165 Inspirational Abby Wambach Wolfpack Quotes (2023)

1. “Your speech is our new bedtime story.”

2. “If you’re not a leader on the bench, don’t call yourself a leader on the field. You’re either a leader everywhere or nowhere.”

3. Lead from the bench—from wherever you are

4. “Leadership is volunteering at the local school, speaking encouraging words to a friend, and holding the hand of a dying parent. It’s tying dirty shoelaces and going to therapy and saying to our families and friends: No. We don’t do unkindness here. It’s signing up to run for the school board and it’s driving that single mom’s kid home from practice and it’s creating boundaries that prove to the world that you value yourself. Leadership is taking care of yourself and empowering others to do the same.”

5. “Old Rule: Be grateful for what you have. New Rule: Be grateful for what you have AND demand what you deserve.”

6. “Strength is a full gamut. You’ve got to be strong from top to bottom, but you also have to raise your hand and say, “I’m feeling weak right now. I need some help.” There is true strength in being able to ask for help.”

7. “Be grateful AND loud.”

8. “Her victory is your victory. Celebrate with her.

9. “On every page of this stirring and inspiring book, I got the sensation of Abby running tirelessly at our side, calling all women to glory, roaring at us to never quit, reminding us of what we can accomplish when we join forces as a pack, and never letting us forget that she is not just our hero—she’s our sister. Abby Wambach is what the next level of women’s revolution will look like, and I’m DOWN.”

10. “I started photographing at a time when it was almost impossible to find authentic images of lesbians.” Joan E. Biren helped build a movement for their liberation. [Read the story]

11. “‘Leader’ is not a title that the world gives to you; it’s an offering that you give to the world.”

12. “Insist upon remembering. Because we know that the lessons of yesterday’s loss become the fuel for tomorrow’s win.”

13. Demand the ball—believe in yourself

14. “A champion never allows a short-term failure to take her out of a long-term game.”

15. “A woman who doesn’t give up can never lose.”

16. “Today was about execution, period. Every single player, all of us in the dressing room right now, we’re embarrassed because that’s not the way we want to play soccer.”

17. “Leadership is taking care of yourself and empowering others to do the same. Leadership is not a position to earn, it’s an inherent power to claim. Leadership is the blood that runs through your veins—it’s born in you. It’s not the privilege of a few, it is the right and responsibility of all. Leader is not a title that the world gives to you—it’s an offering that you give to the world.”

18. “Try. Fail. Feel it burn. Then transform failure into your fuel.”

19. “I am a firm believer that if you feel good and you are happy and you are doing all the things you need to on a daily basis—whether it be for your profession or as a professional athlete—you are going to be more comfortable in your skin.”

20. Old ways of thinking will never help you build a new world

21. “Strength is a full gamut. You’ve got to be strong from top to bottom, but you also have to raise your hand and say, ‘I’m feeling weak right now. I need some help.’ There is true strength in being able to ask for help.”

22. “It’s not pressure. It’s responsibility. We put it on ourselves.”

23. “Women must stop accepting failure as our destruction and start using failure as our fuel. Failure is not something to be ashamed of—nor is it proof of unworthiness. Failure is something to be powered by.”

24. “You were never Little Red Riding Hood. You were always the Wolf.”

25. “I've never scored a goal in my life without getting a pass from someone else.”

26. “The plant ecosystem regenerated. The animal ecosystem regenerated. The entire landscape changed. All because of the wolves’ presence.”

27. “As a competitor, I want to continue to keep turning the chapters and keep challenging myself.”

28. “At a young age I learned that you own labels by defying them, and defy them by owning them. I know that the final word on me will be one that I choose.”

29. Leader is not a title that the world gives to you – it’s an offering that you give to the world

30. “Old ways of thinking will never help us build a new world. Out with the old. In with the new.”

31. “I’ve never scored a goal in my life without getting a pass from someone else.”

32. “Excuse me, Abby, I just need to ensure that what you present is applicable to men, too.” I said, “Good question! But only if you’ve asked every male speaker you’ve hired if his message is applicable to women, too.”

33. “To watch people push themselves further than they think they can, it’s a beautiful thing. It’s really human.”

34. “Make failure your fuel.”

35. “You see, soccer didn’t make me who I am. I brought who I am to soccer, and I get to bring who I am wherever I go. So do you.”

36. Bring it all—lead with humanity, cultivate leaders

37. “The picture of leadership is not just a man at the head of a table,” Wambach writes. “It’s also every woman who is allowing her own voice to guide her life and the lives of those she cares about.”

38. “The picture of leadership is not just a man at the head of a table. It’s also every woman who is allowing her own voice to guide her life and the lives of those she cares about.”

39. “Note: When they say you're ridiculous, you know you're onto something.”

40. “Being a woman is a special kind of lonely. We are siloed into our little spaces, isolated from each other. Men have the old boys’ club. We need one. I want a Wolfpack for me, too.”

41. “You can do as many sprints as you want but there's nothing like playing in a 90-minute soccer game. There's no better way to gain your fitness, in my opinion, than playing in consistent games.”

42. “Power and success and joy are not pies,” Wambach writes. “A bigger slice for one woman doesn’t mean a smaller slice for another.”

43. “The world needs to see women take risks, fail big, and insist on their right to stick around and try again. And again. And again.”

44. “Old rule: play it safe, pass the ball. New rule: believe in yourself, demand the ball.”

45. “Imperfect men,” Wambach states, “have been empowered and permitted to run the world since the beginning of time. It’s time for imperfect women to grant themselves permission to join them. …The world needs to see women take risks, fail big, and insist on their right to stick around and try again. And again. And again.”

46. “There Is A Wolf Inside Of Every Woman”

47. “Be grateful. But do not just be grateful. Be grateful and brave. Be grateful and ambitious. Be grateful and righteous. Be grateful and persistent. Be grateful and loud. Be grateful for what you have and demand what you deserve.”

48. “I think that in order to get better and to see whatever kind of results you’re after, you have to make goals. Whether you write them down or tell someone about them, it’s important to set goals for yourself in order to achieve any kind of success.”

49. “Women must stop following the Old Rules, which exist only to maintain the status quo. If we follow the rules we’ve always followed, the game will remain the same. Old ways of thinking will never help us build a new world. Out with the Old. In with the New.”

50. “Leadership is volunteering at the local school, speaking encouraging words to a friend, and holding the hand of a dying parent.”

51. “Happiness is meant to be shared.”

52. “You might find yourself holding a baby instead of a briefcase and fearing that your colleagues are “getting ahead” and leaving you behind. Here’s what’s important: You are allowed to be disappointed when it feels like life’s benched you. What you aren’t allowed to do is miss your opportunity to lead from the bench. If you’re not a leader on the bench, don’t call yourself a leader on the field. You’re either a leader everywhere or nowhere.”

53. “Claim your power, and bring along your full humanity. Clear the way for others to do the same. Because what our families, our companies, and the world needs is nothing more—and nothing less— than exactly who we are.”

54. You were always the wolf—create your own path

55. “Before that game, I had always tried to turn down my talent and dim my light to avoid outshining others. I thought it was the humble thing to do. I was afraid that my talent would be an affront to others and might drive a wedge between my teammates and me. So on the field, I operated at 75 percent.”

56. “It’s a heavy burden to look up at the mountain and want to start the climb.”

57. “Lead from the bench.”

58. “Life is not meant to be lived as a lone wolf. We all need a ‘pack.'”

59. “What’s left of the hospital here is grass and horses.” With labor and delivery rooms closed after Hurricane Maria, residents of Vieques, an island off Puerto Rico, must take a ferry to give birth. [Read the story]

60. “You can’t cry when things get a little bit hard. You’ve just got to push through and know that there’s a reason and end to the means.”

61. “If you have a voice, you have influence to spread.

62. “If this sort of thing goes on,” the article said, “it’s hard to say what will become of the men.”

63. “Failure is not something to be ashamed of, nor is it proof of unworthiness. Failure is something to be powered by.”

64. “When a woman scores,” Wambach writes, “there are only two options for the Wolfpack: We’re either rushing or we’re pointing.”

65. “Old Rule: Wait for permission to lead.

66. “Wear what you want.

67. “We can choose our own comfort even if it makes other people uncomfortable.”

68. “Can We Talk?" How to Handle Tough Conversations in Business and Life

69. “CALL TO THE WOLFPACK: Be grateful. But do not JUST be grateful. Be grateful AND brave. Be grateful AND ambitious. Be grateful AND righteous. Be grateful AND persistent. Be grateful AND loud. Be grateful for what you have AND demand what you deserve.”

70. “Imperfect men have been empowered and permitted to run the world since the beginning of time. It’s time for imperfect women to grant themselves permission to join them. Perfection is not a prerequisite of leadership.”

71. “Sometimes there are no second chances, no next time. Sometimes it’s now or never.”

72. “GIVE ME THE RESPECT I DESERVE— AND GIVE IT TO MY WOLFPACK, TOO.”

73. “There has never been a more important, urgent time than right now for women to begin to fully lead our own lives,” she told me this week.

74. “No I or individual is better than the team. I've scored no goals just on my own. Every goal I've ever scored has been because of someone else on my team, their excellence, their bravery. And I'm kind of the end product of a collection of a really good vibe, and feeling, and creativity on the field.”

75. “Old Rule: Lead with dominance. Create Followers.

76. “[...] insist upon remembering. Because we know that the lessons of yesterday's loss become the fuel for tomorrow's win.”

77. “I don't care who scores the goals, I'm going to leave my human beingness on the field!”

78. “Failure means you’re finally in the game.”

79. “IT’S TIME FOR WOMEN TO KNOW THE POWER OF THEIR WOLF AND THE STRENGTH OF THEIR PACK.”

80. “When you stand up and demand the ball, you give others permission to do the same.”

81. “You must not only have competitiveness but ability, regardless of the circumstance you face, to never quit.”

82. “Here are just a few of my labels: tomboy, dyke, lesbian, butch, bitch, coward, failure, control freak, rebel, fraud. And a few more, on the flip side: phenom, inspiration, captain, champion, advocate. At a young age I learned that you own labels by defying them, and defy them by owning them. I know that the final word on me will be one that I choose. Seventy-seven”

83. “CALL TO THE WOLFPACK: Believe in yourselves. Stand up and say: GIVE ME THE EFFING BALL. GIVE ME THE EFFING JOB. GIVE ME THE SAME PAY THAT THE GUY NEXT TO ME GETS. GIVE ME THE PROMOTION. GIVE ME THE MICROPHONE.”

84. “NEW RULES 1. Create your own path. 2. Be grateful for what you have AND demand what you deserve. 3. Lead now—from wherever you are. 4. Failure means you’re finally IN the game. 5. Be FOR each other. 6. Believe in yourself. Demand the ball. 7. Lead with humanity. Cultivate Leaders. 8. You’re not alone. You’ve got your Pack.”

85. [T]he most inspiring thing on earth is a woman who believes in herself, who gives 100 percent, and who owns her greatness unapologetically

86. “The old way is to lead with invulnerability and enlist followers. The new way is to lead with full humanity—and cultivate a team of leaders.”

87. “Someone is always trying to kill you.” From our Opinion pages: Women in Honduras are being killed in newly sadistic ways, sending people running for the border. [Read the story]

88. “Old Rule: Be grateful for what you have.

89. “Wear what you want. Love who you love. Become what you imagine.”

90. “The most important thing is that sometimes you have to go through hard times to get to the good stuff.”

91. “Women must stop following the Old Rules, which exist only to maintain the status quo. If we follow the rules we've always followed, the game will remain the same. Old ways of thinking will never help us build a new world. Out with the Old. In with the New.”

92. “You never know if you can actually do something against all odds until you actually do it.”

93. “If we follow the rules we’ve always followed, the game will remain the same.”

94. “Sometimes when you fail, it allows you the opportunity to grow more motivation and get more intense about your training.”

95. “Women today have an obligation to set a good example for the generations to come. We need to have women in more powerful positions that are making decisions, so when that 10-year-old girl is looking up and wondering, ‘What can I do and what do I want to be when I get older?’ she has the opportunity to do and be whatever she wants. And then, more importantly… I want that 10-year-old boy that she goes to school with to be able to look at her and to be able to say, ‘She can do whatever she wants.'”

96. “Abby, You were never Little Red Riding Hood. You were always the Wolf. There is a wolf inside of every woman. Her wolf is who she was made to be before the world told her who to be. Her wolf is her talent, her power, her dreams, her voice, her curiosity, her courage, her dignity, her choices—her truest identity.”

97. “Women - who are feared by many to be a threat to our system - will become our society's salvation.”

98. “Champion each other.”

99. “What you do will never define you for long. Who you are always will.”

100. “Once a small number of wolves arrived, big changes started happening almost immediately”

101. “My story,” Wambach says, “is every woman’s story.”

102. “CALL TO THE WOLFPACK: Believe in yourselves. Stand up and say: GIVE ME THE EFFING BALL. GIVE ME THE EFFING JOB. GIVE ME THE SAME PAY THAT THE GUY NEXT TO ME GETS. GIVE ME THE PROMOTION. GIVE ME THE MICROPHONE. GIVE ME THE OVAL OFFICE. GIVE ME THE RESPECT I DESERVE— AND GIVE IT TO MY WOLFPACK, TOO.”

103. “I’ve always been motivated more by negative comments than by positive ones. I know what I do well. Tell me what I don’t do well.”

104. “I think I take on a little more responsibility when push comes to shove. I’m not scared to fail.”

105. “When we live afraid to fail, we don’t take risks. We don’t bring our entire selves to the table. So we end up failing before we even begin.”

106. “New Rule: Be grateful for what you have AND demand what you deserve.”

107. “Be grateful and ambitious.”

108. “CALL TO THE WOLFPACK: Wear what you want. Love who you love. Become what you imagine. Create what you need. You were never Little Red Riding Hood. You were always the Wolf.”

109. “The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack,” is one of them.

110. “Here’s what’s important: You are allowed to be disappointed when it feels like life’s benched you. What you aren’t allowed to do is miss your opportunity to lead from the bench. If you’re not a leader on the bench, don’t call yourself a leader on the field. You’re either a leader everywhere or nowhere.”

111. “Old rule: stay on the path. New rule: create your own path.”

112. “Recently, on a call with a company hiring me to teach about leadership, a man said, "Excuse me, Abby, I just need to ensure that what you present is applicable to men, too."

113. “Whenever you get to win, you feel the satisfaction of all of your hard work, all the sacrifices, all the blood, sweat and tears. It feels right and makes you realize that you are really doing the right thing.”

114. “As a feminist or L.G.B.T., you will tend to be more targeted.” Wikipedia isn’t officially a social network, but the harassment can get ugly. [Read the story]

115. “I was so grateful for a paycheck, so grateful to represent my country, so grateful to be the token woman at the table, so grateful to receive any respect at all that I was afraid to use my voice to demand more,” Wambach writes. “Our gratitude is how power uses the tokenism of a few women to keep the rest of us in line.”

116. “What keeps the pay gap in existence is not just the entitlement and complicity of men. It's the gratitude of women. Our gratitude is how power uses the tokenism of a few women to keep the rest of us in line.”

117. “I think, as you grow older, you have to figure out the best way to utilize not only your body but your skill.”

118. “Playing on turf affects everything, you know, it affects the way the ball rolls, it affects the way the ball bounces, it affects the way you think about whether or not going into a slide. It's kind of a nightmare.”

119. “CALL TO THE WOLFPACK: Her victory is your victory. Celebrate with her. Your victory is her victory. Point to her.”

120. “What is happening at Cosmo right now is the new way forward.” Jessica Pels, Cosmopolitan’s new editor, is trying to save the magazine from the jaws of Instagram. [Read the story]

121. “It’s not the actual failure itself; it’s how you respond to it.”

122. “Leadership is taking care of yourself and empowering others to do the same.”

123. “Old Rule: Play it safe. Pass the ball. New Rule: Believe in yourself. Demand the ball.”

124. “When we live afraid to fail, we don’t take risks. We don’t bring our entire selves to the table—so we end up failing before we even begin.”

125. “You will not always be the goal scorer. When you are not, you better be rushing toward her.”

126. “Abby is a relatable revolutionary – with WOLFPACK, she inspires the confidence, leadership, and sisterhood we all so desperately need right now.”

127. “Championing each other can be difficult for women because for so long we have been pitted against each other for the token seat at the table. Maintaining the illusion of scarcity is how power keeps women competing for the singular seat at the old table, instead of uniting and building a new, bigger table.”

128. “What Happened for…” – Part 1: “The Long Boom” 40 years later

129. “Failure is not something to be ashamed of—nor is it proof of unworthiness. Failure is something to be powered by. When we live afraid to fail, we don’t take risks. We don’t bring our entire selves to the table—so we end up failing before we even begin. Let’s stop worrying: What if I fail? Instead, let’s promise ourselves: When I fail, I’ll stick around.”

130. “WOLFPACK is a must-read for all of us determined to teach our kids there are no limits. It’s a manifesto for everyone trying to lead — whether it’s a team, a company, a family, or a meaningful life. For those of us who strive to do it all and know there must be a better way, WOLFPACK’s New Rules are the answer.”

131. “Believe in yourselves.

132. “The most important thing is to get better at your craft.”

133. “Sometimes we use failure to push us further down the same path. Other times, we let failure guide us to a new path. But we always keep moving forward.”

134. Be grateful and ambitious

135. “I'm not going to tell people how to live their life and I surely wouldn't tell people my life is the way you should be living. People get to choose what they do want to do with their life and I appreciated that.”

136. “Every woman is the leader of her own life. Do not give up that power. Claim it. Value it. Use it.”

137. “Everything In A Wolf’s Nature Tells It To Belong To Something Greater Than Itself: A Pack”

138. “There is magic inside of us. There is power among us. Let’s unleash and unite.”

139. “Claim your power, and bring along your full humanity. Clear the way for others to do the same. Because what our families, our companies, and the world needs is nothing more—and nothing less—than exactly who we are.”

140. “Soccer didn’t make me who I am. I brought who I am to soccer, and I get to bring who I am wherever I go. So do you.”

141. “Old Rule: Stay on the path.

142. Make failure your fuel

143. “CALL TO THE WOLFPACK: Try. Fail. Feel it burn. Then transform Failure into your Fuel.”

144. Champion each other—be for each other

145. “Old rule: wait for permission to lead. New rule: lead now, from wherever you are.”

146. [T]he lessons of yesterday’s loss become the fuel for tomorrow’s win

147. “A champion never allows a short-term failure to take her out of the long-term game.”

148. “Be grateful. But do not JUST be grateful. Be grateful AND brave … ambitious … righteous … persistent … loud … Be grateful for what you have AND demand what you deserve.”

149. “There is a wolf inside of every woman. Her wolf is who she was made to be before the world told her who to be. Her wolf is her talent, her power, her dreams, her voice, her curiosity, her courage, her dignity, her choices—her truest identity.”

150. Life is harder as a lone wolf. We all need a Pack

151. “When they say you’re ridiculous, you know you’re onto something.”

152. “They laid that new path—brick by brick—for generations of wolves to follow.”

153. “Imperfect men have been empowered and permitted to run the world since the beginning of time,” Wambach writes. “It’s time for imperfect women to grant themselves permission to join them.”

154. “The world needs to see women take risks, fail big, and insist on their right to stick around and try again. And again. And again. A champion never allows a short-term failure to take her out of the long-term game. A woman who doesn’t give up can never lose.”

155. “Old Rule: Lead with dominance. Create Followers. New Rule: Lead with humanity. Cultivate Leaders.”

156. “Here's what's imporant: You are allowed to be dissapointed when it feels like life's benched you. What you aren't allowed to do is miss your opportunity to lead from the bench. If you're not a leader on the bench, don't call yourself a leader on the field. You're either a leader everywhere or nowhere.”

157. “What keeps the pay gap in existence is not just the entitlement and complicity of men. It’s the gratitude of women. Our gratitude is how power uses the tokenism of a few women to keep the rest of us in line.”

158. “We are the ones we've been waiting for.

159. “Women haven’t yet accessed the power of failure. When it comes, we panic, deny it, or reject it outright. Worst-case scenario, we view failure as proof that we were always unworthy imposters [my italics]. Men have been allowed to fail and keep playing forever.”

160. “That game marked the moment I stopped pretending to be less powerful than I know I am. What I learned is that the most inspiring thing on earth is a woman who believes in herself, who gives 100 percent, and who owns her greatness unapologetically.”

161. “If you have a voice, you have influence to spread. If you have relationships, you have hearts to guide. If you know young people, you have futures to mold. If you have privilege, you have power to share. If you have money, you have support to give. If you have a ballot, you have policy to shape. If you have pain, you have empathy to offer. If you have freedom, you have others to fight for. If you are alive, you are a leader.”

162. “The world needs to see women take risks, fail big, and insist on their right to stick around and try again. And again. And again. A champion never allows a short-term failure to take her out of the long-term game. A woman who doesn't give up can never lose.”

163. Find your pack—you’re not alone

164. “So many of us can relate to playing by rules that were never set up for us to win.”

165. “Wolf Pack” is a great lead for many posts.