Eleanor Roosevelt

1884–1962 · First Lady of the United States and UN human rights delegate

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (born 11 October 1884, died 7 November 1962) was First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 and the first presidential spouse to write a daily syndicated newspaper column, “My Day.” After Franklin Roosevelt’s death she became the first United States Representative to the UN Commission on Human Rights and chaired it, taking a leading role in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948 — work she regarded as her greatest achievement. You Learn by Living, published by Harper & Brothers in 1960, was a late-life book of practical advice; its second chapter, “Fear—the Great Enemy,” draws directly on what she described as a childhood and early youth spent battling fear.

Traced to source

8 quotes we’ve traced to Eleanor Roosevelt

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you'll be criticized anyway”

Verified

“It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know”

Verified

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face”

Verified

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”

Attributed

“A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water”

Disputed

“A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water”

Disputed

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift, that's why they call it the present”

Disputed

“You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself”

Disputed

Not actually Eleanor Roosevelt

Often misattributed to Eleanor Roosevelt

Famous lines widely pinned on Eleanor Roosevelt that we’ve traced to someone else.

“A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water”

actually Unknown — a folk simile in print by 1915

“A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water”

actually Unknown — an anonymous proverb, in print by 1915

“Do one thing every day that scares you”

actually Mary Schmich

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people”

actually Henry Thomas Buckle

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”

actually Unknown (anonymous)

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift, that's why they call it the present”

actually Anonymous

“You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself”

actually Anonymous

“You wouldn't worry so much about what other people think of you if you realized how seldom they do”

actually Olin Miller

Did they really say it?

Thought Eleanor Roosevelt said something else?

Type a quote you think Eleanor Roosevelt said — we’ll tell you what we know, or point you to the best sources.