25 Quotes From Books That Every Woman Should Read By Age 25 | YourTango

Yes, audiobooks count.

By Melissa Copelton — Written on Oct 11, 2016

books, quotes

I realize that reading lists can be a bit daunting to some people. You may come across this and think, "Wait, so unless I read all of these by the age of 25 I'm going to be lost and unable to get my sh*t together?"

To that I say, yes, that's 100 percent what I'm suggesting... Just kidding. Of course that's not what I'm saying.

Literature is meant to enhance the quality of your life. It can be used as relaxation or an escape. It can be both emotionally provoking and fulfilling. It can force you to look at the world differently than you once did. It can teach you. It can soothe you. It can make your life BETTER.

Are you going to fail at life without reading what's below? No, you'll be fine, but they will definitely offer you solace in the uncertain times of being a woman in your mid-twenties. So why not give it a shot? (And yes, Audiobooks count.)

Here are 25 books and the amazing quotes from each to give you an idea of why it's a worthwhile read for the young women out there.

1. The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan

"Not all men (and especially the wisest) share the opinion that it is bad for women to be educated. But it is very true that many foolish men have claimed this because it displeased them that women knew more than they did."

2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

"Ever morning, until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision. You gone have to ask yourself, 'Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?'"

3. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

"I can't do this, I can't just be a wife. I don't understand how anyone does it — there is literally nothing to do but wait. Wait for a man to come home and love you. Either that or look around for something to distract you."

4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"I hope she'll be a fool — that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool."

5. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

"I would always rather be happy than dignified."

6. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

"If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I'm neurotic as hell. I'll be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days."

7. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

"It was better to know the worst than to wonder."

8. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

"Crazy isn't being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It's you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever."

9. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

"I don't want to get old. I have this very silly fear, dear friend, that one day I'll be old, without ever having really been young."

10. Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia by Marya Hornbacher

"We turn skeletons into goddesses and look to them as if they might teach us how not to need."

11. Sula by Toni Morrison

"Like any artist without an art form, she became dangerous."

12. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

"I've found that there is always some beauty left — in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you."

13. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

"I'm choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I'm making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises."

14. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

"It didn't take long to realize I didn't hardly know nothing. And that if you ast yourself why you black or a man or a woman or a bush, it don't mean nothing if you don't ast why you here, period."

15. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Lookin-Glass by Lewis Carroll

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

16. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

"Human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished masterpiece."

17. Bossypants by Tina Fey

"My ability to turn good news into anxiety is rivaled only by my ability to turn anxiety into chin acne."

18. #Girlboss by Sophia Amoruso

"No matter where you are in life, you'll save a lot of time by not worrying too much about what other people think about you. The earlier in your life that you can learn that, the easier the rest of it will be."

19. The Hunger Games Triology by Suzanne Collins

"Destroying things is much easier than making them."

20. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

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"I'd rather take coffee than compliments just now."

21. Just Kids by Patti Smith

"We used to laugh at our small selves, saying that I was a bad girl trying to be good and that he was a good boy trying to be bad. Through the years these roles would reverse, then reverse again, until we came to accept our dual natures. We contained opposing principles, light and dark."

22. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

"Let me be something every minute of every hour of my life...And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost."

23. Harriet The Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

"Sometimes you have to lie. But to yourself you must always tell the truth."

24. The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

"But you know, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."

25. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

"Don't let the bastards grind you down."

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If you're searching for the best quotes and memes to share with the people you love (or just want to feel inspired yourself) ... look no further! From the sweetest love quotes, inspirational sayings, friendship quotes, and hilarious relationship truths, we've got you covered.

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