Women truly are forces to be reckoned with. The feminine spirit is fiery and determined, yet gentle and compassionate. International Women's Day is a wonderful time to celebrate the women in your life, as well as every woman around the world who has defied the odds and made her part of the world a better place. In the spirit of this empowering day, here are 20 quotes that remind us of all we have to celebrate.

1. "Women hold up half the sky." Chinese Proverb

2. "Women are like tea bags. You never know how strong they are until you put them in hot water." Eleanor Roosevelt

3. "The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It's the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows and the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years.” Audrey Hepburn

4. "Any time women come together with a collective intention, it's a powerful thing. Whether it's sitting down making a quilt, in a kitchen preparing a meal, in a club reading the same book, or around the table playing cards, or planning a birthday party, when women come together with a collective intention, magic happens." Phylicia Rashad

5. "Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others." Amelia Earhart

6. "I think women are foolish to pretend they are equal to men, they are far superior and always have been." William Golding

7. "If we mean to have heroes, statesmen and philosophers, we should have learned women." Abigail Adams

8. "When women are depressed, they eat or go shopping. Men invade another country. It's a whole different way of thinking." Elayne Boosler

9. "Women are our most miraculous muse, an enchanted intangibility that encourages all art." CeeLo Green

10. "How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being?” Oscar Wilde

11. "I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves." Mary Shelley

12. "The qualities I most admire in women are confidence and kindness." Oscar de la Renta

13. "I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naïve or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman.” Anaïs Nin

14. “A woman has to live her life, or live to repent not having lived it.” D.H. Lawrence

15. "I believe a strong woman may be stronger than a man, particularly if she happens to have love in her heart. I guess a loving woman is indestructible.” John Steinbeck (East of Eden)

16. "She's mad, but she's magic. There's no lie in her fire." Charles Bukowski

17. "It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally."

Maya Angelou

18. "The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before.” Albert Einstein

19. "There is nothing more rare, nor more beautiful, than a woman being unapologetically herself; comfortable in her perfect imperfection. To me, that is the true essence of beauty.” Steve Maraboli

20. “From women's eyes this doctrine I derive:
They sparkle still the right Promethean fire;
They are the books, the arts, the academes,
That show, contain and nourish all the world.”

William Shakespeare (Love's Labour's Lost)

All quotes were taken directly from BrainyQuote and Goodreads.