Eleanor Roosevelt was born on October 11th, 1884, to a wealthy family in New York City. Her father was a successful businessman, and she lived in great luxury. She grew up to be an educated, well-traveled woman with many skills.
The turning point of her life was when she met her husband Franklin D. Roosevelt at the age of 23, and they married two years later. She became the wife of the President of the United States and had no career other than being one of his advisors and social secretaries, but she felt this was not enough for her!
Eleanor Roosevelt then started to work for better conditions for people with disabilities or who were unemployed, poor, or living on low wages; in other words, she strived to make people’s lives better by making them more equal!
Here are 125 Eleanor Roosevelt quotes that will inspire your greatness
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”
“Before we can make friends with anyone else, we must first make friends with ourselves.”
“We are afraid to care too much for fear that the other person does not care at all.”
“Work is always an antidote to depression.”
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.”
“If someone betrays you once, it’s their fault; if they betray you twice, it’s your fault.”
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right- for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.”
“Do the things that interest you.”
“When you have decided what you believe, what you feel must be done, have the courage to stand alone and be counted.”
“It is not more vacation we need — it is more vocation.”
“Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says, ‘It can’t be done.”
“Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.”
“The giving of love is an education in itself.”
“Your ambition should be to get as much life out of living as you possibly can, as much enjoyment, as much interest, as much experience, as much understanding. Not simply be what is generally called a ‘success.”
“The very next thing you need to be doing is the thing that terrifies you the most.”
“It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway.”
“A stumbling block for the pessimist is a stepping stone to the optimist.”
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift”
“Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.”
“Happiness is not a goal, it’s a product of a life well lived.”
“Choose a challenge instead of competence.”
“We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it as not as dreadful as it appears, discovering that we have the strength to stare it down.”
“Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness you are able to give.”
“No man is defeated without until he has first been defeated within.”
“It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”
“People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously.”
“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.”
“Anger is one letter short of danger.”
“He who loses money loses much; he who loses a friend, loses much more, he who loses faith, loses all.”
“Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.”
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
“You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.”
“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”
“Character building begins in our infancy and continues until death.”
“Enjoy every minute you have with those you love, my dear, for no one can take joy that is past away from you. It will be there in your heart to live on when the dark days come.”
“Be confident, not certain.”
“Great leaders inspire people to have confidence in themselves.”
“When life is too easy for us, we must beware or we may not be ready to meet the blows which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor.”
“Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life.”
“You must do the thing you think you cannot do”
“You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude.”
“Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.”
“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”
“Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.”
“Happiness is not a goal… it’s a by-product of a life well lived.”
“To handle yourself, use your head: to handle others, use your heart.”
“You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.”
“The giving of love is an education in itself.”
“It seems to me of great importance to teach children respect for life.”
“If you lose money you lose much, If you lose friends you lose more, If you lose faith you lose all.”
“What could we accomplish if we knew we could not fail?”
“Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challenge instead of competence.”
“A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader. A great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.”
“If someone betrays you once, it’s their fault; if they betray you twice, it’s your fault.”
“I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do …”
“One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes… and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.”
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
“Have convictions. Be friendly. Stick to your beliefs as they stick to theirs. Work as hard as they do.”
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right- for you’ll be criticized anyway.”
“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”
“Hate and force cannot be in just a part of the world without having an effect on the rest of it.”
“Ambition is pitiless. Any merit that it cannot use it finds despicable.”
“The future is literally in our hands to mold as we like. But we cannot wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow is now.”
“Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”
“A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.”
“It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.”
“One thing life has taught me: if you are interested, you never have to look for new interests. They come to you. When you are genuinely interested in one thing, it will always lead to something else.”
“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
“Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.”
“It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.”
“Your ambition should be to get as much life out of living as you possibly can, as much enjoyment, as much interest, as much experience, as much understanding. Not simply be what is generally called a “success.”
“Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.”
“You must do the things you think you cannot do.”
“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.”
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”
“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.”
“You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.”
“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.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
“Strength that goes wrong is even more dangerous than weakness that goes wrong.”
“When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.”
“Hate and force cannot be in just a part of the world without having an effect on the rest of it.”
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
“Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.”
“It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”
“Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.”
“Probably the happiest period in life most frequently is in middle age, when the eager passions of youth are cooled, and the infirmities of age not yet begun.”
“I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.”
“There are no have-to’s, just choices.”
“Courage is more exhilarating than fear, and in the long run, it is easier.”
“People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.”
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.”
“You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude.”
“If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.”
“The battle for the individual rights of women is one of long standing and none of us should countenance anything which undermines it.”
“A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it’s in hot water.”
“I believe anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind him.”
“Today is the oldest you’ve ever been, and the youngest you’ll ever be again.”
“A great deal of fear is a result of just “not knowing.” We do not know what is involved in a new situation. We do not know whether we can deal with it. The sooner we learn what it entails, the sooner we can dissolve our fear.”
“Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.”
“Friendship with one’s self is all important, because without it one can not be friends with anyone else in the world.”
“A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it’s in hot water.”
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right — for you’ll be criticized anyway.”
“No matter how plain a woman may be, if truth and honesty are written across her face, she will be beautiful.”
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
“Do one thing every day that scares you.”
“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 have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
“We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.”
“I’m so glad I never feel important, it does complicate life!”
“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”
“Curiosity must be kept alive.”
“If life were predictable it would cease to be life and be without flavor.”
“Since everybody is an individual, nobody can be you. You are unique. No one can tell you how to use your time. It is yours. Your life is your own. You mold it. You make it.”
“I never waste time looking back.”
“Only a man’s character is the real criterion of worth.”
“There is nothing to fear except fear it’s self.”
“A stumbling-block to the pessimist is a stepping-stone to the optimist.”
“When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?”
“I believe anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do.”
“Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.”
“It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”
“I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind him.”
“The only things one can admire at length are those one admires without knowing why.”
“The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that fits all cases.”
