Words stick to your ribs when they come from someone who has lived through fire. Black women have carried the weight of history on their shoulders, spoken truth to power, and still found the grace to lift others up along the way. Their words are not abstract motivational fluff—they are forged in real experience.
You know that feeling when a single sentence rearranges something inside you? When you read a line, and your whole body responds before your brain even catches up? That is what the best quotes do. They bypass logic and hit you right where you live.
This collection is meant to be used. Save the ones that speak to you. Text them to a friend who is struggling. Set one as your lock screen. Pin one above your desk. These words were meant to travel.
Inspirational Quotes by Black Women
From civil rights icons and literary legends to modern-day trailblazers, Black women have gifted us language that moves, challenges, and heals. Here are 100 quotes worth keeping close—each one perfect for a text, a status update, or a quiet moment of reflection.
Message 1
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” — Maya Angelou
Message 2
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” — Angela Davis
Message 3
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” — Maya Angelou
Message 4
“I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.” — Madam C.J. Walker
Message 5
“If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” — Shirley Chisholm
Message 6
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” — Alice Walker
Message 7
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. You have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars.” — Harriet Tubman
Message 8
“Your silence will not protect you.” — Audre Lorde
Message 9
“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.” — Rosa Parks
Message 10
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” — Audre Lorde
Message 11
“Define yourself. Then they can’t define you.” — Toni Morrison
Message 12
“I am my best work—a series of road maps, reports, recipes, doodles, and prayers from the front lines.” — Audre Lorde
Message 13
“Nothing will work unless you do.” — Maya Angelou
Message 14
“You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.” — Shirley Chisholm
Message 15
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” — Maya Angelou
Message 16
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” — Maya Angelou
Message 17
“Freeing yourself was one thing. Claiming ownership of that freed self was another.” — Toni Morrison
Message 18
“I had reasoned this out in my mind: there was one of two things I had a right to—liberty or death.” — Harriet Tubman
Message 19
“Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.” — Oprah Winfrey
Message 20
“You wanna fly? You got to give up the stuff that weighs you down.” — Toni Morrison
Message 21
“Step out of the history that is holding you back. Step into the new story you are willing to create.” — Oprah Winfrey
Message 22
“I found God in myself, and I loved her fiercely.” — Ntozake Shange
Message 23
“It’s not the load that breaks you down. It’s the way you carry it.” — Lena Horne
Message 24
“No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to grow.” — Alice Walker
Message 25
“Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.” — Coretta Scott King
Message 26
“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” — Maya Angelou
Message 27
“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” — Audre Lorde
Message 28
“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.” — Mae C. Jemison
Message 29
“I am lucky that whatever fear I have inside me, my desire to win is always stronger.” — Serena Williams
Message 30
“There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” — Michelle Obama
Message 31
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” — Maya Angelou
Message 32
“We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves.” — Beyoncé
Message 33
“I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint.” — Oprah Winfrey
Message 34
“You’ve got to learn to leave the table when love is no longer being served.” — Nina Simone
Message 35
“I will not have my life narrowed down. I will not bow down to somebody else’s whim or to someone else’s ignorance.” — bell hooks
Message 36
“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” — Audre Lorde
Message 37
“You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.” — Maya Angelou
Message 38
“We all require and want respect, man or woman, Black or white. It’s our basic human right.” — Aretha Franklin
Message 39
“We are the ones we have been waiting for.” — June Jordan
Message 40
“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” — Ida B. Wells
Message 41
“I had no idea that history was being made. I was making a way of life for myself and my friends.” — Rosa Parks
Message 42
“Your crown has been bought and paid for. Put it on your head and wear it.” — Maya Angelou
Message 43
“Whatever we believe about ourselves and our ability comes true for us.” — Susan L. Taylor
Message 44
“If everything was perfect, you would never learn and you would never grow.” — Beyoncé
Message 45
“Surround yourself only with people who are going to take you higher.” — Oprah Winfrey
Message 46
“Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism.” — Oprah Winfrey
Message 47
“I’m a woman phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that’s me.” — Maya Angelou
Message 48
“I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.” — Audre Lorde
Message 49
“You are your best thing.” — Toni Morrison
Message 50
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” — Zora Neale Hurston
Message 51
“Let nothing dim the light that shines from within.” — Maya Angelou
Message 52
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” — Maya Angelou
Message 53
“I must undertake to love myself and to respect myself as though my very life depends upon self-love and self-respect.” — June Jordan
Message 54
“I knew there was a God because when I went out to the fields to pray, something always happened in my heart.” — Sojourner Truth
Message 55
“Stand up straight and realize who you are, that you tower over your circumstances.” — Maya Angelou
Message 56
“I am dripping melanin and honey. I am Black without apology.” — Upile Chisala
Message 57
“You have to act as if it were possible to radically change everything. And you have to do it all the time.” — Angela Davis
Message 58
“The question is not whether we can afford to invest in every child. It is whether we can afford not to.” — Marian Wright Edelman
Message 59
“I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” — Fannie Lou Hamer
Message 60
“My mother told me I was blessed, and I have always taken her word for it.” — Toni Morrison
Message 61
“When you’ve worked hard and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you.” — Michelle Obama
Message 62
“Black women have always had to invent themselves.” — bell hooks
Message 63
“There are still many causes worth sacrificing for, so much history yet to be made.” — Michelle Obama
Message 64
“I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another, is a revolutionary act.” — Janet Mock
Message 65
“I have learned not to allow rejection to move me.” — Cicely Tyson
Message 66
“I’m convinced that we Black women possess a special indestructible strength.” — Coretta Scott King
Message 67
“I love myself when I am laughing, and then again when I am looking mean and impressive.” — Zora Neale Hurston
Message 68
“For I am my mother’s daughter, and the drums of Africa still beat in my heart.” — Mary McLeod Bethune
Message 69
“Success isn’t about how much money you make. It’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.” — Michelle Obama
Message 70
“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” — Oprah Winfrey
Message 71
“Ain’t I a woman?” — Sojourner Truth
Message 72
“I want every girl to know that her voice can change the generation.” — Amanda Gorman
Message 73
“You can waste your life drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them.” — Shonda Rhimes
Message 74
“We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller.” — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Message 75
“Turn your wounds into wisdom.” — Oprah Winfrey
Message 76
“You can fall, but you can rise also.” — Angelique Kidjo
Message 77
“The type of beauty I am most drawn to has nothing to do with physical appearance. It’s what people do.” — Lupita Nyong’o
Message 78
“Girls of all kinds can be beautiful—from the thin, plus-sized, short, tall, dark, and light.” — Queen Latifah
Message 79
“My mission in life is not to survive, but to thrive.” — Maya Angelou
Message 80
“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” — Maya Angelou
Message 81
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou
Message 82
“Where there is a woman, there is magic.” — Ntozake Shange
Message 83
“My mother always told me, ‘If you can’t find something to live for, you best find something to die for.'” — Afeni Shakur
Message 84
“We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.” — Angela Davis
Message 85
“Don’t settle for average. Bring your best to the moment. Then, whether it fails or succeeds, at least you know you gave all you had.” — Angela Bassett
Message 86
“There is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.” — Amanda Gorman
Message 87
“The thing about being powerful is that it may not look like what you think.” — Toni Morrison
Message 88
“I refuse to accept other people’s ideas of happiness for me.” — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Message 89
“Other women who are doing well aren’t doing well against you.” — Ava DuVernay
Message 90
“There’s something beautiful about keeping certain aspects of your life hidden, and then gradually revealing layers.” — Viola Davis
Message 91
“I have stood on a mountain of no’s for one yes.” — B. Smith
Message 92
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou
Message 93
“Be fearless about your choices.” — Kerry Washington
Message 94
“I am a Black woman—tall as a cypress, strong beyond all definition.” — Mari Evans
Message 95
“Reclaiming my time.” — Maxine Waters
Message 96
“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” — Fannie Lou Hamer
Message 97
“I refuse to be reduced by my circumstances.” — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Message 98
“If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.” — Oprah Winfrey
Message 99
“Life is very short and what we have to do must be done in the now.” — Audre Lorde
Message 100
“I come as one, but I stand as ten thousand.” — Maya Angelou
Wrapping Up
Black women have shaped history with more than actions—they have shaped it with language. These 100 quotes carry lifetimes of courage, resilience, and wisdom earned the hard way. They are made to be shared, saved, and returned to on the days when you need them most.
Pick one that speaks to where you are right now. Post it, text it, write it on a sticky note—whatever keeps it close. Because the right words at the right time can shift everything.