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Are you looking for Eleanor Roosevelt quotes to give you courage to faceyour fears and realize your dreams?
Eleanor Roosevelt was wife of the 32nd president of theUnited States, Franklin D. Roosevelt. She was also the longest serving First Lady.During her tenure, she devoted her time to public service, championed women’srights, and was of assistance to people in poverty.
Her influence is felt even today.
The 63 Eleanor Roosevelt quotes featured in this post aim to inspire you to become a good leader; discover the true purpose of education; help you overcome your fears to live a life in keeping with your personal truth; and discover true happiness.
Let’s first dive into Eleanor Roosevelt quotes on leadership. May her wise words show you what qualities a true leader should possess.
Table of Contents
Eleanor Roosevelt Quotes on Leadership
- “Itis a brave thing to have courage to be an individual; it is also, perhaps, alonely thing. But it is better than not being an individual, which is to benobody at all.”
- “Thegiving of love is an education in itself.”
- “To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.”
- “A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.”
- “Icould not at any age be content to take my place in a corner by the firesideand simply look on.”
- “Learnfrom the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them allyourself.”
- “Itis better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”
- “Noone can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
- “Dowhat 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.”
- “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
- “Ittakes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”
- “Peoplegrow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This ishow character is built.”
- “Whatcould we accomplish if we knew we could not fail?”
- “Itis not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do yourself.”
- “Ithink that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.”
When you say that someone is a good leader, what qualities does he orshe possess? Do you find yourself agreeing with Eleanor Roosevelt’s take onleadership?
In addition to politics, the topic of education was something close toEleanor Roosevelt’s heart. She is of the belief that good leaders are theproduct of their education.
It is also her belief that the purpose of education is to produce good citizens. And what is a good citizen? It is someone who has a well-developed sense of creativity, an eagerness to learn and be curious, and profound respect for life. Her quotes on education reflect these convictions.
Eleanor Roosevelt Quotes on Education
- “Themind must be trained, rather than the memory.”
- “Perhaps the most essential thing for a continuing education is to develop the capacity to know what you see and to understand what it means. Many people seem to go through life without seeing.”
- “All of life is a constant education.”
- “Itseems to me of great importance to teach children respect for life.”
- “Greatminds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”
- “Nevermistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps youmake a life.”
- “I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother toendow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.”
- “Iam convinced that every effort must be made in childhood to teach the young touse their own minds. For one thing is sure: If they don't make up their minds,someone will do it for them.”
- “Oneof the best ways of enslaving a people is to keep them from education.”
- “Thereis not human being from whom we cannot learn something if we are interestedenough to dig deep.”
- “Whatcounts, in the long run, is not what you read; it is what you sift through yourown mind; it is the ideas and impressions that are aroused in you by yourreading. It is the ideas stirred in your own mind, the ideas which are areflection of your own thinking, which make you an interesting person.”
- “Itseems to me of great importance to teach children respect for life. Towardsthis end, experiments on living animals in classrooms should be stopped. Toencourage cruelty in the name of science can only destroy the finer emotions ofaffection and sympathy, and breed an unfeeling callousness in the young towardssuffering in all living creatures.”
Education is the cornerstone of liberty.”
- “Education is the cornerstone of liberty.”
- “Eachtime you learn something new you must readjust the whole framework of yourknowledge.”
- “A democratic form of government, ademocratic way of life, presupposes free public education over a long period;it presupposes also an education for personal responsibility that too often isneglected.”
- “Hewho learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is ingreat danger.”
- “Ifeel that the care of libraries and the use of books, and the knowledge ofbooks, is a tremendously vital thing, and that we who deal with books and wholove books have a great opportunity to bring about something in this countrywhich is more vital here than anywhere else, because we have the chance to makea democracy that will be a real democracy.”
- “Weobtain our education at home, at school, and, most important, from life itself.”
Eleanor Roosevelt was known for her humanitarian efforts. She advocatedfor the poor and those in the minority, including women who, at that time, werenot very active in the political arena.
Foreign dignitaries acknowledged her power and took her counsel.
The work she did required a lot of courage. She overcame a lot ofpersonal challenges, including depression, to become one of the mostinfluential women in the world.
May her words about courage give you strength to overcome your own personalstruggles.
Eleanor Roosevelt Quotes on Courage
- “Thevery next thing you need to be doing is the thing that terrifies you the most.”
- “Youhave to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet itwith courage and with the best that you have to give.”
- “Courageis exhilarating.”
- “Youmust do the thing you think you cannot do.”
- “Do one thing every day that scares you.”
Do one thing every day that scares you.”
- “Whenyou have decided what you believe, what you feel must be done, have the courageto stand alone and be counted.”
- “The answer tofear is not to cower and hide; it is notto surrender feebly without contest. The answer is to stand and face it boldly.Look at it, analyze it, and, in the end, act.”
- “Yougain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you reallystop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I livedthrough this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannotdo.”
- “Ibelieve 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 experiencebehind him.”
- “Agreat deal of fear is a result of just “not knowing.” We do not know what isinvolved in a new situation. We do not know whether we can deal with it. Thesooner we learn what it entails, the sooner we can dissolve our fear.”
- “Courage is more exhilarating than fear, and in the long run, it is easier.”
- “Looking back I see that I was always afraid of something: of the dark, of displeasing people, of failure. Anything I accomplished had to be done across a barrier of fear.”
- “Wegain courage and wisdom from every instance in which we stop to look fear inthe face.”
- “Beconfident, not certain.”
When she wasyoung, Eleanor Roosevelt suffered immense grief caused by the deaths of thosedearest to her.
From an early age,and because of what she had gone through, Eleanor Roosevelt had a deeperunderstanding about life—the joys and the sorrows.
May her words aboutlife add a deeper dimension to your own view of existence.
Eleanor Roosevelt Quotes About Life
- “Dothe things that interest you and do them with all your heart. Don’t beconcerned about whether people are watching you or criticizing you. The chancesare that they aren’t paying attention to you.”
- “Lifeis like a parachute jump, you’ve got to get it right the first time.”
- “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.”
- “If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.”
- “Whenlife is too easy for us, we must beware or we may not be ready to meet theblows which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor.”
- “It’syour life – but only if you make it so. The standards by which you live must beyour own standards, your own values, your own convictions in regard to what isright and wrong, what is true and false, what is important and what is trivial.When you adopt the standards and the values of someone else… you surrenderyour own integrity. You become, to the extent of your surrender, less of ahuman being.”
- “Inthe long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process neverends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”
Today is the oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be again.”
- “Lifewas meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, forwhatever reason, turn his back on life.”
- “Donot stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you canlive bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challengeinstead of competence.”
- “Today is the oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be again.”
- “Youcan never really live anyone else's life, not even your child's. The influenceyou exert is through your own life, and what you've become yourself.”
- “Nothingalive can stand still, it goes forward or back. Life is interesting only aslong as it is a process of growth; or, to put it another way, we can only growas long as we are interested.”
Eleanor Rooseveltwill be best remembered for her refusal to conform to other people’sexpectations and standards. She was a trailblazer, unafraid to explore newpaths. And she was not merely content with exhortations. She was also a womanof action.
When she was 78years old, she wrote the book You Learnby Living: Eleven Keys for a More Meaningful Life. In the book, she sharedwhat she considered to be the key to happiness.
Her quotes onhappiness continue to inspire many today to live with integrity, and to dothings that contribute to the common good of all humanity. Here are some ofthose inspiring words.
EleanorRoosevelt Quotes on Happiness
- “Someone once asked me what I regarded as the three most important requirements for happiness. My answer was: A feeling that you have been honest with yourself and those around you; a feeling that you have done the best you could both in your personal life and in your work; and the ability to love others.”
- “Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product of a life well lived.”
- “Sinceyou get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal ofthought into the happiness that you are able to give.”
- “Ifanyone were to ask me what I want out of life I would say- the opportunity fordoing something useful, for in no other way, I am convinced, can true happinessbe attained.”
Final Thoughts on Eleanor Roosevelt Quotes
There you haveit—63 Eleanor Roosevelt quotes to inspire you to live a more meaningful life.
Was there aspecific quote that resonated with you? Or do you have a favorite quote fromher that wasn’t featured here? We’d love to know your thoughts. Feel free toshare them here.
Speaking ofsharing, if you love any of the artwork in this post, we’d greatly appreciate ashare through your favorite social media platform.
If you’re inspired by Eleanor Roosevelt’s pursuit of an authentic life, you might want to check out this post featuring 33 self-awareness activities you can do to get to know yourself deeper.
And if you're looking for more inspiration quotes, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 95 Education Quotes: Inspire Children, Parents, AND Teachers
- 41 Strong Woman Quotes to Inspire Your Life
Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then watch this free video that details the 7-minute habit for planning your day to focus on what's truly important to you..
