Read These 32 Quotes to Girls to Inspire Them

When you set out to look for inspirational quotes and messages, too often all that you find are the sorts of platitudes you'd expect to see on a throw pillow at Augustus Waters' house in The Fault in Our Stars. Even if you've never picked up TFIOS, I still have a feeling you know what I mean; as much as we all love quotes about rain bringing rainbows, sometimes when you're looking for inspiration you just want something a little deeper.

And when you're looking for something with meaning, where's the one place you turn? Why, to books, of course!

Books are great for giving you inspiration that doesn't feel cliché or overly simplified. And that's especially true when your inspiration is coming from books you've already read and know you love. Not only is the message on point, but it still resonates with the book it came from.

But if you're not interested in flipping through all your old books hoping you happen to land on the right passages, never fear. I've collected some of the best inspirational quotes for girls of all ages from some of our favorite books. Enjoy the inspiration, and if something unfamiliar catches your eye, maybe consider enjoying the book, too!

1. “You are still young, free. Do yourself a favor. Before it's too late, without thinking too much about it first, pack a pillow and a blanket and see as much of the world as you can. You will not regret it. One day it will be too late.”

— Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

2. “You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it.”

― Yann Martel, Life of Pi

3.

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know.And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...”

― Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You'll Go!

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

— Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief

5. “You can't write a script in your mind and then force yourself to follow it. You have to let yourself be.”

— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun

6. “Listen. To live is to be marked. To live is to change, to acquire the words of a story, and that is the only celebration we mortals really know. In perfect stillness, frankly, I've only found sorrow.”

― Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible

7. "You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world … but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers.”

― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

8. “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”

― Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

9. "Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."

— J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

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

― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

11. “If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing.”

― Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

12. “You should never be surprised when someone treats you with respect, you should expect it.”

― Sarah Dessen, Keeping the Moon

13. “I love and am loved, fully and freely, nothing expected, more than enough received.”

― Amy Tan, The Hundred Secret Senses

14. “The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”

― Jack Kerouac, On the Road

15. “The air of ideas is the only air worth breathing.”

― Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence

16. "Not being heard is no reason for silence.”

― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

17. "I am human. I am messy. I’m not trying to be an example. I am not trying to be perfect. I am not trying to say I have all the answers. I am not trying to say I’m right. I am just trying — trying to support what I believe in, trying to do some good in this world, trying to make some noise with my writing while also being myself.”

― Roxane Gay, Bad Feminist: Essays

18. “I would always rather be happy than dignified.”

― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

19. “Maybe who we are isn't so much about what we do, but rather what we're capable of when we least expect it.”

― Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper

20. “You are your best thing”

― Toni Morrison, Beloved

21. “I suspect the truth is that we are waiting, all of us, against insurmountable odds, for something extraordinary to happen to us.”

― Khaled Hosseini, And the Mountains Echoed

22. “In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.”

― Anne Frank, The Diary of Anne Frank

23. “Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.”

― Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

24. “Live today. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Just today. Inhabit your moments. Don’t rent them out to tomorrow."

— Jerry Spinelli, Love, Stargirl

25. “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

― Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan

26. “You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”

― Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon

27. “Since I was young, I have always known this: Life damages us, every one. We can’t escape that damage. But now, I am also learning this: We can be mended. We mend each other”

― Veronica Roth, Allegiant

28. “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”

― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

29. “My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?”

― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

30. “I don't think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.”

― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

31. “To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.”

― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

32. “Life is fleeting. Don't waste a single moment of your precious life. Wake up now! And now! And now!”

― Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being

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