Words of Wisdom From Some of Our Favorite Women

27 inspiring quotes to mark Women's History Month

Shelley Emling,

AARP

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En español

Published February 26, 2018

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Meryl Streep tops the list of favorite quotes from famous women 50 and older.

Michele Asselin/Contour by Getty Images

March is Women's History Month, a time to celebrate the many contributions of women to society. To mark the occasion, we've curated a list of favorite quotes from famous women 50 and older. While there are plenty of other women to inspire us, the following 25 are a good place to start.

1. “You can’t get spoiled if you do your own ironing.” — Meryl Streep, 68.

2. “I don’t have any time to stay up all night worrying about what someone who doesn’t love me has to say about me.” — Viola Davis, 52.

3. “If success is really dependent on someone liking you or not liking you, and you have to teeter on that kind of tightrope of how you’re supposed to act and how you’re supposed to look and who you are, it’s just not a healthy way to live.” — Ellen DeGeneres, 60.

4. “The difference between successful people and others is how long they spend time feeling sorry for themselves.” — Barbara Corcoran, 68.

5. “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” — Dolly Parton, 72.

6. “I think when you begin to think of yourself as having achieved something, then there’s nothing left for you to work towards. I want to believe that there is a mountain so high that I will spend my entire life striving to reach the top of it.” — Cicely Tyson, 93.

7. “You can’t give up! If you give up, you’re like everybody else.” — Chris Evert, 63.

8. “When I was a kid, my mother told me that if you could not be a good loser, then there’s no way you could be a good winner.” — Halle Berry, 51.

9. “A surplus of effort could overcome a deficit of confidence.” — Sonia Sotomayor, 63.

10. “The trouble with some women is they get all excited about nothing — and then they marry him.” — Cher, 71.

11. “Loving someone is giving them the power to break your heart, but trusting them not to.” — Julianne Moore, 57.

12. “I wanted to be scared again … I wanted to feel unsure again. That’s the only way I learn, the only way I feel challenged.” — Connie Chung, 71.

woman sitting on chair, leaning over chair back

Co-host of NBC's Today Show, Hoda Kotb

Chris Sorensen/Redux

13. “They say taking a risk is like working a muscle. Once you’ve done it once, it’s not so hard the next time and the next time.” — Hoda Kotb, 53.

14. “If you spend all your time worrying about dying, living isn’t going to be much fun.” — Roseanne Barr, 65.

15. “As soon as my mother saw my father, she said, ‘Oh! I think I’m gonna marry that man.’ That’s the reason I’ve been married four times, because I think it’s that easy … it really is not.” — Diahann Carroll, 82.

Comedian, actress and author Rosie Perez.

Maarten de Boer/NBC via Getty Images

16. “If I see a door comin’ my way, I’m knockin’ it down. And if I can’t knock down the door, I’m sliding through the window.” — Rosie Perez, 53.

17. “I don’t believe that if you do good, good things will happen. Everything is completely accidental and random. Sometimes bad things happen to very good people and sometimes good things happen to bad people. But at least if you try to do good things, then you’re spending your time doing something worthwhile.” — Helen Mirren, 72.

18. “Everybody has a part of her body that she doesn’t like, but I’ve stopped complaining about mine because I don’t want to critique nature’s handiwork … My job is simply to allow the light to shine out of the masterpiece.” — Alfre Woodard, 65.

19. “I think the secret to happiness is having a Teflon soul. Whatever comes your way, you either let it slide or you cook with it.” — Diane Lane, 53.

20. “In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you. — Amy Tan, 66.

21. “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” — Oprah Winfrey, 64.

22. “I’ve always been optimistic. And I have a feeling that it happened because of going to all those movies with my grandmother in the ’40s because there was no cynicism.” — Carol Burnett, 84.

23. “Connect deeply with others. Our humanity is the one thing that we all have in common.” — Melinda Gates, 53.

24. “The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” — Lily Tomlin, 78.

25. “Drink a bunch of water and get facials regularly. I take care of my skin.” — Angela Bassett, 59.

26. “You don’t have to be naked to be sexy.” — Nicole Kidman, 50.

27. “I admit that Post-it note sheets that adhere to virtually any surface are now my substitute of choice for retention.” — Candice Bergen, 71.

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