Women have to harness their power - its absolutely true. It's

When Cher declared, “Women have to harness their power—it's absolutely true. It's just learning not to take the first no. And if you can’t go straight ahead, you go around the corner,” she was not merely speaking of ambition; she was speaking of survival, of perseverance, of the eternal strength that has carried women through the centuries of silence and struggle. Her words resound like a call to arms—not a call to battle others, but to awaken the sleeping fire within. They are a testament to the spirit that refuses to be broken, a spirit that bends like steel and burns like the sun.

The origin of this wisdom comes from Cher’s own life—a woman who rose in an age that sought to confine her voice to the margins. She was not born into privilege, nor was her path an easy one. She fought against the tides of dismissal, of ridicule, of men who said “no” and doors that would not open. But rather than yield, she harnessed her power, turned rejection into resolve, and built her name upon her own defiance. In the glitter of fame lies a deeper truth: hers is not the triumph of luck, but of endurance. Every “no” she heard became the stone upon which she sharpened her will.

In her saying lies an ancient law of perseverance: when the way is blocked, the wise do not stop—they find another way. The great river does not halt before the mountain; it curves, it winds, it carves its own passage through the earth. So too must the one who dreams and dares. For there will always be barriers—the walls of doubt, the gates of fear, the voices that say “you cannot.” Yet those who possess true power understand that power is not granted; it is claimed. To “go around the corner” is not retreat, but cunning—the art of triumph through patience and ingenuity.

Throughout history, the greatest heroines have embodied this truth. Think of Joan of Arc, a peasant girl who heard the call of destiny and refused the many “no’s” of her time. She could not march straight into power—she was born into a world that denied her even the right to lead—but she found her corner to turn, her way to serve, her voice to command. With courage and conviction, she changed the course of a nation. Or consider Marie Curie, who was barred from formal education because she was a woman. She, too, went “around the corner,” studying in secret, teaching herself the knowledge that would one day make her the first woman to win the Nobel Prize—and the only person to win it twice in two different sciences.

Harnessing power, as Cher urges, is not about dominance—it is about awakening what already exists within. Every woman carries the strength of generations: the endurance of mothers, the courage of rebels, the wisdom of healers, the fire of thinkers. But too often, society teaches her to doubt it, to silence it, to shrink before opposition. To harness that power is to reclaim what was always hers—to step into the fullness of her being and to move forward even when the path is obscured. It is not aggression but sovereignty; not rebellion for rebellion’s sake, but the pursuit of self-mastery.

There is, in Cher’s wisdom, also a lesson about the nature of persistence. The first “no” is rarely the final one. The world tests the strength of those who seek to change it. The door that will not open may yield to patience, or it may lead you to another entrance, one unseen before. The art of perseverance lies not in brute force, but in adaptability. Those who fail are often those who stop too soon; those who succeed are those who learn to move like water—shifting, flowing, enduring. The true warrior does not always break the wall; sometimes she finds the path that leads around it.

So let these words be carried forward as counsel to all—especially to the women of this and every age: do not take the first no. Do not let the world’s refusal define your worth. When the way forward is blocked, find your corner, your secret path, your light that leads you onward. The road to greatness is never straight, but it is always open to those who refuse to turn back.

For in the end, power is not given by others—it is drawn from within. To harness it is to live fully awake, to meet every obstacle not with despair but with invention. As Cher’s words remind us, the path of strength is not about the absence of resistance, but the mastery of it. And so, as the ancients would say: when the wind stands against you, adjust your sails—not your soul.