Eleanor Roosevelt quotes

“If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living, I think.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“Sometimes I wonder if we shall ever grow up in our politics and say definite things which mean something, or whether we shall always go on using generalities to which everyone can subscribe, and which mean very little.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“In all our contacts it is probably the sense of being really needed and wanted which gives us the greatest satisfaction and creates the most lasting bond.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“The giving of love is an education in itself.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“I have spent many years of my life in opposition, and I rather like the role.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“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.'”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“Do what 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.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry is own weight, this is a frightening prospect.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes... and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“You must do the things you think you cannot do.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“Probably the happiest period in life most frequently is in middle age, when the eager passions of youth are cooled, and the infirmities of age not yet begun; as we see that the shadows, which are at morning and evening so large, almost entirely disappear at midday.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“You can never really live anyone else's life, not even your child's. The influence you exert is through your own life, and what you've become yourself.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt