50+ Inspirational Amelia Earhart Quotes That Prove The Sky Really Is The Limit

Amelia Earhart was — and still is! — an American hero. An aviation pioneer, author, and all-around fierce female, Amelia Earhart became only the 16th woman in the world to be issued a pilot’s license when she received hers in 1923 at 26 years old. She later secured the title of the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean… and the first person ever to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean. In her time on this earth, she paved the way for women who want to pursue careers in science and technology. If you’re looking to introduce a role model to your daughters (and sons), look no further. Amelia Earhart was the picture of hard work and determination. She is proof that whatever you set your mind to is within your grasp. Simply reading Amelia Earhart quotes can make you feel like you, too, can soar. Because while it’s been 85 years since this fearless aviator mysteriously disappeared, she continues to hold a mythic place in the world’s heart.

So, we’re sharing Amelia Earhart quotes that will hopefully inspire you and your kids to reach for the sky. Her disappearance was terribly tragic, but let’s honor her life by remembering her unwavering courage and strength. She was a shining example that nothing is impossible if we work hard to make it happen.

Check out her encouraging words below.

Amelia Earhart Quotes to Inspire You to Soar

1. “The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process, is its own reward.”
2. “Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.”
3. “Anticipation, I suppose, sometimes exceeds realization.”
4. “Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn’t be done.”
5. “The most effective way to do it, is to do it.”
6. “Adventure is worthwhile in itself.”
7. “To worry is to add another hazard.”
8. “Women must pay for everything. They do get more glory than men for comparable feats, but they also get more notoriety when they crash.”
9. “Never do things others can do and will do if there are things others cannot do or will not do.”
10. “The stars seemed near enough to touch and never before have I seen so many. I always believed the lure of flying is the lure of beauty, but I was sure of it that night.”
11. “The woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune.”
12. “After midnight, the moon set, and I was alone with the stars. I have often said that the lure of flying is the lure of beauty, and I need no other flight to convince me that the reason flyers fly, whether they know it or not, is the aesthetic appeal of flying.”
13. “Better do a good deed near at home than go far away to burn incense.”
14. “Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.”
15. “The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one’s appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship.”
16. “The soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things.”
17. “The soul’s dominion? Each time we make a choice, we pay with courage to behold restless day and count it fair.”
18. “Flying might not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price.”
19. “There is so much that must be done in a civilized barbarism like war.”
20. “Aviation, this young modern giant, exemplifies the possible relationship of women and the creations of science. Although women have not taken full advantage of its use and benefits, air travel is as available to them as to men.”
21. “There are two kinds of stones, as everyone knows, one of which rolls.”
22. “Obviously I faced the possibility of not returning when first I considered going. Once faced and settled, there really wasn’t any good reason to refer to it.”
23. “In soloing — as in other activities — it is far easier to start something than it is to finish it.”
24. “One of my favorite phobias is that girls, especially those whose tastes aren’t routine, often don’t get a fair break… it has come down through the generations, an inheritance of age-old customs, which produced the corollary that women are bred to timidity.”
25. “Among all the marvels of modern invention, that with which I am most concerned is, of course, air transportation. Flying is perhaps the most dramatic of recent scientific attainment. In the brief span of thirty-odd years, the world has seen an inventor’s dream first materialized by the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk become an everyday actuality.”
26. “I have often been asked what I think about at the moment of take-off. Of course, no pilot sits and feels his pulse as he flies. He has to be part of the machine. If he thinks of anything but the task in hand, then trouble is probably just around the corner.”
27. “Aviation offered such fun as crossing the continent in planes large and small, trying the whirling rotors of an autogiro, making record flights. With these activities came opportunity to know women everywhere who shared my conviction that there is so much women can do in the modern world and should be permitted to do irrespective of their sex.”
28. “Mostly, my flying has been solo, but the preparation for it wasn’t. Without my husband’s help and encouragement, I could not have attempted what I have. Ours has been a contented and reasonable partnership, he with his solo jobs and I with mine. But always with work and play together, conducted under a satisfactory system of dual control.”
29. “Everyone has oceans to fly, if they have the heart to do it. Is it reckless? Maybe. But what do dreams know of boundaries?”
30. “Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off! But if you don’t have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.”
31. “There’s more to life than being a passenger.”
32. “Worry retards reaction and makes clear-cut decisions impossible.”
33. “By adventuring about, you become accustomed to the unexpected. The unexpected then becomes what it really is… the inevitable.”
34. “In my life, I had come to realize that, when things were going very well, indeed, it was just the time to anticipate trouble. And, conversely, I learned from pleasant experience that at the most despairing crisis, when all looked sour beyond words, some delightful ‘break’ was apt to lurk just around the corner.”
35. “Preparation, I have often said, is rightly two-thirds of any venture.”
36. “My ambition is to have this wonderful gift produce practical results for the future of commercial flying and for the women who many want to fly tomorrow’s planes.”
37. “You haven’t seen a tree until you’ve seen its shadow from the sky.”
38. “In soloing, as in other activities, it is far easier to start something than it is to finish it.”
39. “No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.”
40. “I believe that a girl should not do what she thinks she should do, but should find out through experience what she wants to do.”
41. “I wasn’t brave, I just didn’t have time to be scared.”
42. “Decide whether or not the goal is worth the risks involved. If it is, stop worrying.”
43. “No borders, just horizons — only freedom.”
44. “Women will gain economic justice by proving themselves in all lines of endeavor, not by having laws passed for them.”
45. “I can think of lots of things worse than never getting married, and one of the worst is being married to a man who tied you down.”
46. “When a great adventure is offered, you don’t refuse it.”
47. “Human crises have a way of happening at inconvenient times.”
48. “In aviation as a whole, women are outnumbered 40 to one, but I feel that more will gain admittance as a greater number knock at the door. If and when you knock at the door, it might be well to bring an ax along; you may have to chop your way through.”
49. “As soon as we left the ground, I knew I had to fly.”
50. “If enough of us keep trying, we’ll get someplace.”
51. “Please know that I am aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others.”
52. “Now and then, women should do for themselves what men have already done — occasionally what men have not done — thereby establishing themselves as persons, and perhaps encouraging other women toward greater independence of thought and action.”
53. "Experiment! Meet new people. That's better than any college education. You will find the unexpected everywhere as you go through life. By adventuring about, you become accustomed to the unexpected."
54. "Did I tell you I have a reputation for brains?"
55. "As far as I know, I've only got one obsession — a small and probably typically feminine horror of growing old — so I won't feel completely cheated if I fail to come back."
56. "Times are changing, and women need the critical stimulus of competition outside the home. A girl must nowadays believe completely in herself as an individual. She must realize at the outset that a woman must do the same job better than a man to get as much credit for it. She must be aware of the various discriminations, both legal and traditional, against women in the business world."