Sheryl Sandberg Quotes

We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.

If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat! Just get on.

We can each define ambition and progress for ourselves. The goal is to work toward a world where expectations are not set by the stereotypes that hold us back, but by our personal passion, talents and interests.

Women don't take enough risks. Men are just 'foot on the gas pedal.' We're not going to close the achievement gap until we close the ambition gap.

So please ask yourself: What would I do if I weren't afraid? And then go do it.

Being confident and believing in your own self-worth is necessary to achieving your potential.

When looking for a life partner, my advice to women is date all of them: the bad boys, the cool boys, the commitment-phobic boys, the crazy boys. But do not marry them. The things that make the bad boys sexy do not make them good husbands. When it comes time to settle down, find someone who wants an equal partner. Someone who thinks women should be smart, opinionated and ambitious. Someone who values fairness and expects or, even better, wants to do his share in the home. These men exist and, trust me, over time, nothing is sexier.

Next time you're about to call your daughter bossy, take a deep breath and say, 'My daughter has executive leadership skills.'

We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women’s voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ignored.

In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.

Leadership is not bullying and leadership is not aggression. Leadership is the expectation that you can use your voice for good. That you can make the world a better place.

Presenting leadership as a list of carefully defined qualities (like strategic, analytical, and performance-ori ented) no longer holds. Instead, true leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed.... Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection.

Your life's course will not be determined by doing the things that you are certain you can do. Those are the easy things. It will be determined by whether you try the things that are hard.

But the upside of painful knowledge is so much greater than the downside of blissful ignorance.

Done is better than perfect.

Motivation comes from working on things we care about. It also comes from working with people we care about.

The time is long overdue to encourage more women to dream the possible dream.

Feeling confident - or pretending that you feel confident - is necessary to reach for opportunities. It's a cliché, but opportunities are rarely offered; they're seized.

Fear is at the root of so many of the barriers that women face. Fear of not being liked. Fear of making the wrong choice. Fear of drawing negative attention. Fear of overreaching. Fear of being judged. Fear of failure. And the holy trinity of fear: the fear of being a bad mother/wife/daughter.

It is the ultimate luxury to combine passion and contribution. It's also a very clear path to happiness.

Build your skills, not your resume.

I go around the room and ask people, 'What do you think?'

Careers are a jungle gym, not a ladder.

Someone who values fairness and expects or, even better, wants to do his share in the home. These men exist and, trust me, over time, nothing is sexier.

Speak up. Believe in yourself. Take risks.

When companies offer support and assistance for personal and family hardships, their employees become more loyal and more productive.

If more women are in leadership roles, we'll stop assuming they shouldn't be.

We hold ourselves back in ways both big and small, by lacking self-confidence, by not raising our hands, and by pulling back when we should be leaning in.

Aiming for perfection causes frustration at best and paralysis at worst.

Trying to do it all and expecting that it all can be done exactly right is a recipe for disappointment. Perfection is the enemy.

A truly equal world would be one where women ran half our countries and companies and men ran half our homes.

I don't pretend there aren't biological differences, but I don't believe the desire for leadership is hardwired biology, not the desire to win or excel. I believe that it's socialization, that we're socializing our daughters to nurture and our boys to lead.

Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence." (Harvard Business School definition of leadership)

I hope you find true meaning, contentment, and passion in your life. I hope you navigate the difficult times and come out with greater strength and resolve. I hope you find whatever balance you seek with your eyes wide open. And I hope that you - yes, you - have the ambition to lean in to your career and run the world. Because the world needs you to change it.

The cost of stability is often diminished opportunities for growth.

Today, despite all of the gains we have made, neither men nor women have real choice. Until women have supportive employers and colleagues as well as partners who share family responsibilities, they don't have real choice. And until men are fully respected for contributing inside the home, they don't have real choice either.

Social gains are never handed out. They must be seized.

When it comes time to settle down, find someone who wants an equal partner. Someone who thinks women should be smart, opinionated, and ambitious.

Real change will come when powerful women are less of an exception. It is easy to dislike senior women because there are so few.

Believe in yourself and negotiate for yourself. Own your own success.

I really think we need more women to lean into their careers and to be really dedicated to staying in the work force.

It's hard to visualize someone as a leader, if she is always waiting to be told what to do.

When looking for a life partner, my advice to women is date all of them: the bad boys, the cool boys, the commitment-phobic boys, the crazy boys. But do not marry them. The things that make the bad boys sexy do not make them good husbands.

I would love to meet J.K. Rowling and tell her how much I admire her writing and am amazed by her imagination. I read every 'Harry Potter' book as it came out and looked forward to each new one. I am rereading them now with my kids and enjoying them every bit as much. She made me look at jelly beans in a whole new way.

Real empathy is sometimes not insisting that it will be okay but acknowledging that it is not.

Don't let your fears overwhelm your desire. Let the barriers you face-and there will be barriers-be external, not internal. Fortune does favor the bold, and I promise that you will never know what you're capable of unless you try.

Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection.

There is no perfect fit when you're looking for the next big thing to do. You have to take opportunities and make an opportunity fit for you, rather than the other way around. The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have.

When people are really suffering, and we know they're suffering, that question can be a very difficult one. Inadvertently, I think without anyone meaning it, it communicates a lack of empathy.

Everyone needs to get more comfortable with female leaders-including female leaders themselves.