Here are 30 insightful quotes from Eleanor Roosevelt, a former First Lady of the United States. Sorted from where it was said:
- “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Speech to the American Women’s Association, 1940
- “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – From “This is My Story”, 1937
- “Do one thing every day that scares you.” – From “You Learn By Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life,” 1960
- “You must do the things you think you cannot do.” – From “You Learn By Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life,” 1960
- “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.” – Attributed, 1962
- “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” – From “You Learn By Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life,” 1960
- “Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.” – From “You Learn By Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life,” 1960
- “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” – Attributed, 1960
- “It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” – From “My Day” Column, 1949
- “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.'” – From “You Learn By Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life,” 1960
- “You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude.” – From “You Learn By Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life,” 1960
- “The giving of love is an education in itself.” – From “You Learn By Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life,” 1960
- “Friendship with oneself is all-important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.” – Attributed, 1950
- “It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.” – From “This I Remember”, 1951
- “The only things one can admire at length are those one admires without knowing why.” – Attributed, 1944
- “Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.” – Attributed, 1960
- “The only advantage of not being too good a housekeeper is that your guests are so pleased to feel how very much better they are.” – From “You Learn By Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life,” 1960
- “Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.” – From “You Learn By Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life,” 1960
- “You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” – Attributed, 1939
- “What could we accomplish if we knew we could not fail?” – Attributed, 1958
- “When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.” – From “You Learn By Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life,” 1960
- “I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.” – Attributed, 1950
- “The battle for the individual rights of women is one of long-standing and none of us should countenance anything which undermines it.” – “The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt”, 1951
- “In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” – From “You Learn By Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life,” 1960
- “The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction that author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.” – “This is My Story”, 1936
- “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” – Attributed, 1948
- “I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.” – From “You Learn By Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life,” 1960
- “You can never really live anyone else’s life, not even your child’s. The influence you exert is through your own life, and what you’ve become yourself.” – From “You Learn By Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life,” 1960
- “People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.” – From “You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life”, 1960
- “Understanding is a two-way street.” – From “Tomorrow Is Now”, 1958