c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
If you don't feel you have any choice in a situation, self-esteem and confidence plummet. But once you understand that you do have a choice, self-esteem will improve. You aren't a helpless victim anymore. You decide how you deal with a situation. You aren't just reacting to life; you're creating your life.
— Theresa Cheung, Teen Tarot: What the Cards Reveal About You and Your Future
We survey lush landscapes with variations not dissimilar to a so-called "imperfect" female body with absolute pleasure -- say, an expanse of Irish countryside with grassy rolling hills. But is it really so much uglier when it's made of flesh instead of soil?
— Kim Brittingham, Read My Hips: How I Learned to Love My Body, Ditch Dieting, and Live Large
What is the good of being an island, if you are not a volcanic island?
— Wyndham Lewis, Letters
We all need a cheering committee and parents are a child's most important fans!
— Vivian Kirkfield
While self-esteem touches virtually every aspect of our existence, there are two aspects to which it is related in very distinct and powerful ways: work and love. Through work and through love, we act out the level of our confidence and our sense of personal worth. The drama of our life is the external reflection of our internal vision of ourselves. The higher the level of our self-esteem, the more likely it is that we will find a work and a love through which we can express ourselves in satisfying and enriching ways.
— Nathaniel Branden
Image is everything, self image that is.
— Rob Liano
The first act of honoring the self is the assertion of consciousness: the choice to think, to be aware, to send the searchlight of consciousness outward toward the world and inward toward our own being. To default on this effort is to default on the self at the most basic level.
— Nathaniel Branden
We each appear to hold within ourselves a range of divergent views as to our native qualities.. And amid such uncertainty, we typically turn to the wider world to settle the question of our significance.. we seem beholden to affections of others to endure ourselves.
— Alain de Botton, Status Anxiety
Typical me--hurricane that leaves nothing but destruction.
— Katie McGarry, Dare You To
Never shall a young man,Thrown into despairBy those great honey-colouredRamparts at your ear,Love you for yourself aloneAnd not your yellow hair.
— W.B. Yeats
Self-love is not the process of ignoring your flaws. Self-love is expanding your awareness to include your flaws and your strengths.
— Vironika Tugaleva
I don't need to be tame, because dragons choose their partner by themselves.
— Olivia Sinaga
III. I have often wondered how it should come to pass, that every man loving himself best, should more regard other men's opinions concerning himself than his own. For if any God or grave master standing by, should command any of us to think nothing by himself but what he should presently speak out; no man were able to endure it, though but for one day. Thus do we fear more what our neighbours will think of us, than what we ourselves.
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
There are no mirrors of any kind in here. If there were, I’d want to smash them, but I wouldn’t. Instead, I’d probably just stare at them, giving myself negative affirmations.
— Rasmenia Massoud, Human Detritus
Respect is a kind of magic too, you know.
— Jefferson Smith, Strange Places
When our feet talk to us, we listen.
— Alexander Nestoiter
Often in the morning he drove a long hour or more to the markets in the city, there to behold what would determine the day’s special. With the crates of fresh selesctions snuggled into his station wagon, his thoughts on the ride back confronted the culinary equivalent of the writer’s blank page. Sometimes his head swirled with exciting ideas; other mornings he was in a panic upon returning with the same old eggplant and squash and zucchini and nothing but the dullness of the word ratatouille standing by to mock him.
— Nancy Zafris, The Home Jar: Stories
When I loved myself enough, I let the tomboy in me swing off the rope in Jackass Canyon. Yes!
— Kim McMillen, When I Loved Myself Enough
Kissinger projects a strong impression of a man at home in the world and on top of his brief. But there are a number of occasions when it suits him to pose as a sort of Candide: naive, and ill-prepared for and easily unhorsed by events. No doubt this pose costs him something in point of self-esteem. It is a pose, furthermore, which he often adopts at precisely the time when the record shows him to be knowledgeable, and when knowledge or foreknowledge would also confront him with charges of responsibility or complicity.
— Christopher Hitchens, The Trial of Henry Kissinger
Healthy self-esteem rests upon a strong foundation of core values and an inclination to act and speak in alignment with those values.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
Take deliberate steps to retrain your brain and turn your inner critic into an enthusiastic, devoted fan.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
Focusing your energy on the things you don’t like about yourself is self-sabotage and defeating. When you re-direct all that energy into a more positive direction, you will feel the shift instantly to improve your self-esteem and attitude.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
It is hard to earn the respect of others when you do not respect yourself. Others may find it difficult to enjoy your company if you do not enjoy your own.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
Popularity does not equal respect. It is not only kids who will do what they think they must to fit in and be popular—adults do it too.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
Wouldn’t you rather have the respect of your friends and colleagues than succumb to pressure to do and say things that are out of character in order to feel accepted? You can overcome this habit simply by learning to say “no.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
Become your own best friend—smile and say “I love you” to yourself occasionally.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
Living in integrity with one’s principles that are held in high regard engenders respect—both from others and self.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
It is human nature for self-doubt to occasionally creep in and take up residence. It happens to even the most successful people among us.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
We all go through times of self-doubt, times when we may question our abilities and hope we can live up to the expectations of others.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
What we often forget is that most everyone else has dealt with the same struggles and uncertainties. You get to pick your response when this doubt creeps in. Will you allow it to undermine your confidence, or instead, choose to look at it objectively?
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
With an objective eye, take an inventory of your successes and enlist the honest feedback of a trusted and respected mentor or peer. Chances are they see you in a better light than you see yourself!
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
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— “Remind yourself of the many victories you’ve achieved and build healthier self-esteem and perceptions on those.
Be mindful to love and appreciate yourself and become your own champion. This healthy and loving relationship will be felt when people meet you.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
Become so strong and grounded in your own self that when someone walks out on you it is they who should regret not you.When someone leaves you at your weakest moment you feel that the sky has fallen on you. A feeling of being dumped after being used fills you; your very being cries out from deep within.That is the time you have to become strong- which you are. It is they who have been mean, broken your trust, shattered the faith you had in them and generally behaved like rats on a sinking ship. That’s when you should understand that you are no sinking ship but a properly grounded person, someone to whom everyone turns for help or advice and a lighthouse which has guided many ships during storms.Let them find out that you don’t break down so easily- you are made of much sterner stuff. It is they that have lost a good friend, an able guide, a reliable companion and a very strong person. It is they who should feel lost and at sea. Good riddance. Move on and shine bright.
— Latika Teotia
Thinking little of yourself is not humility.
— Nicky Verd
She woke up thin. She loved it when that happened.
— Jolie Booth, The Girl Who'll Rule the World
Don’t fall into the trap of sacrificing your self-esteem for affection and acceptance. No matter what your size, you are a sexy goddess. Remember that.
— Ashley Graham
Being healthy, balanced, and positive is key to making a positive first impression. How you feel about yourself sets the tone for how other people feel about you too.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
The irony is that food gives me a sense of control, even though it makes me totally out of control. Food is something I can choose, order, have delivered. I sit down, eat, and feel really good in the moment. At its essence, food is nourishing. There is truth in that. The trick is understanding and respecting the line where it crosses over into something unhealthy.
— Ashley Graham
The bond between food and me is like other relationships in my life: complicated, evolving, demanding, and in need of constant work. But together we’ve come so far, moving from my childhood obligation to clean my plate, to a mindless need to fill up, to a truly nourishing and pleasurable exchange. That’s the real reward.
— Ashley Graham
When you fall into the gutter you tell yourself that you can climb out. Then you notice that you’re covered in filth but you still think that you can get out. But the smell seeps into your soul and is always there with you. All you need is someone else to look at you differently, talk to you like you’re someone that matters and extend a hand. Only then can you climb into the gutter.
— Alex Avrio, The Alchemist's Box
It is not possible for others to keep us prisoners if we want to be free
— Mimi Novic
Remember who you are. This creature wants to take it from you. Do not let him.
— Jim Butcher, The Aeronaut's Windlass
Passion trumps fear
— Jen Sincero, You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life
A high self-esteem can quickly deteriorate into egotism, arrogance, and an over-confidence that can backfire and turn people off.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
Your healthy self-esteem is one of the most significant and powerful drivers in your life. It drives your perceptions, attitudes, opinions, relationships, communications, and your decisions.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
When you feel great about you, personal qualities radiate that make you more attractive and compelling to others.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
Healthy self-esteem is a commanding and powerful influence, so isn’t it worth diving in deeper to ensure that you do everything possible to make your sense of self healthy, beneficial, and whole?
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
While developing a healthy self-esteem is a lifetime learning process, you can take daily steps to enjoy a confident sense of well-being beginning tody.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
When you have a healthy self-esteem, qualities such as likeability, confidence, trustworthiness, compassion, sense of humor, empathy, and optimism all serve to make you more interesting and successful. But unfortunately, we sometimes get in our own way . . .
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
I can . . . I can't. How do you speak to yourself? Do you ever feel as though you have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other? And they continually argue over your self-worth, competence, and personal value? Which one usually wins the debate?
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
Your inner critic is that voice in your head that second-guesses your choices, doubts your abilities, judges your appearance, criticizes you at every turn, and tries to convince you that you are never good enough.
— Susan C. Young
The voice of the inner critic is mean, unforgiving, punishing, and downright hurtful. When you allow it to run roughshod over your happiness and emotional well-being, it can wreak havoc on your peace of mind and leave you feeling anxious, fearful, and depleted.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
Demoralizing self-talk leads to a self-destructive mindset, making everything in life more difficult. Not only that, how you feel about yourself oozes out of your pores and makes a bad impression on others.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
We all can give in to our inner critic. I don’t know about you, but I would never allow anyone to speak to me the way I speak to myself! I wouldn’t be their friend!
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
If you wouldn’t want to hang out with someone who was constantly bashing you with a barrage of belittling insults, why would you allow them to live in your head?
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
You can take your power back and silence the criticism and lies NOW!
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
Notice what your inner critic is saying, and issue a cease and desist! Regain control. Resist, and refuse to listen.
— Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact
I choose to live by choice, not by chance; to make changes, not excuses; to be motivated, not manipulated; to be useful, not used; to excel, not to compete. I choose self-esteem, not self-pity. I choose to listen to my inner voice, not the random opinion of others. I choose to be me.
— Miranda Marrott
Expand!You are not small. Your Foremothers did not do what they did so you could occupy small!
— Malebo Sephodi
It's a tiring game resenting the scars and the fearful memories.
— Efrat Cybulkiewicz
Self esteem determines the height of your achievement.
— Sravani Saha Nakhro
A good general rule is that self-esteem for its own sake turns out to be much worse than merely reinforcing unearned positive feelings about oneself. Not only does high self-esteem (especially when unearned) not increase “social responsibility”; it decreases it. The criminologist and sociologist Roy Baumeister, a professor of psychology at Florida State University who has spent a lifetime studying violent criminals, notes that the great majority of criminals have higher self-esteem than noncriminals. You need high self-esteem to think that rules apply to others but not to you.
— Dennis Prager, Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph
The most important day is the day you decide you’re good enough for you. It’s the day you set yourself free.
— Brittany Josephina
Where your soul meets your purpose is the azimuth known as your passion and from there you can plot points of inspiration and achievable goals.
— Donavan Nelson Butler, Master Sergeant US Army
If you want peace, stop labeling yourself. We all label ourselves at some point. We tell ourselves these traits that make us stand out. I am a patient person. I am smart. But what happens when we fail at being what we tell ourselves we are? What if I say something really stupid? Am I now a stupid person?These labels only stand to hurt us in the future. They make us doubt ourselves and they separate us from other people. When you label yourself, you, in turn, begin labeling others. Oh, that Jane, she is so rude. And now, as you have defined her in your mind, she is rude. Regardless of 'Jane's' future actions, she is rude.Labels set parameters on the world. They limit it when the world should be impossible to define and ever-changing.So, pause before you label.
— Avina Celeste
Be nice to yourself... It's hard to be happy when someone is mean to you all the time.
— Christine Arylo
Some of us are filled with a unique inner light. Others around us cease to exist because of it. The light opaques them. The outcome is, they will try everything in their power to tear it off, from you. Unless you accept their terms; to give up that uniqueness, forever.“Now, my question for you is: Are you a people pleaser or are you one of us?
— Efrat Cybulkiewicz
You are the most important person in your life. Your relationship with yourself defines your relationships with every other person you encounter. Celebrate yourself and celebrate all.
— Avina Celeste
Sometimes I have to act crazy to handle the crazies. Trying to be normal near the crazies makes me as crazy as them. The more I push reason and logic on them, the more they pervert it and use it against me, the angrier they make me feel. It's much easier to pretend they're ghosts talking to the wind, and ignore them as if they weren't really human. My mood improves, my self-esteem is better and I feel happier. On another hand, maybe I'm just being realistic here, because you can't really talk to the dead. That's what people without respect or empathy are; dead in the brain; just walking bodies without a soul.
— Robin Sacredfire
If people spend years trying to prove that you are less than it's because you are more than enough and they feel threatened. You are more than people's opinions.
— P.A. Bitez, Soft Tortures
I pulled on the restraints, frustrated, hurting, and completely devastated. I could feel tears sliding down my skin, into my ears, and back over my scalp. Which told me that they’d cut off my hair, too. For some reason, that little bit of vanity was what it took to undo me completely.
— Elizabeth Schechter, Heart's Master
Forgive me, Bertrand, for having on that day loved in you a beauty in which your self-esteem could take no pride, which could not in any way determine my affection.
— Marcel Proust, Jean Santeuil
So, I'm no longer holding myself  hostage to less than what I deserve. It's an inward thing first. It's always an inward thing first.
— S.C. Lourie
Develop a strong opinion about yourself so that you don’t accidentally start believing what others say about you.
— Akin Olokun
Getting into the habit of changing who you are to please others, is setting a lifetime marathon of running away from yourself.
— Dr. Jacinta Mpalyenkana, Ph.D, MBA
Your body is the piece of the universe you've been given; as long as you have a pulse, it presents you with an ongoing shower of immediate sensate experiences.
— Geneen Roth, Women, Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything
The only thing for what you are bound is to be in your limit.
— Haseeb Ch
I want to feel proud and happy about my selflessness. But what happens when being selfless takes away a big part of your self?
— Jaye Robin Brown, Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit
There is a very fine line (almost transparent), between cordiality and hypocrisy--knowing to distinguish them is a gift of Gods.
— Efrat Cybulkiewicz
So all you desi boys and girls, dark skin or not, you are beautiful just the way you are. No need to change your skin to be fair and white. And no need to adapt to one's culture to fit in. If you feel uncomfortable to do what other people are doing, then don't do it!
— Simi Sunny
Determination takes us to some interesting places.
— Efrat Cybulkiewicz
Make room for who you are by knowing who you’re not.
— Abby Fabiaschi, I Liked My Life
I turned into a swamp of inactivity, and because of this no one was able to see the gems in my depths.
— Osama Alomar
Have you honestly pondered your individual worth? Consider every lower life form in the world—the animals, plants, fouls and fishes. Consider the land forms and numerous earthly wonders. Consider the countless worlds beyond this planet as well as their stars and galaxies. And then consider yourself. Of all God’s creations, you were formed in His image, resembling the likeness of a God. That’s something to think about.
— Richelle E. Goodrich, Slaying Dragons
No woman deserved to have a man put his hands on her.
— Valenciya Lyons, Life After Natalie
Acknowledge, accept, and honor that you deserve your own deepest compassion and love.
— Nanette Mathews
Because women tend to turn their anger inward and blame themselves, they tend to become depressed and their self-esteem is lowered. This, in turn, causes them to become more dependent and less willing to risk rejection or abandonment if they were to stand up for themselves by asserting their will, their opinions, or their needs. Men often defend themselves against hurt by putting up a wall of nonchalant indifference. This appearance of independence often adds to a woman's fear of rejection, causing her to want to reach out to achieve comfort and reconciliation. Giving in, taking the blame, and losing herself more in the relationship seem to be a small price to pay for the acceptance and love of her partner. As you can see, both extremes anger in and anger out-create potential problems. While neither sex is wrong in the way they deal with their anger, each could benefit from observing how the other sex copes with their anger. Most men, especially abusive ones, could benefit from learning to contain their anger more instead of automatically striking back, and could use the rather female ability to empathise with others and seek diplomatic resolutions to problems. Many women, on the other hand, could benefit from acknowledging their anger and giving themselves permission to act it out in constructive ways instead of automatically talking themselves out of it, blaming themselves, or allowing a man to blame them. Instead of giving in to keep the peace, it would be far healthier for most women to stand up for their needs, their opinions, and their beliefs.
— Beverly Engel, The Emotionally Abusive Relationship: How to Stop Being Abused and How to Stop Abusing
I will, without hesitation, walk away from anything and anyone that threatens my peace or sense of self.
— Izey Victoria Odiase
The notion of loving oneself has gotten an undeservedly bad rap, which goes something like this: self-love is narcissistic, selfish, self-indulgent, the supreme delusion of a runaway ego looking out for “number one.” In fact, just the opposite is true.
— Sharon Salzberg, Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection
One of the hardest things was learning that I was worth recovery.
— Demi Lovato
Just as a star can’t be seen behind a cloud, you can never shine and be seen behind the clouding of your insecurities.
— Dr. Jacinta Mpalyenkana, Ph.D, MBA
If another man wanted me, I was valuable. I was esteemed, no matter that it wasn't self-esteem.
— Stephanie Klein, Straight Up and Dirty
Do not undervalue what you are ultimately worth because you are at a momentary disadvantage.
— Sherry Thomas, A Study in Scarlet Women
When you love yourself you will never need closure from any man. That doesn't mean you didn't love him, it simply means you love yourself enough to realize God has a better plan for you that doesn't involve one more conversation that will remind you of that person's lack of respect for you.
— Shannon L. Alder
Self Hate: The deadliest 'dis-ease' experienced by wounded souls.
— T.F. Hodge, From Within I Rise: Spiritual Triumph Over Death and Conscious Encounters with "The Divine Presence"
Polygamy simply says, “You are not enough.
— Benyf, 11.11.11 After so Many Years of Tears: Letters to My Distant Soul-Mate
The applause of the conscience can only bring a marvelous Self-Esteem
— Rajasaraswathii, Success-Talks : For Evolution of Your Success
If you know who you are, you do not need to consider yourself to be worse or better than someone else
— Sunday Adelaja
Do not depreciate a creation of God
— Sunday Adelaja
We doubt ourselves. It's not about lowering the self-esteem. It's about increasing the self-confidence by letting the risk factor do its part
— Bhavik Sarkhedi
Every woman needs these three things: Self-Esteem, Self-Love, and Self-Confidence. A female that possess all three is an empowered and unstoppable Queen. She knows her worth! Everything about her represents quality. Her happiness comes from within, first. She respects herself. She values who she is. She’s not easily impressed or persuaded by people or things. She has purpose and direction! An admirable being is what she is: Extraordinary and highly desirable. She’s an Unparalleled Woman.
— Stephanie Lahart
I am always disappointed with someone who loves me - how perfect can he be if he can't see through me?
— Carrie Fisher, The Princess Diarist
Confidence is subtle. Insecurity is brash.
— Sam Owen
How about truly loving yourself now?
— Tara Estacaan
The government can make laws, but only the God can give self-esteem where there is none
— Sunday Adelaja
Taking charge of our life reinforces our self-worth.
— Sam Owen, 500 Relationships And Life Quotes: Bite-Sized Advice For Busy People
When you go through a traumatic event, there's a lot of shame that comes with that. A lot of loss of self-esteem. That can become debilitating.
— Willie Aames
Without self-esteem and respect for others, you cannot be true to your own values.
— Auliq-Ice
Far too often we allow the hurtful words of others to define us. From the book: Removing Your Shame Label.
— Eddie  Capparucci
Round still, but that's fine.Feeling good outside and in.Maybe I'm not thin,but skinny isn't perfect.The perfect size is happy.
— Nikki Grimes, Garvey's Choice
Nobody can treat you like a liability without your approval
— Ane Krstevska
When someone shows you how little you mean to them and you keep coming back for more, before you know it you start to mean less to yourself. You are made up of compartments! You are one whole person! What gets said to you gets said to all of you, ditto, what gets done. Being treated like shit is not an amusing game or a transgressive intellectual experiment. It’s something you accept, condone, and learn to believe you deserve. This is so simple. But I tried so hard to make it complicated.
— Lena Dunham, Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned"
You know, that's what you've been doing in a way--coming out. Coming out of your room. Coming out of your house. Coming out of your shell.
— Jennifer Niven, Holding Up the Universe
When you’ve spent your whole life not being good enough, it takes time to let yourself believe that you finally are. Self-worth isn’t a switch that flips inside you. It’s a daily struggle not to sabotage your own success. Not to cave into the voices inside your head that whisper you’re not good enough, or you’ll fuck things up, or that someone else could do things better than you.
— Julie   Johnson, The Monday Girl
You will never let go of the past by ignoring the most painful thing the person you loved has done to you. When you begin to minimize it, second guess yourself and others, ignore it or even pretend it didn't happen you cheat yourself out of healing. Naturally, your mind would rather believe the lies you are telling it, rather than accept the truth. The soul has a way of protecting itself from trauma, but if left in denial there is no growth or change. Healing requires going to that place you avoid and asking yourself why you are so afraid to accept the reality of what happened to you? Why have you minimized it like this person has wanted you to? What is it about your self esteem that allows you to continue being a doormat?
— Shannon L. Alder
Learning to love yourself is easier when you have someone to show you how.
— Martina Boone, Illusion
Sometimes the path to higher self-esteem is lonely and frightening. We cannot fully know in advance how much more satisfying our lives will be. But the more we are willing to experience and accept the many aspects of who we are, the richer our inner worlds, the greater our resources, the more appropriate we feel to the challenges and opportunities of life. Also, it is more likely that we will find - or create - a style of existence that will meet our individual needs.
— Nathaniel Branden, How to Raise Your Self-Esteem: The Proven Action-Oriented Approach to Greater Self-Respect and Self-Confidence
Our liabilities pose the problem of inadequacy; our our assets, the challenge of responsibility. Our strengths or virtues can make us feel alone, alienated, cut off from the common herd, a target for envy and hostility, and our desire to belong can overcome any desire to actualise our highest potential.
— Nathaniel Branden, How to Raise Your Self-Esteem: The Proven Action-Oriented Approach to Greater Self-Respect and Self-Confidence
No one will give a damn about you and your excellence unless you give a damn about yourself.
— Abhijit Naskar
​Let your pretence of arrogance grow big as a Dinosaur, so that the fake intellectuals start to realize their true inferiority in front of you.
— Abhijit Naskar
My self-esteem is not tied to the approval of others.
— Kenneth Wayne Wood
True beauty comes from within and no one can ever change it.
— Katrina Denise
I have only been a ‘Poor Me’ once or twice in my life…. And that was my own fault.
— Gary   Hopkins
Learning to love yourself is like learning to walk—essential, life-changing, and the only way to stand tall.
— Vironika Tugaleva
If the pursuit of perfection is a way to prove our worth, in the end the pursuit will only prove our imperfections.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
You were scared they were going to laugh at you, right? So let them! People who discourage others will never find their own happiness!
— Inio Asano, Goodnight Punpun Omnibus (2-in-1 Edition), Vol. 1
10. Comparison is the root of all feelings of inferiority. The moment you begin examining other people’s strengths against your most obvious weaknesses, your self-esteem starts to crumble!
— James C. Dobson, Life on the Edge: The Next Generation's Guide to a Meaningful Future
In evaluating ourselves, we tend to be long on our weaknesses and short on our strengths.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
The higher our self-esteem, the more likely we are to be creative in our work, which means the more successful we are likely to be. The higher our self-esteem, the more ambitious we tend to be, not necessarily in a career or financial sense, but in terms of what we hope to experience in life - emotionally, creatively and spiritually.
— Nathaniel Branden, How to Raise Your Self-Esteem: The Proven Action-Oriented Approach to Greater Self-Respect and Self-Confidence
Your life, your achievement, your happiness, your person are of paramount importance. Live up to your highest vision of yourself no matter what the circumstances you might encounter. An exalted view of self-esteem is a man's most admirable quality.
— Ayn Rand, The Night of January 16th
Of all the judgements we pass, none is as important as the one we pass on ourselves.
— Nathaniel Branden, How to Raise Your Self-Esteem: The Proven Action-Oriented Approach to Greater Self-Respect and Self-Confidence
There is no way to genuinely, powerfully, truly love yourself while crafting a mask of perfection.
— Vironika Tugaleva
Worth is not something you can buy for $39.99, nor something you can lose with 10 extra pounds. Self-judging people make good consumers. Start a revolution. Love yourself.
— Vironika Tugaleva
As most of us know, the proper attitude toward ourselves is called “good self-esteem.” But self-esteem isan art. An art of balance. A balance between thinking too little of ourselves, and thinking too much ofourselves.The name for thinking too much of ourselves is “egotism.
— Richard N. Bolles, What Color Is Your Parachute? 2012: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers
Without courageous action, Hope is a Universal liar.
— Sahithi Setikam, Is Hope is for Sissies
The reason that the little things are more important than the big ones, turns out to be very simple: one can fake the big things in one’s behaviour, but not the little things. The little things lack the three “f’s”: feigning, fabrication, fakeness. Plus the most important “c”: contrivance.
— Nicos Hadjicostis
Your emotions are meant to fluctuate, just like your blood pressure is meant to fluctuate. It’s a system that’s supposed to move back and forth, between happy and unhappy. That’s how the system guides you through the world.
— Daniel Todd Gilbert
Attachment to praise and avoidance of criticism keeps us from doing innovative, controversial work and--more simply--from following the paths we feel called toward, whether or not those around us understand or approve.
— Tara Mohr, Playing Big: Find Your Voice, Your Mission, Your Message
It was not only colored people who praised John, since they could not, John felt, in any case really know; but white people also said it, in fact had said it first and said it still. It was when John was five years old and in the first grade that he was first noticed; and since he was noticed by an eye altogether alien and impersonal, he began to perceive, in wild uneasiness, his individual existence.
— James     Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain
How well you do things should be incidental, not integral, to the way you regard yourself.
— Alfie Kohn, The Myth of the Spoiled Child: Coddled Kids, Helicopter Parents, and Other Phony Crises
The more you try, so desperately, to prove a point to get someone's approval, the more fleeting that approval might be, causing a chain of depreciation of self-esteem. Sometimes, all you need do is truly love yourself and get only the approval and acceptance of the inner self.
— Ufuoma Apoki
My first strike was marrying a guy without a college degree. My second and third were getting pregnant. I suppose that when I didn't go on to become the next Gloria Allred, she was justified in counting me a failure. And I suppose that until now, I was justified in thinking that I wasn't one.
— Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper
Often in the morning he drove a long hour or more to the markets in the city, there to behold what would determine the day’s special. With the crates of fresh selections snuggled into his station wagon, his thoughts on the ride back confronted the culinary equivalent of the writer’s blank page. Sometimes his head swirled with exciting ideas; other mornings he was in a panic upon returning with the same old eggplant and squash and zucchini and nothing but the dullness of the word ratatouille standing by to mock him.
— Nancy Zafris, The Home Jar: Stories
Indomitable will, purposeful action
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Attachment to praise and avoidance of criticism keeps us from doing innovative, controversial work and--more simply--from following the paths we feel called toward, whether or not those around s understand or approve.
— Tara Mohr, Playing Big: Find Your Voice, Your Mission, Your Message
The important thing to remember, ... is that you are a human being and worthy of respect.
— Sarah Dessen, Keeping the Moon
I couldn’t help wondering what it was that made me not good enough. It was a familiar feeling. I’d had it off and on my entire life.
— Drew Nellins Smith, Arcade
The person identifies with the image the others have created of him on Facebook, and this image in turn guides his life and actions. He comes to believe that his public image (with the comments underneath it) is who he is.
— Nicos Hadjicostis
Don't allow yourself to be held hostage by the opinion of others.
— Laurie Buchanan, PhD
The problem with social media is that it's great for your ego, but terrible for your sanity.
— Andrena Sawyer
It's not really my problem if they think I'm weird.
— Sid Vicious
To establish true self-esteem we must concentrate on our successes and forget about the failures and the negatives in our lives. - Denis Waitley.
— Denis Waitley
You have to respect a person for what he can do, and you can’t judge him to the fella who shoots ten people who feels nothing, goes to jail and come out and shoots ten more. You have to make people feel that whatever you are good at, we appreciate and respect you for that. Scrooge, former leader of the Rebellion Raiders street gang that once boasted of having some ten thousand membersRespecting people, coaching, gang recruitment, gang membership, gang leaders, street code, street life, gang involvement, team members, self-esteem, self-confidence, feeling respected, feeling wanted, feeling good feeling apart, Rebellions-Raiders, Rebellion RaidersYou have to respect a person for what he can do, and you can’t judge him to the fella who shoots ten people who feels nothing, goes to jail and come out and shoots ten more. You have to make people feel that whatever you are good at, we appreciate and respect you for that. Scrooge, former leader of the Rebellion Raiders street gang that once boasted of having some ten thousand members
— Drexel Deal, The Fight of My Life is Wrapped Up in My Father
I'm above crawling on my knees for certain favors. What you cannot give me: I cannot beg for it. This is not arrogance or pride. This is having a clear understanding of my self worth.‪
— joseph ejiro
You don't have to be like anyone else. Just learn more about your own creative self and start blooming.
— Deborah Day, BE HAPPY NOW!
There are many ways your intuition can get a message to you. You will start to pick them up once you learn to quiet the mental chatter.
— Stevie Puckett, Bliss or Bust: Uplifting Thoughts
Real happiness comes from loving you're inner self and excepting the things you can't change. Flaws perfectly imperfect.
— Shellie Palmer
One of the things we haven’t taught our people as a nation, that this is their country. We haven’t told them that this Bahamas belongs to them. Whether it succeeds or fails it is entirely up to them. WE haven’t told our people that they are valuable. I sometimes pass little boys playing in the road and I would stop my car and say to them: ‘Excuse me baby, do you realize how valuable you are? Do not play in the road, if anything happen to you that is going to hurt us. Because you might be our Prime Minister one day. Iris Adderley, consultant in the Disability Affairs Devision of The Department of Social Services.
— Drexel Deal, The Fight of My Life is Wrapped Up in My Father
Strive to be nurturing with yourself so you can be free!
— Deborah Day, BE HAPPY NOW!
Observing someone doesn't mean that you know them. Too many folks think they know you when they really don't know you.
— Werley Nortreus
one big problem and a great paradox in the arena of life is the problem of where or how a person is now and what, who and where he wants to be or have tomorrow. Had it not be this problem, we would have been relaxing all day long
— Ernest Agyemang Yeboah
She was so stupid. Such a stupid, stupid girl.For ever thinking she could be admired, adored, or noticed. For every thinking she could be anything at all.
— Marissa Meyer, Fairest
Exercising will builds esteem from within through action on one's own behalf; it disproves the premise that only another person can provide it. The result, long in coming and always worth the effort, is the experience of authentic agency in your own life, a sense of self that cannot be destroyed because it is not dependent on anyone else.
— Jeanne Safer, The Golden Condom: And Other Essays on Love Lost and Found
The actual confident man, the man truly sure of himself, is not he who esteems himself higher than others, but he who is sure enough that he can bear to esteem others higher than himself.
— Criss Jami
if you eat menand still feel like you’re starving, you’re craving something that they cannot give.
— K.Y. Robinson
We all have special attributes that are of value to someone. Find your place of value. You are never useless. You just need to find your place.
— Innocent Mwatsikesimbe, The Vision
Is there a price too great to pay for your own happiness? What is the price that you are willing to pay for your own happiness?
— Lenon Honor
Examine what you tolerate. What you put up with you end up with. What you allow continues. Reevaluate the costs and your worth.
— Karen Salmansohn
Your actions are viewed by observers through prisms shaped by their own interpretations, and sometimes misinterpretations. All you can do is strive to be your best self. Let the chips fall where they may.
— Cathryn Louis
In her mind, the ground rumbled and split open revealing the edge into a dark abyss. The shadows were always calling to her. Laughing at her. The familiar strains of loneliness flared under their torment. Drawing in a deep breath, she screamed to the black, “You’re not allowed to hurt me and know it!” Her voice echoed off the earthen walls and whispered back, “Be free. Be fearless.
— Jesikah Sundin, Transitions: Novella Collection
Yet there’s no one to beat you | No one t’ defeat you | ’Cept the thoughts of yourself feeling bad
— Bob Dylan, The Lyrics: 1961-2012
When you‟re taught from birth that you don‟t matter in any way, that your wants and even needs are irrelevant, then of course you‟ll struggle to value yourself.
— Danu Morrigan, You're Not Crazy - It's Your Mother! Understanding and Healing for Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers
Love yourself and that is all the love you need.
— Amit Abraham
I’m back there again, broken from being a champion,The boy that no one loved,The years I spent training like a method actor toBecome the man that everyone admired,But it means nothing, Like ashes on a forehead, they marked me inferior,When I was still young enough to receive it into the grain of my being
— Terrence Alonzo Craft, The Seed Bridge: Collected Poems
Most important, I hope you grow into a woman who loves herself. It is not an easy thing, self-love. It takes a lot of practice and time. But as a woman who is learning how to get there herself, I hope I can give that gift to you as you grow.
— Jodie Sweetin
Learn to love yourself.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
When I'd tell my mother about these women around me - and how sometimes I felt that I didn't measure up - she'd chastise me for getting sucked into their nonsense. 'How do you expect to get where you want to go if you're rubbernecking at everyone else along the way? Don't focus on what you wrongly perceive as your shortcomings.
— Holly Peterson, The Manny
We are not as important to most people as we are to ourselves. As a matter of fact, we are—to most people—not important at all.
— Mokokoma Mokhonoana
If we demand perfection from ourselves we are not living in the real world...The inherent problem in the relationship between the ideal & the real is that the ideal judges the real as unacceptable and brings down condemnation and wrath on the real. This sets up an adversarial relationship between the two and like all adversaries, they move further and further apart.
— Henry Cloud, Changes That Heal: How to Understand the Past to Ensure a Healthier Future
Empowered Women 101: If he can't tell other women that he is happily married and acts in a way that suggests he isn't fully committed then he isn't happy. He is keeping his foot in the door for a better opportunity should it not work out with you. Real women don't need to investigate. They invest in their self confidence and worth by not allowing their man to disrespect them. They are not afraid to ask themselves the tough questions: Why am I letting this man humiliate me and value me less than others? Why have I allowed myself to become a doormat?
— Shannon L. Alder
You deserve to be rich. You deserve to live a happy life. You deserve peace of mind. You deserve respect. You deserve loving relationships. And YES, it’s all possible.
— Maddy Malhotra, How to Build Self-Esteem and Be Confident: Overcome Fears, Break Habits, Be Successful and Happy
Her two outstanding characteristics were self-confidence and candor. The latter sometimes got her into hot water Durrance later told Charlotte, but the former kept it from scalding her.
— Olive Higgins Prouty
Begin to love thyself.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Because a shadow was a thing that defined itself, and Nettie didn't have to fit anyone else's shape.
— Lila Bowen, Wake of Vultures
Believe in thy soul!
— Lailah Gifty Akita
You cannot break me.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Sometimes I feel I am destined for greater things, and then again sometimes I suspect that I am just an extra in epic movie.
— Shon Mehta
Remind your bones that that dance inside something worthy
— Q. Gibson, The Flowering Woman: Becoming and Being
Some days I feel like my worth is being reevaluated every five minutes.
— Richelle E. Goodrich, Slaying Dragons
Intrapersonal communication is a reflection of your self-esteem.
— Asa Don Brown, Interpersonal Skills in the Workplace, Finding Solutions that Work
Self-rejection is the biggest sin that you commit
— Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
The reason most relationships fail isn’t because we haven’t found the right person. It’s because we haven’t found ourselves and we’re hoping someone can fill that void for us. They can’t. No one can. Self-love is and always will be a prerequisite to every happy romance.
— Vironika Tugaleva
When the world kicks your ass, don't step in line.book: stuff i think about
— Sondra Faye
The most empowering, important belief is the belief in yourself, your capabilities, your strength, your choice, and your most infinite, most divine, most beautiful worth.
— Connie Kerbs, Paths of Fear: An Anthology of Overcoming Through Courage, Inspiration, and the Miracle of Love
If our sense of self, our values and our ideals, do not originate from within - but are instead largely influenced, shaped or fashioned by celebrated characters - we fall under the spells of idol worship without realizing we have 'souled out'.
— T.F. Hodge, From Within I Rise: Spiritual Triumph Over Death and Conscious Encounters with "The Divine Presence"
Self-esteem is a barometer of your overall internal makeup.
— Asa Don Brown, Interpersonal Skills in the Workplace, Finding Solutions that Work
Your thoughts and words will either acquit or condemn you.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
It’s when you feel low about yourself, others actions and opinions will affect you. When you look at yourself as a confident person, it’s then; you’ll find the most peace and understanding, that it’s your world you have to live with not theirs.
— Ron Baratono
Why am I trying to be somebody? I am somebody.
— Eric Christopher Jackson
What you believe of yourself is what you will become.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Sacredness is spirituality.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Because that saying about sticks and stones is a pack of lies. Unkind words hurt more than anything else. You end up carrying them around in your head, wondering if they’re true. Bruises fade, but self-doubt follows you forever.
— Kate Lattey, Triple Bar
Self-esteem is important because it sets up a powerful cycle of personal growth and willingness to take risks.
— Ken  Jennings, The Serving Leader: Five Powerful Actions to Transform Your Team, Business, and Community
Discover how wonderful you are. Love who you are, with all your faults. Focus on the unique gifts you bring to the people around you, to the world. Making this a daily practice will shift your life.
— Eileen Anglin
It is essential to our health and happiness that we dedicate ourselves to some kind of mission or purpose that transcends the mundane hustle and bustle of daily living.
— Oli Anderson, Personal Revolutions: A Short Course in Realness
My competence is my complete confidence in Christ.
— Lailah Gifty Akita