of everything, and you come to realize more than ever that we’re all here for a certain space of time, and, and then it’s going to be over, and you better make this count.”
– Nancy Reagan

“You can tell the strength of a nation by the women behind its men.”
– Benjamin Disraeli

“If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.”
– Dolly Parton

“If you don’t see a clear path for what you want, sometimes you have to make it yourself.”
– Mindy Kaling

“We need women who are so strong they can be gentle, so educated they can be humble, so fierce they can be compassionate, so passionate they can be rational, and so disciplined they can be free.”
– Kavita Ramdas

“Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”
– Oprah Winfrey

“Don’t let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity. It’s your place in the world; it’s your life.”
– Dr. Mae Jemison

“There’s something special about a woman who dominates in a man’s world. It takes a certain grace, strength, intelligence, fearlessness, and the nerve to never take no for an answer.”
– Rihanna

“That wall is your mind playing tricks on you. You just need to say, ‘One more step, I can do this. I have more in me.’ You’ll be so proud of yourself once you push yourself past your threshold.”
– Kerri Walsh

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.”
– Marie Curie

“She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard. She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.”
– Proverbs 31:16-17

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
– Harriet Beecher Stowe

“Dreams are lovely. But they are just dreams. Fleeting, ephemeral, pretty. But dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It’s hard work that makes things happen. It’s hard work that creates change.”
– Shonda Rhimes

“The day will come when men will recognize woman as his peer, not only at the fireside, but in councils of the nation. Then, and not until then, will there be the perfect comradeship, the ideal union between the sexes that shall result in the highest development of the race.”
– Susan B. Anthony

Short Words of Encouragement and Quotes for Women

“A woman has to live her life, or live to repent not having lived it.”
– D.H. Lawrence

“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”
– Nora Ephron

“The most alluring thing a woman can have is confidence.”
– Beyonce Knowles

“A strong woman looks a challenge dead in the eye and gives it a wink.”
– Gina Carey

“I do not wish women to have power over men, but over themselves.”
– Mary Shelley

“A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.”
– Diane Mariechild

“Stay strong. Stand up. Have a voice.”
– Shawn Johnson

“If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not making decisions.”
– Catherine Cook

“A woman with a voice is, by definition, a strong woman .”
– Melinda Gates

“Strong women don’t have ‘attitudes’, we have standards.”
– Marilyn Monroe

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

“You have to speak words of continuous encouragement in order to achieve whatever goals you’ve set for yourself.”
– Anquanette Gaspard

“Women that believe in each other can survive anything. Women who believe in each other create armies that will win kingdoms and wars.”
– Nikita Gill

“People respond well to those that are sure of what they want.”
– Anna Wintour

“Women have discovered that they cannot rely on men’s chivalry to give them justice.”
– Helen Keller

“Strong women don’t play the victim. Don’t make themselves look pitiful and don’t point fingers. They stand and they deal.”
– Mandy Hale

“Whenever you see a successful woman, look out for three men who are going out of their way to try to block her.”
– Yulia Tymoshenko

“She was powerful not because she wasn’t scared but because she went on so strongly, despite the fear.”
– Atticus

“One of the most courageous things you can do is identify yourself, know who you are, what you believe in and where you want to go.”
– Sheila Murray Bethel

“You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.”
– Brigham Young

“The most beautiful thing you can wear is confidence.”
– Blake Lively

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.”
– Judy Garland

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”
– Mother Teresa

“Well-behaved women seldom make history.”
– Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

“I think the best way to have confidence is not to allow everyone else’s insecurities to be your own.”
– Jessie J

“If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.”
– Dolly Parton

“If you are always trying to be normal, you’ll never know how amazing you can be.”
– Maya Angelou

“One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.”
– Shannon L. Alder

If you liked these words of encouragement then share them with a friend, a co-worker or family member that could need them today via social media or email.

Want even more encouraging words and motivational quotes? Have a look at this post with more words of encouragement, this one with you are enough quotes plus this one that’s all about words of encouragement for men.

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About the Author

Henrik Edberg is the creator of the Positivity Blog and has written weekly articles here since 2006. He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Gothenburg and has been featured on Lifehacker, HuffPost and Paulo Coelho’s blog. Click here to learn more…