Quotes about self-worth

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.

Forgive yourself for accepting less than you deserved. But don't do it again.

You glow differently when your confidence is fuelled by belief in yourself instead of validation from others.

The most creative act, is the act of creating yourself.

What a privilege it is to grow into someone I used to need.

Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.

I am not concerned that I have no place; I am concerned how I may fit myself for one. I am not concerned that I am not known; I seek to be worthy to be known.

He who is in love is wise and is becoming wiser, sees newly every time he looks at the object beloved, drawing from it with his eyes and his mind those virtues which it possesses.

If I am pressed to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because it was he; it was I.

We are, I know not how, double in ourselves, so that what we believe we do not believe, and cannot disengage ourselves from what we condemn.

I must also have a dark side if I am to be whole.

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

The important thing is not that people love you but that you are loving.

I wanted only to try to live in accord with the promptings which came from my true self. Why was that so very difficult?

Love does not entreat or demand. Love must have the strength to become certain within itself.

Whatever an enemy might do to an enemy, or a foe to a foe, the ill-directed mind can do to you even worse. Whatever a mother or father might do for you, the well-directed mind can do for you even better.

Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.

The more he does for others, the happier he is. The more he gives to others, the wealthier he is.

There is no worse sickness for the soul, O you who are proud, than this pretense of perfection.

I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.

Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value.

The greatest danger, that of losing one’s own self, may pass off as quietly as if it were nothing.

She believed she could, so she did.

You can't pour from an empty cup. Take care of yourself first.

You are allowed to take up space.

We accept the love we think we deserve.

Be gentle with yourself, you're doing the best you can.

You are not too much. You are exactly enough.

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.

In a world where you can be anything, be kind.

Your vibe attracts your tribe.

It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.

A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.

We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and call it love.

You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.

I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.

Whatever you are, be a good one.

Associate with people who are likely to improve you.

When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.

To venture causes anxiety, but not to venture is to lose one’s self.

Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage.

We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.

To be great is to be misunderstood.

Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.

I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.

I'd rather take coffee than compliments just now.

You are your best thing, Sethe.

Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.

I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.

You do not have to be good. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.

Women belong in all places where decisions are being made.

One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.

He is the Subject, he is the Absolute: she is the Other.

Integrity can indeed exist under the cover of all other vices except this one of hypocrisy.

I do not wish them to have power over men; but over themselves.

Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience.

Virtue can only flourish among equals.

I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.

Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself.

Good sense is the most fairly distributed thing in the world.

Man is but a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed.

All our dignity consists in thought.

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom.

It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.