Amelia Earhart Quotes — 'The Most Difficult Thing Is the Decision to Act' and 30 Fearless Words on Courage, Adventure & Breaking Barriers
Amelia Earhart (1897-1937) was an American aviation pioneer who became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932. A tomboy who kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about successful women in male-dominated fields, she took her first flying lesson at age 23 and saved money from various jobs -- including driving a truck and working as a telephone operator -- to buy her first airplane. She disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during her attempt to circumnavigate the globe, and despite extensive search efforts, neither she nor her plane were ever found.
On May 20, 1932, exactly five years after Lindbergh's historic flight, Earhart took off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, in her single-engine Lockheed Vega, aiming for Paris. She flew through storms, ice on her wings, and a cracked exhaust manifold that sent flames shooting past her window. After nearly fifteen hours alone over the Atlantic, she landed not in Paris but in a pasture in Northern Ireland, where a startled farmer asked if she had come far. "From America," she replied simply. The feat made her an international celebrity and a powerful symbol of what women could achieve. Before her final, fateful flight in 1937, she left a letter for her husband that captured her philosophy of life: "The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity." That conviction -- that courage lies in the commitment, not the outcome -- defines her enduring legacy as a pioneer who refused to let fear or convention limit what was possible.
Who Was Amelia Earhart?
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Born | July 24, 1897, Atchison, Kansas, USA |
| Died | Declared dead January 5, 1939 (disappeared July 2, 1937, age 39) |
| Nationality | American |
| Role | Aviator, author |
| Known For | First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, mysterious disappearance over the Pacific |
Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, Kansas, in the home of her maternal grandparents overlooking the Missouri River. Her father, Edwin Earhart, was a lawyer whose career was undermined by alcoholism, and her mother, Amy Otis Earhart, came from a prominent local family. Young Amelia was adventurous from the start -- climbing trees, hunting rats with a rifle, and belly-sledding down steep hills -- at a time when such behavior was considered unbecoming for girls.
Her first encounter with an airplane came at a state fair in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1908, when she was ten years old, though the machine made little impression on her at the time. The moment that changed everything arrived in December 1920, when pilot Frank Hawks gave her a short ride over Los Angeles. "By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground," she later wrote, "I knew I had to fly." Within months she was taking lessons from pioneer female aviator Neta Snook and had purchased her first aircraft, a bright yellow Kinner Airster she nicknamed "The Canary."
Earhart burst into public consciousness on June 17-18, 1928, when she crossed the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Fokker F.VIIb/3m Friendship -- not as a pilot but as a passenger, with pilots Wilmer Stultz and Lou Gordon at the controls. She was honest about her limited role, telling reporters she had been little more than "a sack of potatoes," but the flight made her a celebrity overnight and earned her the nickname "Lady Lindy" in comparison to Charles Lindbergh.
Determined to earn her fame on her own terms, Earhart set out on May 20, 1932 -- the fifth anniversary of Lindbergh's solo crossing -- and flew alone from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, to a pasture near Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in approximately fifteen hours. She became the first woman and only the second person ever to fly solo across the Atlantic. The achievement earned her the Distinguished Flying Cross from the United States Congress, the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from France, and the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society, presented by President Herbert Hoover.
She went on to set a string of additional records: the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland (January 1935), the first person to solo from Los Angeles to Mexico City, and the first to solo nonstop from Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey. In 1931 she married publisher George Palmer Putnam, but insisted on keeping her own name and famously wrote him a letter on their wedding day calling the marriage a "dual control" partnership in which neither partner would interfere with the other's work or freedom.
Beyond the cockpit, Earhart was a tireless advocate for women in aviation and in public life. She served as the first president of the Ninety-Nines, an international organization of women pilots founded in 1929, counseled female students as a career advisor at Purdue University, and used her celebrity to argue that women deserved the same professional opportunities as men. Her books -- 20 Hrs. 40 Min. (1928), The Fun of It (1932), and Last Flight (published posthumously in 1937) -- combined aviation narrative with forthright calls for gender equality.
On June 1, 1937, Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan departed Miami on an ambitious attempt to circumnavigate the globe along an equatorial route of approximately 29,000 miles. After completing roughly two-thirds of the journey, their Lockheed Electra 10E disappeared on July 2, 1937, somewhere over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. Despite a massive search by the United States Navy and Coast Guard, no confirmed trace of Earhart, Noonan, or the aircraft was ever found. She was declared legally dead on January 5, 1939.
Amelia Earhart's legacy endures not because of her disappearance but because of what she accomplished and what she represented. She proved that skill and determination have no gender, and her words continue to challenge anyone who hesitates at the threshold of a daring life.
Key Achievements and Episodes
First Woman to Fly Solo Across the Atlantic
On May 20, 1932, Earhart departed from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, in her red Lockheed Vega 5B. She flew through storms, icing conditions, and mechanical problems for nearly fifteen hours before landing in a pasture near Londonderry, Northern Ireland. When a farmhand asked if she had flown far, she replied, "From America." She became the first woman -- and only the second person after Charles Lindbergh -- to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic. The achievement earned her the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress, the first woman to receive the honor.
Breaking Records Across the Pacific and Beyond
In January 1935, Earhart became the first person to fly solo from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Oakland, California, a 2,408-mile journey across the Pacific that had killed ten pilots before her. Later that year, she completed the first solo flight from Los Angeles to Mexico City, and then from Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey. She set multiple speed and distance records, each time demonstrating that women were as capable as men in the cockpit. Her achievements shattered gender barriers in aviation at a time when many believed women lacked the physical and mental stamina for long-distance flight.
The Final Flight: Disappearance Over the Pacific
On June 1, 1937, Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan departed from Miami on an attempted circumnavigation of the globe along an equatorial route. After completing roughly 22,000 miles, they took off from Lae, New Guinea, on July 2 for the 2,556-mile flight to Howland Island, a tiny coral atoll in the central Pacific. Their last confirmed radio transmission was received at 8:43 a.m. local time, reporting they were running low on fuel and could not locate the island. Despite a massive search by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard covering 250,000 square miles of ocean, no trace of Earhart, Noonan, or their Lockheed Electra was ever found.
Amelia Earhart Quotes on Courage and Determination
Amelia Earhart's courage and determination shattered aviation barriers at a time when flying was still extraordinarily dangerous and female pilots were widely dismissed as novelties. On May 20, 1932, exactly five years after Charles Lindbergh's historic solo crossing, Earhart took off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, in her single-engine Lockheed Vega and flew through storms, mechanical failures, and ice on her wings before landing in a pasture in Northern Ireland approximately fifteen hours later. She became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress -- the first woman to receive that honor. Her 1935 solo flight from Honolulu to Oakland, California, made her the first person of any gender to fly solo across the Pacific, a 2,408-mile journey that many experts considered suicidal. Earhart's willingness to risk everything for her aviation ambitions inspired generations of women to pursue careers in fields traditionally dominated by men.
"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity."
Widely attributed — Quoted in numerous biographical accounts of Earhart's philosophy on action and willpower
"Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace."
"Courage," a poem written by Earhart, published in Survey Graphic, July 1928
"The most effective way to do it, is to do it."
Attributed — Frequently cited in accounts of Earhart's approach to overcoming obstacles
"Decide whether or not the goal is worth the risks involved. If it is, stop worrying."
The Fun of It: Random Records of My Own Flying and of Women in Aviation, 1932
"Please know that I am aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others."
Letter to her husband George Putnam, left to be opened in the event of her death, written before her solo Atlantic crossing, 1932
"The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone."
"Courage," a poem written by Earhart, published in Survey Graphic, July 1928
"Preparation, I have often said, is rightly two-thirds of any venture."
Last Flight, published posthumously by George Palmer Putnam, 1937
"There is so much that must be done in a civilized barbarism like war. I felt I must try."
20 Hrs. 40 Min.: Our Flight in the Friendship, 1928 — Reflecting on her wartime nursing experience
Amelia Earhart Quotes on Adventure and Flying
Earhart's passion for adventure and flying began at age twenty-three when she took her first airplane ride at a Long Beach air show in December 1920 and declared, "As soon as we left the ground, I knew I myself had to fly." She worked odd jobs -- driving a truck, operating a telephone switchboard, and even working as a social worker -- to save the $1,000 needed to buy her first airplane, a bright yellow Kinner Airster she nicknamed "The Canary." In June 1928, she became the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air as a passenger aboard the Fokker F.VIIb/3m "Friendship," piloted by Wilbur Stultz, though she dismissed her role saying she was merely "baggage." Her record-setting flights included altitude records, transcontinental speed records, and the first solo flight from Los Angeles to Mexico City in 1935. Earhart's disappearance over the central Pacific on July 2, 1937, during her attempt to circumnavigate the globe near the equator, remains one of aviation's greatest unsolved mysteries and has fueled decades of search expeditions and theories.
"Adventure is worthwhile in itself."
Remark to reporters before her solo flight from Hawaii to California, January 1935
"By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground, I knew I had to fly."
The Fun of It, 1932 — Recalling her first airplane ride with Frank Hawks, December 1920
"Flying may not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price."
The Fun of It: Random Records of My Own Flying and of Women in Aviation, 1932
"You haven't seen a tree until you've seen its shadow from the sky."
Attributed — Quoted in accounts of Earhart's lyrical descriptions of aerial perspective
"I have often said that the lure of flying is the lure of beauty."
Last Flight, published posthumously by George Palmer Putnam, 1937
"After midnight the moon set and I was alone with the stars. I have often said that I felt the lure of flying was beauty, and I need no other flight to convince me."
Account of her solo transatlantic flight, May 1932, quoted in The Fun of It, 1932
"Not much more than a generation ago, there were those who said unblushingly that flying was for men only, an opinion that seems odd enough today."
The Fun of It: Random Records of My Own Flying and of Women in Aviation, 1932
"I wanted to fly around the world because I simply had to. It was, as I see it, inevitable."
Last Flight, published posthumously by George Palmer Putnam, 1937
Amelia Earhart Quotes on Women's Empowerment and Equality
Earhart was not merely a pilot but a fierce advocate for women's equality who used her celebrity to challenge the social conventions that limited women's opportunities in the 1920s and 1930s. She served as the first president of the Ninety-Nines, an international organization of women pilots founded in 1929 that still exists today with over 6,600 members worldwide. At Purdue University, where she served as a career counselor for women from 1935, she encouraged female students to pursue careers in engineering, science, and aviation at a time when most women were expected to become homemakers. Her marriage to publisher George Putnam in 1931 was notably modern -- she wrote him a letter on their wedding day insisting on equal partnership and refusing to promise fidelity, a radical stance for the era. Earhart's advocacy for women in aviation and her insistence that women should have the same professional opportunities as men made her a pioneering figure in the early feminist movement.
"Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others."
Letter to George Putnam, written before her solo transatlantic flight, 1932
"There is no door closed to ability, so when women are ready there will be opportunity for them in aviation."
The Fun of It: Random Records of My Own Flying and of Women in Aviation, 1932
"Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others."
Interview with the New York Herald Tribune, 1935
"Obviously I faced the possibility of not returning when first I considered going. Once faced and settled there really wasn't any good reason to refer to it."
Letter to George Putnam, written before her last flight, June 1937
"I, for one, hope for the time when women will know no restrictions because of sex but will be individuals free to live their lives as men are free."
Address to the National Women's Party, quoted in Equal Rights magazine, 1932
"A woman who would ask for her rights here must know how to navigate in other fields, too."
Remarks to the Ninety-Nines women pilots' organization, circa 1930
"No borders, just horizons -- only freedom."
Attributed — Frequently quoted in summaries of Earhart's vision of equality and exploration
Amelia Earhart Quotes on Life and Self-Discovery
Earhart's philosophy of life and self-discovery reflected a deep belief that personal growth comes through facing fears and pushing beyond comfortable boundaries. As a child in Atchison, Kansas, she kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about women who had succeeded in male-dominated fields -- female film directors, engineers, and lawyers -- revealing an early determination to defy conventional expectations. Her bestselling books, "20 Hrs. 40 Min." (1928) and "The Fun of It" (1932), combined aviation adventure narratives with reflections on courage, independence, and the importance of women creating their own paths in life. Her final flight attempt in 1937, a 29,000-mile circumnavigation of the globe in a twin-engine Lockheed Electra 10E with navigator Fred Noonan, represented the ultimate expression of her belief that life must be lived boldly and without regret. Earhart's legacy as a symbol of courage, independence, and self-discovery continues to inspire pilots, adventurers, and women seeking to break barriers in every field of human endeavor.
"The woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune."
Interview with the New York Times, reported in 1930
"The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one's appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship."
The Fun of It: Random Records of My Own Flying and of Women in Aviation, 1932
"There are two kinds of stones, as everyone knows, one of which rolls."
20 Hrs. 40 Min.: Our Flight in the Friendship, 1928
"Never interrupt someone doing something you said couldn't be done."
Attributed — Widely quoted in collections of Earhart's sayings on perseverance
"Everyone has ocean's to fly, if they have the heart to do it. Is it reckless? Maybe. But what do dreams know of boundaries?"
Attributed — Popularly quoted as Earhart's reflection on the limitless nature of ambition
"In soloing -- as in other activities -- it is far easier to start something than it is to finish it."
The Fun of It: Random Records of My Own Flying and of Women in Aviation, 1932
"Better do a good deed near at home than go far away to burn incense."
20 Hrs. 40 Min.: Our Flight in the Friendship, 1928
Frequently Asked Questions about Amelia Earhart Quotes
What is Amelia Earhart's most famous quote?
Earhart is most often quoted for "The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity," a line that captures her philosophy of bold commitment over hesitation. Her 1928 poem "Courage," published in Survey Graphic, also gives us "Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace."
What did Amelia Earhart say about women?
In a letter to her husband George Putnam left to be opened in the event of her death before her 1932 solo Atlantic crossing, she wrote, "Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others." She served as the first president of the Ninety-Nines, the international women pilots' organization founded in 1929.
What did Earhart say about adventure and flying?
Before her 1935 Hawaii-to-California flight she told reporters, "Adventure is worthwhile in itself." Recalling her first ride with pilot Frank Hawks in December 1920, she wrote in The Fun of It (1932), "By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground, I knew I had to fly."
When did Amelia Earhart fly solo across the Atlantic?
On May 20, 1932 — exactly five years after Lindbergh's solo crossing — Earhart took off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, in her Lockheed Vega 5B and landed about fifteen hours later in a pasture near Londonderry, Northern Ireland. She became the first woman and only the second person to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress.
Why is Amelia Earhart still quoted today?
Her words endure because she lived them: she set transcontinental, transatlantic, and Pacific records, then disappeared on July 2, 1937 during her circumnavigation attempt with navigator Fred Noonan. Lines such as "Decide whether or not the goal is worth the risks involved. If it is, stop worrying," from The Fun of It (1932), still resonate with anyone facing a daunting decision.
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