Susan B. Anthony spent more than 50 years fighting for women’s right to vote. She was arrested in 1872 for casting a ballot, and she never gave up. These Susan B. Anthony quotes about success show how she thought about goals, grit, and courage.
Born in 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts, she grew up in a Quaker family that valued equality. She died in 1906, fourteen years before the 19th Amendment gave women the vote. Her success quotes still speak to anyone chasing a hard goal today.
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Susan B. Anthony Quotes About Success and Perseverance
Anthony saw success as a long road built on perseverance, not luck. Her words on failure, hard work, and reform still motivate readers today.
Failure is impossible.
She said this at her 86th birthday celebration in 1906, in one of her last public speeches.
Wherever women gather together failure is impossible.
Anthony believed in teamwork. She built the National Woman Suffrage Association with Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1869.
Organize, agitate, educate, must be our war cry.
This line sums up her strategy: build groups, push for change, and teach the public.
Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform.
Fear of criticism stops many people. Anthony faced angry mobs and kept going.
I don’t want to die as long as I can work; the minute I can not, I want to go.
She gave speeches across the country well into her eighties.
The older I get, the greater power I seem to have to help the world; I am like a snowball – the further I am rolled the more I gain.
This quote shows momentum. Small, steady effort grows over time.
To be successful a person must attempt but one reform. By urging two, both are injured, as the average mind can grasp and assimilate but one idea at a time.
It is a lesson in focus. She put the ballot first, because she believed it would unlock every other right.
Oh, if I could but live another century and see the fruition of all the work for women! There is so much yet to be done.
Even late in life, she kept her eyes on the next goal.
Success is only one part of Susan B. Anthony’s inspiring legacy; her words about life also reveal powerful lessons on courage, purpose, and creating meaningful change. Explore these Susan B. Anthony quotes about life to discover timeless wisdom that can inspire you to embrace change and live with greater conviction.
Susan B. Anthony Quotes About Independence and Self-Reliance
For Anthony, independence was a key part of success. Her words on earning your own living and trusting your own conscience still inspire women to pursue their goals.
Independence is happiness.
Anthony worked as a schoolteacher and saw firsthand that women earned far less than men.
I think the girl who is able to earn her own living and pay her own way should be as happy as anybody on earth. The sense of independence and security is very sweet.
She linked financial freedom with personal happiness long before equal pay laws existed.
I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand.
This quote is a call for self-reliance and personal strength.
Forget conventionalisms; forget what the world thinks of you stepping out of your place; think your best thoughts, speak your best words, work your best works, looking to your own conscience for approval.
Here she told women to ignore social pressure and trust their own judgment.
There is not a woman born who desires to eat the bread of dependence.
In the 1800s, married women often had no legal right to their own earnings. She wanted that to change.
Every woman should have a purse of her own.
It is a short line about economic independence, and it still holds up.
Women, we might as well be dogs baying the moon as petitioners without the right to vote!
She argued that asking for change without a vote gave women no real power.
I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel.
Anthony praised the bicycle as a symbol of women’s freedom in the 1890s.
Susan B. Anthony Quotes on Equality, Leadership and Success
Anthony led by pushing for equal rights under the law. These quotes cover the ballot, equal pay, and citizenship, the ideas at the heart of her leadership.
Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.
This was the motto of her newspaper, The Revolution, which she launched in 1868.
There never will be complete equality until women themselves help to make laws and elect lawmakers.
She believed political power was the path to every other change.
No man is good enough to govern any woman without her consent.
The line echoes the idea of consent of the governed from the Declaration of Independence.
Join the union, girls, and together say Equal Pay for Equal Work.
She spoke about equal pay more than a century before modern pay-gap debates.
Suffrage is the pivotal right.
For Anthony, the right to vote was the key that opened every door.
Being persons, then, women are citizens; and no state has a right to make any new law, or to enforce any old law, that shall abridge their privileges or immunities.
She made this argument in 1872–73, after she voted in Rochester, New York. A judge in Canandaigua fined her $100, and she never paid it.
The day may be approaching when the whole world will recognize woman as the equal of man.
She kept hope alive through decades of setbacks.
I look for the day…when the only criterion of excellence or position shall be the ability and character of the individual; and this time will come.
It is a clear statement of merit-based success, where talent matters more than gender.
Inspiring Susan B. Anthony Quotes to Reach Your Goals
Her words work well as daily motivation. They teach resilience, courage, and commitment when the road gets rough.
Nothing is hopeless that is right.
Anthony stayed optimistic through years of public ridicule.
There shall never be another season of silence until women have the same rights men have on this green earth.
This is a promise to keep speaking up until the job is done.
You would better educate ten women into the practice of liberal principles than to organize a thousand on a platform of intolerance and bigotry.
She valued quality over quantity. A smaller, committed group can do more.
We ask justice, we ask equality, we ask that all the civil and political rights that belong to citizens of the United States, be guaranteed to us and our daughters forever.
Anthony thought about future generations, not just her own.
I have given my life and all I am to it, and now I want my last act to be to give it all I have, to the last cent.
She was known for giving her own money to the suffrage movement.
This is rather different from the receptions I used to get fifty years ago. They threw things at me then but they were not roses.
Over time, public opinion shifted, and her patience paid off.
Modern invention has banished the spinning wheel, and the same law of progress makes the woman of today a different woman from her grandmother.
She understood that progress and social change go hand in hand.
Her legacy lives on. She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1973. In 1979, the U.S. Mint released the Susan B. Anthony dollar, the first circulating U.S. coin to feature a real woman.
FAQs
What are the most inspiring Susan B. Anthony quotes about success?
“Failure is impossible,” “Independence is happiness,” and “Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less” are among the most shared. They sum up her belief in persistence, self-reliance, and equal rights.
What can Susan B. Anthony quotes teach us about achieving success?
They teach us to stay focused on one clear goal and keep going despite criticism. They also show the value of teamwork and financial independence.
How did Susan B. Anthony define success and perseverance?
She treated success as the result of decades of steady work, not a quick win. Perseverance meant speaking out, organizing, and educating others until the law changed.
Which Susan B. Anthony quotes about success inspire women to pursue their goals?
The quotes about earning your own living, protecting yourself, and trusting your own conscience stand out. They encourage women to build independence and ignore social pressure.
How can Susan B. Anthony’s quotes about success motivate you to overcome challenges?
Her words offer a model for resilience. She faced arrest, mobs, and public ridicule and still kept working toward her goal. Her example shows that setbacks are part of the path.
Conclusion
Susan B. Anthony never lived to see women vote, but her work made it possible. These Susan B. Anthony quotes about success remind us that real change takes time, courage, and perseverance. Pick one that speaks to you and keep it close.
Vicky ABROY is a writer, editorial curator, and lead researcher for AmericansQuotes.com. With a deep appreciation for the power of language, Vicky specializes in documenting, analyzing, and contextualizing iconic American speeches, literary excerpts, and historical quotations. Through meticulous research and engaging commentary, Vicky highlights the voices that have defined American thought, culture, and leadership across generations—helping readers discover the timeless wisdom hidden within famous words.
