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These Inspiring Quotes Are Perfect For International Day Of The Girl

Words to live by.

by Ashley Jones
Updated: 
Originally Published: 

At a time when the news cycle feels more like a real-life episode of The Handmaid's Tale, it's easy to feel disheartened. But it's important to remember that there are so many people working toward a better tomorrow. As these inspiring quotes for International Day of the Girl prove, there are still countless people engaged in vital, life-changing work all over the globe. Keep reading to feel a little bit better about the world.

Established in 2012, International Day of the Girl addresses the needs and challenges that girls face around the world. It promotes empowerment, education, and employment skills, alongside the attainment of basic human rights. The 2023 International Day of the Girl theme, “Invest in Girls’ Rights: Our Leadership, Our Well-being” focuses on the importance of giving girls the resources they need to advocate for themselves and for others, including the adults in the lives of girls standing up and holding themselves accountable to better the lives of girls all over the world. The day itself serves as a reminder not only to fight for equity, but to empower the next generation with the skills and resources that they need to succeed, especially now as so many womens’ rights and gender equality pushes have been changed.

There are countless ways to get involved with International Day of the Girl both in real life and online. In the meantime, let these brilliant quotes inspire the younger generation as well as yourself.

1Inspirational Quotes For International Day Of The Girl

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  • "All across the nation, little girls woke up, especially little Black and brown girls, who so often feel overlooked and undervalued in their communities, but today — today, just maybe, they're seeing themselves for the first time in a new way. As the stuff of presidents and vice presidents.” — Kamala Harris
  • “To all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable, powerful, and deserving of every opportunity in the world and every chance to pursue your own dreams.” — Hillary Clinton
  • “You cannot, you cannot use someone else's fire. You can only use your own. And in order to do that, you must first be willing to believe that you have it.” ― Audre Lorde
  • "I want every girl to know that her voice can change the world,” — Malala Yousafzai
  • "Never limit yourself because of others’ limited imagination; never limit others because of your own limited imagination." — Mae Jemison
  • “But what Mom never told me is that along the way, you find sisters, and they find you. Girls are cool that way.” ― Adriana Trigiani, “Viola in Reel Life"
  • "For most of history, anonymous was a woman." ― Virginia Woolf
  • “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” ― Simone de Beauvoir
  • "Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That's what little girls are made of." ― Bethany Hamilton
  • "Little girls are cute and small only to adults. To one another they are not cute. They are life-sized." ― Margaret Atwood
  • “Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.” — Maya Angelou
  • “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
  • "Don't be afraid to speak up for yourself. Keep fighting for your dreams!" —Gabby Douglas
  • "I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by people around them. I was surrounded by extraordinary women in my life who taught me about quiet strength and dignity." — Michelle Obama
  • "Feminism isn't about making women stronger. Women are already strong, it's about changing the way the world perceives that strength." — G.D. Anderson
  • “The great responsibility I feel is to get people to put that power and that hope in themselves.” — Amanda Gorman
  • “I'd rather take coffee than compliments just now.” — Little Women

2Empowering Quotes For International Day Of The Girl

  • "I feel like so many people invalidate the experience of transgender girls thinking they aren't regular girls, but I am a normal girl." — Jazz Jennings
  • "There is no 'female mind.' The brain is not an organ of sex. Might as well speak of a female liver." — Charlotte Perkins Gilman
  • “A girl should be two things: who and what she wants.” ― Coco Chanel, The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World's Most Elegant Woman
  • “What we ask is to be human individuals, however peculiar and unexpected. It is no good saying: ‘You are a little girl and therefore you ought to like dolls;’ if the answer is, ‘But I don't,’ there is no more to be said.” ― Dorothy L. Sayers, Are Women Human? Astute and Witty Essays on the Role of Women in Society
  • “You are so much stronger than the world / has ever believed you could be. / The world is waiting for you / to set it on fire. Trust in yourself / and burn.” ― Clementine von Radics, Mouthful of Forevers
  • “...ducks and geese are foolish things, and must be looked after, but girls can take care of themselves.” ― Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
  • "I have chosen to no longer be apologetic for my femaleness and my femininity. And I want to be respected in all of my femaleness because I deserve to be.” — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • "Girl power in my mind is to let girls be exactly what they are. Let them be angry. Let them be resentful. And rebellious. Let them be hard and soft and loving and sad and silly. Let them be wrong. Let them be right. Let them be everything, because they are everything." — Amy Sherman-Palladino
  • "I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.” ― Rebecca West
  • “Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts. And they’ve got ambition, and they’ve got talent, as well as just beauty. I’m so sick of people saying that love is all a woman is fit for.” — Little Women
  • "I've never been interested in being invisible and erased." ― Laverne Cox
  • "Some people really feel uncomfortable around women who don't hate themselves. So that's why you need to be a little bit brave." ― Mindy Kaling
  • “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” — Little Women
  • “You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.” — Oprah Winfrey
  • “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made.” — Ruth Bader Ginsburg
  • “Girls should be strong together. Strong like steel, merry like the tinkling of chimes dancing in the wind." — Kristin Halbrook, “Nobody But Us”
  • “The most effective way to do it, is to do it.” — Amelia Earhart
  • “You are never too small to make a difference.” — Greta Thunberg
  • “Who run the world? Girls!” — Beyoncé
  • “Hear me as a woman, Have me as your sister, On purpled battlefield breaking day, So I might say our victory is just beginning, See me as change, Say I am movement, That I am the year, And I am the era, Of the women.” — Amanda Gorman
  • “I should have been a great many things, Mr. Mayer.” — Jo March, Little Women

3International Day Of The Girl Quotes About Leadership & The Future

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  • “In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.” — Sheryl Sandberg
  • "Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength." — G.D. Anderson
  • "The spark in my eyes are my goals. Let me achieve them. I AM THE FUTURE." — Habiba Manzo
  • "If you want to break the cycle of poverty, educate a girl." — Graça Machel
  • "There is no more valuable investment than in a girl's education." — Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations
  • "I am now confident that I can bring about change in my own life as well as in others." — Jabeen, 15, Wonder Girls: Changing Our World
  • “Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie.” ― Gloria Steinem
  • "Women who lead, read." ― Laura Bates
  • "Give a girl an education and introduce her properly into the world, and ten to one but she has the means of settling well, without further expense to anybody." ― Jane Austen
  • “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
  • “We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves. We have to step up as women and take the lead.” — Beyoncé
  • “My hope for the future, not just in the music industry, but in every young girl I meet, is that they all realize their worth and ask for it.” — Taylor Swift
  • “Young women who want an education will not be stopped.” — Freida Pinto
  • “The seeds of success in every nation on Earth are best planted in women and children.” — Joyce Band
  • “There is no greater pillar of stability than a strong, free, and educated woman.” — Angelina Jolie

No matter what, be sure to talk to the girls and women in your life about the issues that matter most to them and how they can feel significant and worthy of change. Happy International Day of the Girl!

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