150 Best Eleanor Roosevelt Quotes: Timeless Wisdom from America's Most Influential First Lady

Patrick WrightJuly 2, 2025

150 Best Eleanor Roosevelt Quotes: Timeless Wisdom from America's Most Influential First Lady

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) stands as one of the most remarkable figures in American history. As the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, human rights advocate, and the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights, she transformed the role of women in politics and society. Her words continue to inspire millions around the world, offering profound insights on courage, love, personal growth, and the human experience. This collection of 150 of her most powerful quotes reveals the depth of her wisdom and her enduring relevance in our modern world.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Courage and Fear
  3. Life and Living
  4. Love and Relationships
  5. Personal Growth and Self-Discovery
  6. Leadership and Responsibility
  7. Dreams and Purpose
  8. Wisdom and Character
  9. Social Justice and Democracy
  10. Conclusion

Courage and Fear

Eleanor Roosevelt understood that courage wasn't the absence of fear, but the determination to act despite it. Her quotes on bravery continue to empower people to face their challenges head-on.

"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 have 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

"Do one thing every day that scares you." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"The encouraging thing is that every time you meet a situation, though you may think at the time it is an impossibility and you go through the tortures of the damned, once you have met it and lived through it you find that forever after you are freer than you ever were before." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"What could we accomplish if we knew we could not fail?" - 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

"It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challenge instead of competence." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"It is a brave thing to have courage to be an individual; it is also, perhaps, a lonely thing. But it is better than not being an individual, which is to be nobody at all." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"I have never felt that anything really mattered but the satisfaction of knowing that you stood for the things in which you believed and had done the very best you could." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"You must do the things you think you cannot do." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"I believe 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 experience behind him." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it. If you fail anywhere along the line, it will take away your confidence. You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do the thing you think you cannot do." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Fear has always seemed to me to be the worst stumbling block which anyone has to face." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run it is easier." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Life and Living

Eleanor Roosevelt believed that life should be lived fully and authentically. Her philosophy on living remains deeply relevant today.

"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." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Happiness is not a goal...it's a by-product of a life well lived." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"All of life is a constant education." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"It's your life-but only if you make it so." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Today is the oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be again." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"The giving of love is an education in itself." - 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

"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

"I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"When life is too easy for us, we must beware or we may not be ready to meet the blows which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Life is like a parachute jump, you've got to get it right the first time." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"The most important thing in any relationship is not what you get but what you give." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Love and Relationships

Her insights on love and human connections reveal a deep understanding of what makes relationships meaningful and lasting.

"We all know people who are so much afraid of pain that they shut themselves up like clams in a shell and, giving out nothing, receive nothing and therefore shrink until life is a mere living death." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Friendship with oneself is all important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"The hard part of loving is that one has to learn so often to let go of those we love, so they can do things, so they can grow, so they can return to us with an even richer, deeper love." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Love can often be misguided and do as much harm as good, but respect can do only good. It assumes that the other person's stature is as large as one's own, his rights as reasonable, his needs as important." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?" - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Hate and force cannot be in just a part of the world without having an effect on the rest of it." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"If someone betrays you once, it's their fault; if they betray you twice, it's your fault." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"The emotions are sometimes so strong that I work without knowing it. The strokes come like speech." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Caring comes from being able to put yourself in the position of the other person." - 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

"It is not more vacation we need - it is more vocation." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"The word liberal comes from the word free. We must cherish and honor the word free or it will cease to apply to us." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"True hospitality consists of giving the best of yourself to your guests." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Personal Growth and Self-Discovery

Eleanor Roosevelt's journey of self-discovery inspired her most profound observations about personal development and human potential.

"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." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Character building begins in our infancy and continues until death." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"You not only have a right to be an individual. You have a responsibility." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"To be mature you have to realize what you value most... Not to arrive at a clear understanding of one's own values is a tragic waste. You have missed the whole point of what life is for." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"What other people think of me is none of my business." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Do the things that interest you and do them with all your heart. Don't be concerned about whether people are watching you or criticizing you. The chances are that they aren't paying any attention to you." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"It's your attention to yourself that is so stultifying. But you have to disregard yourself as completely as possible. If you fail the first time then you'll just have to try harder the second time." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"I am convinced that every effort must be made in childhood to teach the young to use their own minds. For one thing is sure: If they don't make up their minds, someone will do it for them." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"What one has to do usually can be done." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"It seems to me that I cannot afford, as a self-respecting individual, to refuse to do a thing merely because it will make me disliked or bring down a storm of criticism on my head." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"To reach a port, we must sail - sail, not tie at anchor - sail, not drift." - 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

Leadership and Responsibility

As a leader and advocate, Eleanor Roosevelt understood the weight of responsibility and the importance of principled leadership.

"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 his own weight, this is a frightening prospect." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn't have the power to say yes." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"You can't move so fast that you try to change the mores faster than people can accept it. That doesn't mean you do nothing, but it means that you do the things that need to be done according to priority." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Light a candle instead of cursing the darkness." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"The function of democratic living is not to lower standards but to raise those that have been too low." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Will people ever be wise enough to refuse to follow bad leaders or to take away the freedom of other people?" - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"The battle for the individual rights of women is one of long standing and none of us should countenance anything which undermines it." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"We must know what we think and speak out, even at the risk of unpopularity." - 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

"The only advantage of not being too good a housekeeper is that your guests are so pleased to feel how very much better they are." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Autobiographies are only useful as the lives you read about and analyze may suggest to you something that you may find useful in your own journey through life." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Campaign behavior for wives: Always be on time. Do as little talking as humanly possible. Lean back in the parade car so everybody can see the president." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Anyone who knows history, particularly the history of Europe, will, I think, recognize that the domination of education or of government by any one particular religious faith is never a happy arrangement for the people." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"I have spent many years of my life in opposition, and I rather like the role." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Old age has deformities enough of its own. It should never add to them the deformity of vice." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Dreams and Purpose

Eleanor Roosevelt believed deeply in the power of dreams and the importance of finding one's purpose in life.

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." - 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 would be curiosity." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"If man is to be liberated to enjoy more leisure, he must also be prepared to enjoy this leisure fully and creatively." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"You have to accept whatever comes, and the only important thing is that you meet it with the best you have to give." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"We face the future fortified with the lessons we have learned from the past. It is today that we must create the world of the future." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"I'm so glad I never feel important, it does complicate life!" - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Understanding is a two-way street." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Work is always an antidote to depression." - 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." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Perhaps nature is our best assurance of immortality." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"My experience has been that work is almost the best way to pull oneself out of the depths." - 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

"Actors are one family over the entire world." - 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

"The basis of world peace is the teaching which runs through almost all the great religions of the world. Love thy neighbor as thyself." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Ambition is pitiless. Any merit that it cannot use it finds despicable." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Wisdom and Character

Her observations on wisdom and character development offer timeless guidance for personal integrity.

"No matter how plain a woman may be, if truth and honesty are written across her face, she will be beautiful." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Once I 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

"The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"...so much attention is paid to the aggressive sins, such as violence and cruelty, and greed with all their tragic effects, that too little attention is paid to the passive sins, such as apathy and laziness, which in the long run can have a more devastating and destructive effect upon society than the others." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"...no matter how avid they themselves may be for praise and appreciation, people are often niggardly in giving it to others, however merited it is." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Don't call a woman a bitch. Call her an ass-hole. It still gets your point across and it's not sexist." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"A mature person is one who does not think only in absolutes, who is able to be objective even when deeply stirred emotionally, who has learned that there is both good and bad in all people and in all things, and who walks humbly and deals charitably with the circumstances of life, knowing that in this world no one is all knowing and therefore all of us need both love and charity." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"I could never be content to take my place in a corner and simply look on." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Have convictions. Be friendly. Stick to your beliefs as they stick to theirs. Work as hard as they do." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"I can not believe that war is the best solution. No one won the last war, and no one will win the next war." - 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

"I suppose I should be used to being misunderstood by now, but it still bothers me." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"I think that if the atomic bomb did nothing more, it scared the people to the point where they realized that either they must do something about preventing war or there is a chance that there might be a morning when we would not wake up." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"I used to tell my husband that, if he could make me 'understand' something, it would be clear to all the other people in the country." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"I'm sure that all of the drivers and motorcycle police had once been racing drivers and were eager to get back to that profession." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"If we want a free and peaceful world, if we want to make the deserts bloom and man grow to greater dignity as a human being - we can do it." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"In our country we must trust the people to hear and see both the good and the bad and to choose the good." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Social Justice and Democracy

Eleanor Roosevelt's commitment to social justice and democratic values shaped her worldview and her tireless advocacy work.

"No one won the last war, and no one will win the next war." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Lest I keep my complacent way I must remember somewhere out there a person died for me today. As long as there must be war, I ask and I must answer was I worth dying for?" - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Anyone who thinks must think of the next war as they would of suicide." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"We have to face the fact that either all of us are going to die together or we are going to learn to live together and if we are to live together we have to talk." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!" - Eleanor Roosevelt

"The moral leadership of the United States is necessary to the world, not only for our own good, but for the good of all people everywhere." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"The only things one can admire at length are those one admires without knowing why." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"There are practical little things in housekeeping which no man really understands." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"There is nothing to fear except fear itself." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"This is not a time when women should be patient. We are in a war and we need to fight it with all our ability and every weapon possible. Women pilots, in this particular case, are a weapon waiting to be used." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Too often the great decisions are originated and given form in bodies made up wholly of men, or so completely dominated by them that whatever of special value women have to offer is shunted aside without expression." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"We are never really happy until we try to brighten the lives of others." - 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

"We must be willing to learn the lesson that cooperation may imply compromise, but if it brings a world advance it is a gain for each individual nation." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"What we must learn to do is to create unbreakable bonds between the sciences and the humanities. We cannot procrastinate. The world of the future is in our making. Tomorrow is now." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Conclusion

Eleanor Roosevelt's words continue to resonate across generations because they speak to universal human experiences and aspirations. Her quotes reflect a life lived with purpose, courage, and an unwavering commitment to human dignity. From her insights on personal growth to her passionate advocacy for social justice, Eleanor Roosevelt's wisdom reminds us that each individual has the power to make a difference in the world.

Her legacy teaches us that true strength comes not from avoiding challenges, but from facing them with grace and determination. As we navigate our own journeys, her words serve as both comfort and call to action, encouraging us to live authentically, love deeply, and work tirelessly for a better world. In a time when the world faces new challenges, Eleanor Roosevelt's timeless wisdom offers guidance, hope, and inspiration for all who seek to live a life of meaning and purpose.

As she so eloquently put it, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." May her words continue to inspire dreamers and doers for generations to come.

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