25 Women On Hope For The Future: Inspiring Quotes

‘There will be people who say to you, "You are out of your lane." But don’t let that harden you. Resilience is crucial for leaders who are striving to make changes in the face of resistance.’

'Hope means taking action. I think that we need to redefine hope, because it’s being used against us. If there is hope you don’t need to do anything, but that is the opposite of hope.'

'There’s no making it, You just have to keep going and can’t rest on your laurels.'

'…The contagious power of hope, the anticipation, the energy, the exhilaration of once again being on the cusp of a brighter day. The chance to vanquish the demons of fear, division, and hate that have consumed us and continue pursuing the unfinished promise…’

'If there is any hope for the world at all, it does not live in climate change conference rooms or in cities with tall buildings. It lives low, down on the ground, with its arms around the people who go to battle every day to protect their forests, their mountains, and their rivers because they know that the forests, the mountains, and the rivers protect them.'

'I think for me hope is a choice. And I am much more inspired by the idea of being hopeful, and I would rather live in that headspace. There’s so much evidence of beauty and magic in this world, too; it’s certainly hard, there’s a lot of suffering in this world – you turn on the television and you can watch it, or you can be living it. But I think that life is about both things.'

'The point of freedom of speech is that people have the right to say things that people might find uncomfortable or inconvenient.'

'I’m a woman of colour, and then because I’m basically calling them out for what they’re doing and not really being shy or subtle about it, they try to shut me down, but that only makes me want to talk louder and go for it more – they can’t silence me, because that will be their tactic working.'

'Whatever access I have to speak truth to power, I will take.'

'These are the enemies of success. And that also gives my success a special taste because of these attacks.'

'Presidential elections are a form of madness that comes over us once every four years. They fit the great-man or -woman narrative of history, seducing us into forgetting how powerful we are. They erase our memory of grassroots power, direct democracy and civil society.

'Leaders beget followers; people pin their hopes on one person, and with that they seem to shed responsibility for anything beyond getting that one person into office. Or, they wash their hands of any further involvement if it’s not their one person…. it matters who is president, but what a president does has everything to do with what the people demand or refuse or do themselves, and what the House and Senate send them or sabotage.'

'Let's practice motivation and love, not discrimination and hate.'

'The world is not such a large place, and we have more in common with one another than we might think.'

‘You have to work hard, sacrifice yourself, only have a few friends.'

'Giving up doesn't always mean you're weak, sometimes you're just strong enough to let go.'

'The success of every woman should be the inspiration to another. We should raise each other up. Make sure you're very courageous: Be strong, be extremely kind and above all, be humble.'

'Courage doesn't grow overnight. It can be a long process. I think it's a great tragedy of childhood that you only really appreciate it once it's done: it's very hard to feel appreciative of the gifts you have until you're gone. Working is not instantly rewarding.'

'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.'

'I feel like if you're a really good human being, you can try to find something beautiful in every single person, no matter what.'

'That’s why I talk about kids learning mindfulness, because this lot are going to take over. If they have these things instilled in them, it’s only going to be peace and harmony. I believe in people,’ she gestures to the office, towards Camden, London, the world. ‘I believe in us.'