There is no royal flower-strewn path to success. And if there is, I have not found it, for if I have accomplished anything in life it is because I have been willing to work hard. – Madam C.J. Walker, America’s first female entrepreneur millionaire

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass. – Maya Angelou

Entrepreneurship is the last refuge of the troublemaking individual. – Natalie Clifford Barney

The glass ceiling that once limited a woman’s career path has paved a new road towards business ownership, where women can utilize their sharp business acumen while building strong family ties. – Erica Nicole, who left Corporate America to start YFSMagazine.

Expect the unexpected, and whenever possible, be the unexpected. – Lynda Barry

Making the decision to not follow a system, or someone else’s rules has allowed me to really dig into what my own strengths and gifts are without spending time feeling jaded or wasteful. – Ishita Gupta, founder of Fear.less Magazine

So often people are working hard at the wrong thing. Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard. – Caterina Fake, Co-founder, Flickr

Walt Disney told his crew to ‘build the castle first’ when constructing Disney World, knowing that vision would continue to serve as motivation throughout the project. Oftentimes when people fail to achieve what they want in life, it’s because their vision isn’t strong enough. – Gail Blanke, President and CEO, Lifedesigns

A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult. – Melinda Gates

I’m tough, ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay. — Madonna

The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud. — Coco Chanel

Next time, ask: what’s the worst that will happen? Then push yourself a little further than you dare. Once you start to speak, people will yell at you. They will interrupt you, put you down and suggest it’s personal. And the world won’t end … And the speaking will get easier and easier. And you will find you have fallen in love with your own vision, which you may never have realized you had. And you will lose some friends and lovers, and realize you don’t miss them. And new ones will find you and cherish you … And at last you’ll know with surpassing certainty that only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking. — Audre Lorde

Nobody talks about entrepreneurship as a survival, but that’s exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking. Running that first shop taught me business is not financial science; it’s about trading: buying and selling. — Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop

Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.” — Mary Anne Radmacher

People don’t take opportunities because the timing is bad, the financial side unsecure. Too many people are overanalyzing. Sometimes you just have to go for it. — Michelle Zatlyn, co-founder of CloudFlare

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. — Eleanor Roosevelt

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

Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works. — Virginia Woolf

I read and walked for miles at night along the beach, writing bad blank verse and searching endlessly for someone wonderful who would step out of the darkness and change my life. It never crossed my mind that that person could be me. — Anna Quindlen

The essential question is not, ‘How busy are you?’ but ‘What are you busy at?’ — Oprah Winfrey

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. — Helen Keller

If you don’t value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents. Value what you know and start charging for it. — Kim Garst

Intuition is truly a feminine quality, but women should not mistake rash conclusions for this gift. — Minna Antrim

Everything I do is just really my intuition, and every time I go against my intuition, it’s a mistake. Even though I may sit down and analyze and intellectualize something on paper, if I go against my gut feeling, it’s wrong. — Tamara Mellon

God made man stronger but not necessarily more intelligent. He gave women intuition and femininity. And, used properly, that combination easily jumbles the brain of any man I’ve ever met. — Farrah Fawcett

When you reach the end of what you should know, you will be at the beginning of what you should sense.” — Kahlil Gibran, author and poet, “Sand and Foam”

Don’t try to comprehend with your mind. Your minds are very limited. Use your intuition. — Madeleine L’Engle, author, “A Wrinkle in Time”

Success doesn’t come to you, you go to it. — Marva Collins

The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision. — Helen Keller

Do one thing every day that scares you. — Eleanor Roosevelt

I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition. — Martha Washington

Life is not about receiving at all times; it is a combination of being thankful for what you have as blessings and sharing those blessings with others who need a little fraction of what you have.” — Catherine Pulsifer

Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself, and know that everything in life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from. — Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Cherish what you have because not all people are blessed with the things that you are enjoying. — Faith Starr, author, “Stop Self-Sabotaging and Shift your Paradigm to Success”

The mind is everything. What you think you become. — Buddha

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. — Amelia Earhart

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. — Alice Walker

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass. — Maya Angelou

The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my 30 years of research into the feminine soul, is “What does a woman want? — Sigmund Freud

You won’t regret the men you never killed, but you will regret the women you passed up. — Bernard Cornwell, The Winter King

In revenge and in love woman is more barbaric than man is. — Friedrich Nietzsche, author, Beyond Good and Evil

No matter what a woman looks like, if she’s confident, she’s sexy. — Paris Hilton

Whatever a woman’s reason may say, her feelings tell her the truth. — Stefan Zweig, Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman

It’s in the reach of my arms, The span of my hips, The stride of my step, The curl of my lips. I’m a woman, Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. — Maya Angelou, Phenomenal Woman

You are more powerful than you know; you are beautiful just as you are. — Melissa Etheridge

Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and build a life you’re proud to live. – Anne Sweeney, president of Walt Disney

Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you. — Oprah Winfrey

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. — Mae West

There was a time when men thought it was sexy to have a housewife waiting for him to come home from work in her slippers, but in modern society, I think an independent woman is even more sexy. — Kat Graham

Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their opressors. — Evelyn Cunningham