1. We are so inspired by the countless authors who have sparked our minds and encouraged us to grow. Here is our list of inspirational quotes from our favorite authors.
!['The Color Purple' Broadway Opening Night - Arrivals And Curtain Call](https://ionehellobeautiful.staging.go.ione.nyc/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2016/01/14532117798799.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=317&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C480px)
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” -Alice Walker
2.
![92nd Street Y Presents: In Conversation With Misty Copeland And Amy Astley](https://ionehellobeautiful.staging.go.ione.nyc/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2016/01/14532119317104.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=377&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C480px)
“Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.” -Toni Morrison
3. Ntozake Shange
![I Found God In Myself: The 40th Anniversary Of 'For Colored Girls' VIP Opening Reception](https://ionehellobeautiful.staging.go.ione.nyc/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2016/01/1453211728205.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=329&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C480px)
“Where there is a woman there is magic.”
4. Maya Angelou
![CMT 2004 Flame Worthy Video Music Awards - Press Room](https://ionehellobeautiful.staging.go.ione.nyc/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2016/01/14532116878658.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=313&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C480px)
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.”
5. Terry McMillan
![The 3rd Annual Apollo Theater Foundation Spring Benefit - Arrivals](https://ionehellobeautiful.staging.go.ione.nyc/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2016/01/14532150750607.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=327&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C480px)
“Too many of us are hung up on what we don’t have, can’t have, or won’t ever have. We spend too much energy being down, when we could use that same energy – if not less of it – doing, or at least trying to do, some of the things we really want to do.”
6. Sista Souljah
![Photo of Sista Souljah](https://ionehellobeautiful.staging.go.ione.nyc/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2016/01/14532152162662.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=378&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C480px)
“To be a real man or woman, you’ve got to know what you believe in. You’ve got to understand that your actions have consequences and that they are connected to everything that you are.”
7. Nikki Giovanni
![Nikki Giovanni has been a poet, activist, and essayist for more than 30 years. She has been one of](https://ionehellobeautiful.staging.go.ione.nyc/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2016/01/14532153816516.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=718&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C480px)
“Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts.”
8. bell hooks
![01/20/99 Black feminist Bell Hooks during interview for her new book. Said the feminist writer who a](https://ionehellobeautiful.staging.go.ione.nyc/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2016/01/14532155111305.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=662&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C480px)
“I will not have my life narrowed down. I will not bow down to somebody else’s whim or to someone else’s ignorance.”
9. Audre Lorde
![Atlantic Center for the Arts](https://ionehellobeautiful.staging.go.ione.nyc/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2016/01/14532155950256.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=701&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C480px)
“If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive.”
10. Will you be watching?
![46th NAACP Image Awards Presented By TV One - Show](https://ionehellobeautiful.staging.go.ione.nyc/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2016/01/14531864537272.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=720&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C480px)
The NAACP Image Awards Show is back for its 47th year on Feb. 5. Tune in on TV One at 8/7 C for the red carpet and 9/8 C for the ceremony!