The 20 Most Empowering Book Quotes

I think one reason why we read is because we love the story of a hero. We are drawn to books about people who make things happen. There is nothing more exhilarating than being with a character as they pull themselves up by their bootstraps and make an impact on the world.

Think of Bilbo Baggins, reluctant as he is to join Gandalf and the dwarves, ultimately bringing down the dragon. Throughout The Hobbit, we tag along as he finds the power within himself to accomplish each feat. There's nothing quite so satisfying as that feeling when they win: the feeling of victory after a struggle.

We've all been in those moments when we feel like we can't do anything. Like the world is working against us. Like we're stuck. But books have taught that we're never truly defeated. Even in the worst of times, we always have the power within ourselves to rise up and achieve greatness.

If there's one thing I've learned, it's that sometimes you have to jump off the proverbial cliff and make your own success. These empowering book quotes will pull you up and push you forward as you embark on your own path to success.

1. "I believe great people do things before they are ready."

― Amy Poehler, Yes Please

2. “Anything that works against you can also work for you once you understand the Principle of Reverse.”

― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

3. “To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.”

― Yann Martel, Life of Pi

4. “When you can’t find someone to follow, you have to find a way to lead by example.”

― Roxane Gay, Bad Feminist

5. “I'm choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I'm making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises.”

― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

6. “Power, time, gravity, love. The forces that really kick ass are all invisible.”

― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

7. "So much universe, and so little time."

― Terry Pratchett, The Last Hero

8. “Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”

― Virignia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

9. “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

― Neil Gaiman, Coraline

10. “If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself.”

― Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief

11. “There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you, and there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.”

― Lemony Snicket, Horseradish

12. “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”

― Paul Coelho, The Alchemist

13. “We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.”

― Kurt Vonnegut, If This Isn't Nice, What Is?

14. “Accept who you are; and revel in it.”

― Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie

15. “You have to find a mother inside yourself. We all do. Even if we already have a mother, we still have to find this part of ourselves inside.”

― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

16. “Love the world and yourself in it, move through it as though it offers no resistance, as though the world is your natural element.”

― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife

17. "If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place.”

― Nora Roberts, Tears of the Moon

18. "Because survival is insufficient."

― Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven

19. “Not being heard is no reason for silence.”

― Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

20. “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

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