“Life may give you a cactus, but you don’t have to sit on it.” – Joyce Meyers
A prospective client sent me his power point deck for his upcoming presentation. He asked for my feedback and I shared my opinion that it would be more effective if he had a better balance of quotes. He asked, “What do you mean?”
I said, “Good for you for featuring intriguing quotes to illustrate your points.. The only thing is, they’re almost all from what my interns call ‘triple name dead white guys” like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. They were wise men, but there are wise women you can quote who would add value and diversity.”
He said, “Sam, I looked, but I couldn’t find any great quotes on my topic.”
I told him I’ve been collecting profound quotes from women to feature in my upcoming book SOMEDAY is Not a Day in the Week, and promised to share them here. Hope you find them as intriguing and inspiring as I do.
Feel free to share this post with others – and use these quotes (with attribution to their originator) to get people’s eyebrows up. Read ’em and reap (and credit).
“Life is too short to live the same day twice.” – Jennifer Lopez
“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” – Connie Schultz
“You have to make mistakes to figure out who you aren’t.” – Anne Lamott
“One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.”- Malala Yousafzai
“When you learn, teach. When you get, give.” – Maya Angelou
“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” – Susan Sontag
“I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than the things I haven’t done.” – Lucille Ball
“Dream long, plan short.” – Sheryl Sandberg
“The life you’ve led doesn’t need to be the only life you have.” – Anna Quindlen
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” – Mary Oliver
“You can’t give up! If you give up, you’re like everybody else.” – Chris Evert
“Stop wearing your wishbone where you backbone ought to be.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
“We are better than we think and not yet what we want to be.” – Nikki Giovanni
“We repeat what we don’t repair.” – Christine Langley-Obaugh
“Action is the antidote to despair.” – Joan Baez
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” – Ayn Rand
“You have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Jane Goodall
“When you can’t keep up; connect.” – Mary Loverde
“A surplus of effort can overcome a deficit of confidence.” – Sonia Sotomayor
“Perhaps we never really appreciate anything until it is challenged.” – Anne M. Lindbergh
“Love is within reach of every hand.” – Mother Teresa
“Our life is our lab.” – Sam Horn
“I choose to make the rest of my life the best of my life.” – Louise Hay
“The moment of change is the only poem.” – Adrienne Rich
“It’s the second act that has the happy ending.” – Lisa Alter Mark
“I firmly believe you never should spend your time being a former anything.” – Condoleezza Rice
“Be brave enough to be your true self.” – Queen Latifah
“Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.” – Gloria Steinem
“When someone shows you who they are; believe them the first time.” – Maya Angelou
“The next road is always ahead.” – Oprah Winfrey
“The world is not made up of atoms; it’s made up of stories.” – Muriel Rukeyser
“It is the ability to choose which makes us human.” – Madeleine L’Engle
“The best teachers show you where to look; they don’t tell you what to see.” – A. K. Trenfor
“She was twice blessed. She was happy. She knew it.” – Jan Struther
“We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our to-do list.”- Michelle Obama
“Fear is borning.” – Olympia Dukakis
“The cure for boredom is curiosity.” – Dorothy Parker
“I want adventure in the great wide somewhere.” – Belle in Beauty and the Beast
“Cherish forever what makes you unique, cuz you’re really a yawn if it goes.” – Bette Midler
“I get nervous if I don’t get nervous. You just have to channel it into the show.” – Beyonce’
“The way we do anything is the way we do everything.” – Martha Beck
“I want to be a spy for hope.” – Katherine Patterson
“Mistakes are doorways to discovery.” – Sam Horn
“If you don’t like my book, write your own.” – Rita Mae Brown
“Every creative project needs a spine. What’s yours?” – Twyla Tharp
“Blessedness is within us all.” – Patti Smith
“Don’t tell it like it is. Tell it like you want it to be.” -Esther Hicks
“We must all make the choice between what is right and what is easy.” – J.K.Rowling
“All I know is my life is better when I assume people are doing their best.” – Brene Brown
“You become what you believe.” – Oprah Winfrey
“Joy is a net by which you catch souls.” – Mother Teresa
“People can’t jump on your bandwagon if it’s parked in the garage.” – Sam Horn
“I don’t think my story is over yet.” – Serena Williams
“If you can laugh at it. You can live with it.” – Erma Bomback
“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself.” – Coco Chanel
“Anything is possible if you have the right people supporting you.” – Misty Copeland
“Growth isn’t pretty, but it can be beautiful.” – Sonia Choquette
“You carry the passport to your own happiness.” – Dianne von Furstenberg
“Keep your face to the sun and you cannot see the shadow.” – Helen Keller
“We were made for these times.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estes
“It’s not selfish to put yourself in your own story; it’s inspiring.” – Sam Horn
You can waste your lives drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them.” – Shonda Rhimes
“It is a luxury to combine our passion with our contribution.” – Sheryl Sandberg
“If there were a rehab for curiosity; I’d be in it.” – Diane Sawyer
“I believe life loves the lover of it.” – Maya Angelou
“Don’t let them tame you.” – Isadora Duncan
“Go on. Do your work. Do it well. It is all you can do.” – Ursula LeGuin
“No one can figure out your worth but you.” – Pearl S. Buck
“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” – Nora Ephron
“Let me listen to me, and not to them.” – Gertrude Stein
“Life expands or contracts in proportion to your courage.” – Anais Nin
“Knowing what must be done does away with fear.” – Rosa Parks
“The most important things in life aren’t things.” – Ann Landers
“I no longer accept what I can’t change. I change what I can’t accept.” – Angela Davis
“Dreams in your head help no one.” – Sam Horn
“The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get less than you settled for.” – Maureen Dowd
“What a wonderful life I’ve had. I only wish I’d realized it sooner.” – singer Colette
“Guard your good mood.” – Meryl Streep
“To do what you love and feel it matters; how can anything be more fun?” – Katherine Graham
“My happiness depends on me, so you’re off the hook.” – Esther Hicks
“It’s never too late – in fiction or in life – to revise.” – Nancy Thayer
“The present we’re constructing should look like the future we’re dreaming.” – Alice Walker
“Exhaustion is not a status symbol.” – Brene Brown
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps. I’m the first Simone Biles.” – Simone Biles
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Sam Horn, CEO of the Intrigue Agency, has helped hundreds of clients create one-of-a-kind books, brands and presentations. Her TEDx talk and books Tongue Fu!, POP!,and Washington Post bestseller Got Your Attention? have been featured in NY Times and presented to YPO, Boeing, Intel, NASA, Cisco, Capital One, National Geographic. Want Sam to share her inspiring keynote with your group? Contact Cheri@IntrigueAgency.com.
