Money & Career

Emma Watson’s 25 most inspirational quotes

She's an actress turned feminist inspiration. Here are some of her most empowering quotes
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1.“I don’t have perfect teeth. I’m not stick thin. I want to be the person who feels great in her body and can say that she loves it and doesn’t want to change anything.”

2. “I feel like young girls are told that they have to be a princess and fragile. It’s bullshit. I identify much more with being a warrior – a fighter. If I was going to be a princess, I’d be a warrior princess.”

  

3. “I want to be a Renaissance woman. I want to paint, and I want to write, and I want to act, and I want to just do everything.”

4. “I’ve probably earned the right to screw up a few times. I don’t want the fear of failure to stop me from doing what I really care about.”

5. “All I can do is follow my instincts, because I’ll never please everyone.”

6.“I keep telling myself that I’m a human being who’s not made to look like a doll.” 

7. “I think that it is very important if you know what you want, understand where you are heading towards, and try your best to get it. It is only when we use our hearts to do it, and fall in love with what we are doing, then can we really get real determination.”

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8. “Girls should never be afraid to be smart.”

9.“I have realised that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.”

10. “There’s nothing interesting about looking perfect – you lose the point. You want what you’re wearing to say something about you, about who you are.”

11. “We [women] really need to support each other, we really do. So, I guess I would say be brave enough to acknowledge that things are not there yet and support each other.”

12. “We [women] have unbelievably high expectations of ourselves, when actually we’re human beings and our bodies have a function.” 

13. “Feminism is not here to dictate to you. It’s not prescriptive, it’s not dogmatic. All we are here to do is give you a choice. If you want to run for Prime Minister, you can. If you don’t, that’s wonderful, too. Shave your armpits, don’t shave them, wear flats one day, heels the next.”

14. “The saddest thing for a girl to do is to dumb herself down for a guy.” 

15. “I truly, truly believe that beauty comes from within.” 

16. “Beauty is not long hair, skinny legs, tanned skin or perfect teeth. Believe me. Beauty is the face of who cried and now smiles, beauty is the scar on your knee since you fell when you were a kid, beauty is the circles when love doesn’t let you sleep, beauty is the expression on the face when the alarm rings in the morning, it’s the melted makeup when you have a shower, it’s the laughter when you make a joke you’re the only one who can understand, beauty is meeting his gaze and stopping understanding, beauty is your gaze when you see him, it’s when you cry for all you paranoias, beauty is the lines marked by time. Beauty is what we feel in the inside which also shows outside us. Beauty is the marks the life leaves on us, all the kicks and the caresses the memories leave us. Beauty is letting yourself live.”

17.  “It’s not the word [feminism] that it’s important. It’s the idea and ambition behind it.”

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18. “As much as someone can tell you things, you have to go out there and make your own mistakes in order to learn.” 

19. “I don’t want the fear of failure to stop me from doing what I really care about.”

20. “With airbrushing and digital manipulation, fashion can project an unobtainable image that’s dangerously unhealthy. I’m excited about the ageing process. I’m more interested in women who aren’t perfect. They’re more compelling.”

21.”I think the actresses who are really successful are the ones who are comfortable in their own skins and still look human. 

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22. “I don’t want other people to decide who I am. I want to decide that for myself.”

23. “Don’t feel stupid if you don’t like what everyone else pretends to love”

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