We all either know — or are — a strong, independent woman.
What makes an independent woman is not her ability to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders (though, it seems we like to ask women to do that a lot), but her self-assurance, integrity, and authenticity in the face of a world that so often asks her to be small, obedient, and without complexity.
Independent women are not independent because they are without community, partnership, or love, but rather because they show up as their full selves within those relationships. And that is something to celebrate.
Whether you’re honoring a brilliant independent woman in your life, trying to tap into that independent spirit yourself, or just want to more deeply explore femininity in its many forms, we’ve compiled some quotes for you.
You might also like: Quotes To Empower Women | Strong Women Quotes | Feminist Quotes | Women’s History Month Quotes | News About Inspiring Women
The Best Independent Women Quotes
Famous Quotes
“A woman with a voice is a powerful woman. She has the confidence to realize her full potential and will be able to contribute significantly to the improvement of the planet.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt
“When you can’t find someone to follow, you have to find a way to lead by example.”
— Roxane Gay, Bad Feminist
“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
— Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
“Remember that no one will hand you power or responsibility; you must take them yourself and make the necessary effort to obtain them.”
— Helen Keller
“Women, like men, should try to do the impossible, and when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.”
— Amelia Earhart
“If you’re comfortable with yourself and know yourself, you’re going to shine and radiate and other people are going to be drawn to you.”
— Dolly Parton
“A strong, independent woman will break or bend the rules whenever and wherever it is essential to emerging above social norms that constrict or compel them into compliance.”
— Sonia Sotomayor
“I want all the girls without an exception to have that space for themselves where they have opportunities to be the women they wish to be.”
— Priyanka Chopra
“It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.”
— Madeleine Albright
“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
“If I’m going to become a strong, independent woman and self-sufficient, I’m going to have to continue to make good decisions for myself.”
— Porsha Williams
“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it.”
— Brené Brown
“A strong, independent woman has the confidence to be her best self. Yes, it requires courage and strength, but it is well worth it.”
— Sheryl Sandberg
“Strong, independent women like you stand and deal with themselves, face the world with pride and confidence, and carry the universe in their heart.”
— Sonia Sotomayor
“You’re going to walk into many rooms where you may be the only one who looks like you or who has had the experiences you’ve had. So you use that voice and be strong.”
— Kamala Harris
“Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful.”
— Mary Shelley
Financially Independent Women Quotes
“Economic equity is enormous empowerment of women. Having jobs that provide income means that women can be a more effective force, a more equal force, in the political process. Women with income take themselves more seriously and they are taken more seriously.”
— Betty Friedan
“Money won’t create success, but the freedom to make choices will lead to success in all areas of your life including financial independence.”
— Oprah Winfrey
“Do what you love, and success will follow. Passion is the fuel behind a successful career.”
— Meg Whitman
“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction; and that, as you will see, leaves the great problem of the true nature of woman and the true nature of fiction unsolved.”
— Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
“For women, financial independence is a matter of necessity.”
— Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz
“I was desperate to understand money. Not to make it, to understand it. I wanted to know how it worked, and I wanted to know so that I would have enough and would be able to make good financial decisions.”
— Mellody Hobson
“Financial independence is paramount. My mom always says that when a woman is financially independent, she has the ability to live life on her own terms. I think that was the soundest advice that I ever got. No matter where you go in life or who you get married to, you have to be financially independent — whether you use it or not.”
— Priyanka Chopra
“When money flows into the hands of women, who have the authority to use it, everything changes — for women, their families, and their communities.”
— Melinda Gates
“The notion that women shouldn’t care about personal success — or the work that gets them there — is disingenuous; it is impossible for women not to have jobs anymore, so it doesn’t make sense to expect them to structure their lives around getting married. The real failure is our cultural incapacity to make room for women to live and thrive outside of traditional conceptions of femininity and relationships. After all, we can eat without marriage, but not without work.”
— Samhita Mukhopadhyay
“Even if I had my own money, which I don’t, it would belong to my husband the minute we were married. If we had children they would belong to him, not me. They would be his property. So don’t sit there and tell me that marriage isn’t an economic proposition, because it is.”
— “Little Women” (2019)
“I wanted to be an independent woman, a woman who could pay for her bills, a woman who could run her own life — and I became that woman.”
— Diane von Furstenberg
Single Independent Women Quotes
“If you really are going to be a happy single, you have to stop treating being single as the annoying time that you pass between relationships and embrace it. Rather than focusing on what you lack, focus on what you have: you.”
— Natalie Lue
“Figure out who are you separate from your family, and the man or woman you’re in a relationship with. Find who you are in this world and what you need to feel good alone. I think that’s the most important thing in life. Find a sense of self. With that, you can do anything else.”
— Angelina Jolie
“I’m not interested in being anyone’s arm candy, I’m not interested in being anyone’s accessory. I’m interested in being valued for who I am.”
— Gloria Steinem
“I recommend to all my friends that they be alone for a while. When you’re in love or dating someone, you filter your life decisions through their eyes. When you spend a few years being who you are, completely unbiased, you can figure out what you actually want.”
— Taylor Swift
“I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to be able to take charge of me entirely. No one knows me or loves me completely. I have only myself.”
— Simone de Beauvoir
Short Quotes
“Own yourself, woman.”
— Toni Morrison
“I like being a strong, independent woman, and to be honest, I was never afraid to be on my own.”
— Dido Armstrong
“Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.”
— Carol Burnett
“Power is not given to you. You must take it.”
— Beyoncé
“I love the person I’ve become because I fought to become her.”
— Kaci Diane
“Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.”
— Maya Angelou
“You deserve the world even if it means giving it to yourself.”
— r.h. Sin
“Every day is a new opportunity to change your life and be who you want to be.”
— Demi Lovato
“You have to believe in yourself when no one else does.”
— Serena Williams
“Do not whine… do not complain. Work harder. Spend more time alone.”
— Joan Didion
“A lot of people are afraid to say what they want. That’s why they don’t get what they want.”
— Madonna
“It isn’t where you came from. It’s where you’re going that counts.”
— Ella Fitzgerald
“I have an independent streak. You know, it’s kind of hard to tell an independent woman what to do.”
— Betty Ford
“My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.”
— Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman.”
— Margaret Thatcher
“Be a first-rate version of yourself, not a second-rate version of someone else.”
— Judy Garland
“A girl should be two things: who and what she wants.”
— Coco Chanel
“Stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone ought to be.”
— Elizabeth Gilbert
“You can’t be hesitant about who you are.”
— Viola Davis
“I don’t want other people to decide who I am. I want to decide that for myself.”
— Emma Watson
More Quotes
“No one can heal you. You must learn to be your own company, your own cure. You cannot retreat into someone else for fulfillment.”
— Janet Mock
“When women lose themselves, the world loses its way. We do not need more selfless women. What we need right now is more women who have detoxed themselves so completely from the world’s expectations that they are full of nothing but themselves. What we need are women who are full of themselves. A woman who is full of herself knows and trusts herself enough to say and do what must be done. She lets the rest burn.”
— Glennon Doyle
“Our collective experience has shown that when women have the power to make their own choices, good things happen.”
— Madeleine Albright
“I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. I only have to follow my heart and concentrate on what I want to say to the world. I run my world.”
— Beyoncé
“I’m here. I’m present. I’m a contributor to society. I deserve to be part of this conversation. I have an opinion. Listen to me roar.”
— Gina Rodriguez-LoCicero
“Our first job in life as women is to get to know ourselves. I think a lot of times we don’t do that. We spend our time pleasing, satisfying, looking out into the world to define who we are; listening to the messages, the images, the limited definitions that people have of who we are.”
— Michelle Obama
“My mom raised me to be an independent woman, and if there is anything I want in life, to go after it. And that nobody could hold me back. The only person that could do that was myself. That’s the core of who I am and she ingrained that in me at a really young age, so I’ve been an independent, strong person my whole life.”
— Liz Carmouche
“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 must be attained.”
— Marie Curie
“I’ve had a lot of voices tell me what I should be making. Personally, I would much rather live and die by my own hand. If my stuff sucks, then at least I made it suck. I didn’t allow some person, some old dude in a suit, to make it suck for me.”
— Zendaya
“I found that every time I asked for permission the answer tended to be no, so I had to make my own yeses.”
— Issa Rae
“The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It’s the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows & the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years.”
— Audrey Hepburn
“I believe that it is as much a right and duty for women to do something with their lives as for men and we are not going to be satisfied with such frivolous parts as you give us.”
— Louisa May-Alcott
“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
“You need to know that you’re enough — a mantra that has now ingrained itself so deeply within me that not a day goes by without hearing it chime in my head.”
— Meghan Markle
“We need to understand that there is no formula for how women should lead their lives. That is why we must respect the choices that each woman makes for herself and her family. Every woman deserves the chance to realize her God-given potential.”
— Hillary Clinton
“I have a confidence about my life that comes from standing tall on my own two feet.”
— Jane Fonda
“You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It’s too hard! It’s too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault. I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us.”
— “Barbie” (2023)
