These first lady quotes will inspire you. The first lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical head of state or chief executive.
A collection of motivating, happy, and encouraging first lady quotes, first lady sayings, and first lady proverbs.
Best First Lady Quotes
- “The first lady is, and always has been, an unpaid public servant elected by one person, her husband.” ~ Lady Bird Johnson
- “Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence.” ~ Abigail Adams
- “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
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“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and build a life you’re proud to live.” ~ Anne Sweeney
- “To my young friends out there: Life can be great, but not when you can’t see it. So, open your eyes to life: to see it in the vivid colors that God gave us as a precious gift to His children, to enjoy life to the fullest, and to make it count. Say yes to your life.” ~ Nancy Reagan , First lady quotes life
- “The one thing I do not want to be called is First Lady. It sounds like a saddle horse.” ~ Jackie Kennedy
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“I’ll be a wife and mother first, then First Lady.” ~ Jackie Kennedy
- “I am a big believer that eventually everything comes back to you. You get back what you give out.” ~ Nancy Reagan
- “It is one of my sources of happiness never to desire a knowledge of other people’s business.” ~ Dolley Madison
- “There’s a big, wonderful world out there for you. It belongs to you. It’s exciting and stimulating and rewarding. Don’t cheat yourselves out of this promise.” ~ Nancy Reagan
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“The search for human freedom can never be complete without freedom for women.” ~ Betty Ford
- “When you look fear in the face, you are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Walk away from it until you’re stronger, All your problems will be there when you get back, but you’ll be better able to cope.” ~ Lady Bird Johnson
- “A woman is like a teabag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
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“Being first lady is the hardest unpaid job in the world.” ~ Pat Nixon
- “Never dress down for the poor. They won’t respect you for it. They want their First Lady to look like a million dollars.” ~ Imelda Marcos
- “Children who are read to learn two things: First, that reading is worthwhile, and second, that they are worthwhile.” ~ Laura Bush
- “The greatest advantage of being First Lady is the opportunity it presents to truly make a difference on issues of great importance.” ~ Ann Romney
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“The most important job is not to be governor or first lady in my case.” ~ George W. Bush
- “…but there isn’t going to be any First Lady. There is just to be plain, ordinary Mrs. Roosevelt…I never wanted to be the president’s wife, and don’t want it now. You don’t quite believe me, do you? Very likely no one would-except possibly some woman who had had the job.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Any lady who is first lady likes being first lady. I don’t care what they say, they like it.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “We should all do something to right the wrongs that we see and not just complain about them.” ~ Jackie Kennedy
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“I am First Lady by accident. I was not elected by the people but here I am.” ~ Imelda Marcos
- “I think the major role of the First Lady is to take care of the President so that he can best serve the people. And not to fail her family, her husband, and children.” ~ Jackie Kennedy
- “Encourage & support your kids because “Children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.” ~ Lady Bird Johnson
- “I don’t feel that because I’m First Lady, I’m very different from what I was before. It can happen to anyone. After all, it has happened to anyone.” ~ Betty Ford
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“I see the first lady as another means to keep a president from becoming isolated.” ~ Nancy Reagan
- “That business we started with 10 people has now grown into a great American success story. Some of the companies we helped start are names you know. An office supply company called Staples – where I’m pleased to see the Obama campaign has been shopping; The Sports Authority, which became a favorite of my sons. We started an early childhood learning center called Bright Horizons that First Lady Michelle Obama rightly praised. At a time when nobody thought we’d ever see a new steel mill built in America, we took a chance and built one in a cornfield in Indiana.” ~ Mitt Romney
- “Happy birthday to former First Lady Barbara Bush, who turned seventy-seven this week. Unfortunately, where her granddaughters helped blow out the candles on her cake, it exploded.” ~ Craig Kilborn
- “I want to be the first lady to land a quadruple jump in competition. As I grow older, I know that my skating style will develop and mature.” ~ Sasha Cohen
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“The movies were custard compared to politics.” ~ Nancy Reagan
- “Our global future depends on the willingness of every nation to invest in its people, especially women and children.” ~ Hillary Clinton
- “The memory of that scene for me is like a frame of film forever frozen at that moment: the red carpet, the green lawn, the white house, the leaden sky. The new president and his first lady.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “Although the circumstances of our lives may seem very disengaged, with me standing here as the First Lady of the United States of America and you just getting through school, I want you to know we have very much in common. For nothing in my life ever would have predicted that I would be standing here as the first African-American First Lady.” ~ Michelle Obama
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“My life really began when I married my husband.” ~ Nancy Reagan
- “You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.” ~ Michelle Obama
- “There is no job description for the first lady and she’s only there because her husband got elected president.” ~ Nancy Reagan
- “It is true that when you’re in the White House alone, it is a lonely place. Big and lonely.” ~ Nancy Reagan
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“You have the ability to choose what you want to experience.” ~ Rhonda Byrne
- “You learn something out of everything, and you come to realize more than ever that we’re all here for a certain space of time, and, and then it’s going to be over, and you better make this count.” ~ Nancy Reagan
- “When people say, ‘You have Alzheimer’s,’ you have no idea what Alzheimer’s is. You know it’s not good. You know there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. That’s the only way you can go. But you really don’t know anything about it. And you don’t know what to expect.” ~ Nancy Reagan
- “For eight years, I was sleeping with the president, and if that doesn’t give you special access, I don’t know what does!” ~ Nancy Reagan
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“I’m against abortion. On the other hand, I believe in a woman’s choice.” ~ Nancy Reagan
- “I really had no great love for shoes. I was a working First Lady; I was always in canvas shoes. I did nurture the shoes industry of the Philippines, and so every time there was a shoe fair, I would receive a pair of shoes as a token of gratitude.” ~ Imelda Marcos
- “Don’t ever lose hope. Even when life seems bleak and hopeless, know that you are not alone.” ~ Nancy Reagan
- “Helping another person gives one the deepest pleasure in the world.” ~ Pat Nixon
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“Feminism is the ability to choose what you want to do.” ~ Nancy Reagan
- “No matter how different our First Ladies have been – and as individual women they have ranged from recluses to vibrant hostesses to political manipulators on a par with Machiavelli – they have all shared the unnerving experience of facing a job they did not choose.” ~ Margaret Truman Daniel
- “First ladies throughout our history have been expected to be adoring wives and perfect mothers.” ~ Rosalynn Carter
- “The one thing I do not want to be called is First Lady. It sounds like a saddle horse. Would you notify the telephone operators and everyone else that I’m to be known simply as Mrs. Kennedy and not as First Lady.” ~ Jackie Kennedy
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“I am a woman above everything else.” ~ Jackie Kennedy
- “The First Lady role is really difficult. It has no job description… You have to create it for yourself.” ~ Hillary Clinton
- “I wasn’t born a first lady or a senator. I wasn’t born a Democrat. I wasn’t born a lawyer or an advocate for women’s rights and human rights. I wasn’t born a wife or a mother.” ~ Hillary Clinton
- “The greatest gift that Michelle and I have received over the last eight years has been the honor of serving as your President and First Lady. Together, we fought our way back from the worst recession in 80 years, and got unemployment to a nine-year low.” ~ Barack Obama
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“How lucky we are to have such a treasure of memories.” ~ Lady Bird Johnson
- “Michelle Obama is going to be an amazing First Lady: She’s intelligent, capable, and motivated. She just embodies everything that an American woman should represent.” ~ Eva Longoria , American first lady quotes
- “We have to design policies that have meaningful impacts on the quality of life of women and families. And that’s something that I know I can speak passionately about because whether I’m in the White House as First Lady, as long as I have kids and I’m trying to have a life, I’m gonna be trying to make this balance work…” ~ Michelle Obama
- “I want to feel like the things I did made a difference. That’s one of the reasons I spend time greeting people on rope lines, because I’m always thinking, ‘Maybe this interaction, particularly if I’m meeting kids, will change someone’s life.’ That’s how I think about the work I do as First Lady. It’s a rare spotlight. I want to make sure I don’t waste it.” ~ Michelle Obama
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“The First Lady is going to be criticized no matter what she does.” ~ Barbara Bush
- “First ladies are doing a lot. But the job remains undefined, frequently misunderstood, and subject to political attacks far nastier in some ways than those any President has ever faced.” ~ Margaret Truman Daniel
- “In the long run, there is no more exhilarating experience than to determine one’s position, state it bravely and then act boldly.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
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“I turned to books for comfort. (Former First Lady, Laura Bush)” ~ Laura Bush
- “I am the princess of G.O.O.D. Music, the first lady of G.O.O.D. Music, the baby of G.O.O.D. Music. I’m kinda the spoiled brat right now. I could get whatever I want.” ~ Teyana
- “Almost all first ladies have had tremendous power on personnel issues, whether the public realized it or not, whether it was Barbara Bush or Nancy Reagan or whoever.” ~ Dee Dee Myers
It has been noted that the earliest use of the term “first lady” is in reference to women of high ranking or outstanding women in their field and that the term, as used to describe the female spouse of the president of the United States.
