147 Ultimate Self Esteem Quotes

You can not honestly care or love anyone else until you have learned to love yourself. We created this collection of self-esteem quotes and self-love quotes to help you feel happier with yourself.

When you love yourself and have high self-esteem, life becomes more manageable and seems more straightforward.

self esteem quotes

You tend to beat yourself up less and don’t overthink a situation that arises throughout your day.

With higher self-esteem, you stop the cycle of self-sabotage and putting yourself down. You won’t seek attention or the validation of others as much and become less needy.

Self-love and increased self-esteem will allow you to be happier and find strength when times are tough.

Often, how we speak to ourselves is how we see ourselves. It comes naturally to us to have negative thoughts, and learning to handle your negative thoughts positively takes time.

Also, check out our collections of Compassion QuotesQuotes About LightFinding Yourself Quotes, and Quotes About Believing in Yourself to help continue to lift and build you up.

Self Esteem Quotes

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.

Judy Garland
self esteem quotes 1

Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your hand-break on.

Maxwell Maltz | self-esteem quote
self-esteem quotes 2

Confidence is a habit that can be developed by acting as if you already had the confidence you desire to have.

Brian Tracy

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Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.

M. Scott Peck

Self-care is never a selfish act—it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others.

Parker Palmer | Self-care quotes
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Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.

Lucille Ball

Self-trust is the first secret of success.

Ralph Waldo Emerson | Self trust quotes
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Woman smiling with perfect smile and white teeth in a park and looking at camera

To love yourself right now, just as you are, is to give yourself heaven. Don’t wait until you die. If you wait, you die now. If you love, you live now.

Alan Cohen

Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.

Eleanor Roosevelt

I don’t want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did.

Henry James

Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself.

Robert Collier

The most important opinion you have is the one you have of yourself, and the most significant things you say all day are those things you say to yourself.

Unknown

Successful people have fear, successful people have doubts, and successful people have worries. They just don’t let these feelings stop them.

T. Harv Eker

The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself.

Mark Twain

To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.

Oscar Wilde | Love yourself quotes
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Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.

Marie Curie

Self Esteem Quotes To Boost Your Confidence

The strongest single factor in prosperity consciousness is self-esteem: believing you can do it, believing you deserve it, believing you will get it.

Jerry Gillies

If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.

Charles Bukowski

The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself.

Maya Angelou | Read more quotes by Maya Angelou

Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.

Oprah

The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself.

Melanie Koulouris

There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will be to treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity.

Nathaniel Branden

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

Buddha

You were not born a winner, and you were not born a loser. You are what you make yourself be.

Lou Holtz

When you adopt the viewpoint that there is nothing that exists that is not part of you, that there is no one who exists who is not part of you, that any judgment you make is self-judgment, that any criticism you level is self-criticism, you will wisely extend to yourself an unconditional love that will be the light of the world.

Harry Palmer

A healthy self-love means we have no compulsion to justify to ourselves or others why we take vacations, why we sleep late, why we buy new shoes, why we spoil ourselves from time to time. We feel comfortable doing things which add quality and beauty to life.

Andrew Matthews

Read More: Inspirational Girl Wash Your Face Quotes

If you don’t love yourself, nobody will. Not only that, you won’t be good at loving anyone else. Loving starts with the self.

Wayne Dyer

Loving yourself isn’t vanity. It’s sanity.

Katrina Mayer

Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the face.

Helen Keller

Inspirational Self Esteem Quotes About Building Confidence

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassions, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

I had to grow to love my body. I did not have a good self-image at first. Finally it occurred to me, I’m either going to love me or hate me. And I chose to love myself. Then everything kind of sprung from there. Things that I thought weren’t attractive became sexy. Confidence makes you sexy.

Queen Latifah

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

Mark Twain

I never loved another person the way I loved myself.

Mae West

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.

Golda Meir

You are blessed and highly favored.

Les Brown

The way you treat yourself sets the standard for others.

Dr. Sonya Friedman

If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.

Fred Rogers

Someone else’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality.

Les Brown

The tragedy is that so many people look for self-confidence and self-respect everywhere except within themselves, and so they fail in their search.

Dr. Nathaniel Branden

Believe in yourself up here and it will make you stronger than you could ever imagine.

Sarah Dessen

So then, the relationship of self to other is the complete realization that loving yourself is impossible without loving everything defined as other than yourself.

Alan Watts

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.

Dale Carnegie

Our self-respect tracks our choices. Every time we act in harmony with our authentic self and our heart, we earn our respect. It is that simple. Every choice matters.

Dan Coppersmith

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.

Sir Edmund Hillary

Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.

Malcolm S. Forbes

I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence but it comes from within. It is there all the time.

Anna Freud

You’ve been criticising yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.

Louise Hay

If I am not for myself, who will be?

Pirke Avoth

I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.

Frederick Douglass

The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.

Carl Gustav Jung

It ain’t what they call you, it’s what you answer to.

–W.C. Fields

Self Esteem Quotes To Make You Strong

If you doubt you can accomplish something, then you can’t accomplish it. You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.

Rosalyn Smith Carter

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.

Michel de Montaigne

Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.

Lao-Tzu

Your task is not to seek for Love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

Rumi | Read more Rumi Quotes

Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.

Peter T. McIntyre

Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstance.

Bruce Barton

Beauty begins the moment you decided to be yourself.

Coco Chanel

She lacks confidence, she craves admiration insatiably. She lives on the reflections of herself in the eyes of others. She does not dare to be herself.

Anais Nin

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.

Harvey Fierstein

There are so many more important things to worry about than how you’re perceived by strangers.

Dennis Lehane

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.

William James

One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.

Shannon L. Alder

Tell me how a person judges his or her self esteem and I will tell you how that person operates at work, in love, in sex, in parenting, in every important aspect of existence – and how high he or she is likely to rise. The reputation you have with yourself – your self-esteem – is the single most important factor for a fulfilling life.

Nathaniel Branden

Persons of high self esteem are not driven to make themselves superior to others; they do not seek to prove their value by measuring themselves against a comparative standard. Their joy is being who they are, not in being better than someone else.

Nathaniel Branden

Self-Love Quotes

At every given moment we are absolutely perfect for what is required for our journey.

Steve Maraboli

People may flatter themselves just as much by thinking that their faults are always present to other people’s minds, as if they believe that the world is always contemplating their individual charms and virtues.

Elizabeth Gaskell

My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.

Henry Ford

You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.

Louise L. Hay

We are each gifted in a unique and important way. It is our privilege and our adventure to discover our own special light.

Mary Dunbar

I don’t entirely approve of some of the things I have done, or am, or have been. But I’m me. God knows, I’m me.

Elizabeth Taylor

It took many years of vomiting up all the filth I’d been taught about myself, and half-believed before I was able to walk on the earth as though I had a right to be here.

James Baldwin

I think everybody’s weird. We should all celebrate our individuality and not be embarrassed or ashamed of it.

Johnny Depp

There is nothing noble about being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.

Hindu Proverb

When we fulfill our function, which is to truly love ourselves and share love with others, then true happiness sets in.

Gabrielle Bernstein

Your problem is you’re… too busy holding onto your unworthiness.

Ram Dass | See more Inspirational Quotes by Ram Dass

When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn’t healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits – anything that kept me small. My judgement called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving.

Kim McMillen

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.

Norman Vincent Peale

It is never too late to be what you might have been.

George Eliot

Build Your Self-Esteem

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson

Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.

Lucille Ball

To fall in love with yourself is the first secret to happiness.

Robert Morley | In love with yourself quotes

Once you embrace your value, talents and strengths, it neutralizes when others think less of you.

Rob Liano

One’s dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered.

Michael J. Fox

You have to believe in yourself when no one else does – that makes you a winner right here.

Venus Williams

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.

Helen Keller

Love is the great miracle cure. Loving ourselves works miracles in our lives.

Louise Hay

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

Carl Gustav Jung

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Be Compassionate To Yourself

I found in my research that the biggest reason people aren’t more self-compassionate is that they are afraid they’ll become self-indulgent. They believe self-criticism is what keeps them in line. Most people have gotten it wrong because our culture says being hard on yourself is the way to be.

Kristen Neff

Self-love is an ocean and your heart is a vessel. Make it full, and any excess will spill over into the lives of the people you hold dear. But you must come first.

Beau Taplin

It’s surprising how many persons go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely determined by their feelings toward themselves, and if you’re not comfortable within yourself, you can’t be comfortable with others.

Sidney J. Harris

Wouldn’t it be powerful if you fell in love with yourself so deeply that you would do just about anything if you knew it would make you happy? This is precisely how much life loves you and wants you to nurture yourself. The deeper you love yourself, the more the universe will affirm your worth. Then you can enjoy a lifelong love affair that brings you the richest fulfillment from inside out.

Alan Cohen

The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours – it is an amazing journey – and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.

Bob Moawad

Self-pity gets you nowhere. One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world making the most of one’s best.

Harry Emerson Fosdick

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we’ll ever do.

Brené Brown

Don’t rely on someone else for your happiness and self-worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can’t love and respect yourself – no one else will be able to make that happen. Accept who you are – completely; the good and the bad – and make changes as YOU see fit – not because you think someone else wants you to be different.

Stacey Charter

If you do not respect your own wishes, no one else will. You will simply attract people who disrespect you as much as you do.

Vironika Tugaleva

A person learns how to love himself through the simple acts of loving and being loved by someone else.

Haruki Murakami

Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious. You get to choose how you use it. You teach people how to treat you by deciding what you will and won’t accept.

Anna Taylor

Self-Love And Self-Esteem Quotes

People who want the most approval get the least and the people who need approval the least get the most.

Wayne Dyer

You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.

Eckhart Tolle

Did your mom ever tell you, ‘If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything’? She was right–and talking nicely also applies when you’re talking to yourself, even inside your head.

Victoria Moran

There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

Anaïs Nin

Love yourself and love those around you. Take care of yourself and take care of those around you. Lead by example. Give love. Be a part of everything that is great in the world, and in turn there is more love and greatness in the world! Change the world!

Jeffrey I. Moore

The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you but yourself.

Rita Mae Brown

Don’t waste your energy trying to change opinions … Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it.

Tina Fey

No other love no matter how genuine it is, can fulfill one’s heart better than unconditional self-love.

Edmond Mbiaka

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are days I drop words of comfort on myself like falling leaves and remember that it is enough to be taken care of by myself.

Brian Andreas

Confidence is knowing who you are and not changing it a bit because of someone’s version of reality is not your reality.

Shannon L. Alder

You can have anything you want if you are willing to give up the belief that you can’t have it.

Dr. Robert Anthony

Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one’s own sunshine.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.

Jean Shinoda Bolen

Self-Esteem Quotes To Make You Want To Smile

I am beginning to measure myself in strength, not pounds. Sometimes in smiles.

Laurie Halse Anderson

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

Howard Washington Thurman

Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

You’re always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company.

Diane Von Furstenberg

If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.

T. Harv Eker

It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else’s eyes.

Sally Field

Why should we worry about what others think of us, do we have more confidence in their opinions than we do our own?

Brigham Young

It’s all about falling in love with yourself and sharing that love with someone who appreciates you, rather than looking for love to compensate for a self-love deficit.

Eartha Kitt

The best lightning rod for your protection is your own spine.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Find the love you seek, by first finding the love within yourself. Learn to rest in that place within you that is your true home.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Growth begins when we start to accept our own weakness.

Jean Vanier

To accept ourselves as we are means to value our imperfections as much as our perfections.

Sandra Bierig

People who love themselves, don’t hurt other people. The more we hate ourselves, the more we want others to suffer.

Dan Pearce

At the core of your heart, you are perfect and pure. No one and nothing can alter that.

Amit Ray

If you aren’t good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you’ll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren’t even giving to yourself.

Barbara De Angelis

Trust Yourself Quotes

Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.

Benjamin Spock

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.

William James

To establish true self-esteem we must concentrate on our successes and forget about the failures and the negatives in our lives.

Denis Waitley

Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.

Roy T. Bennett

If you want to find the real competition, just look in the mirror. After awhile you’ll see your rivals scrambling for second place.

Criss Jami

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

The better you feel about yourself, the less you feel the need to show off.

Robert Hand

My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art.

Madonna

Lighten up on yourself. No one is perfect. Gently accept your humanness.

Deborah Day

Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.

André Gide

Listen to your heart above all other voices.

Marta Kagan

You are very powerful, provided you know how powerful you are.

Yogi Bhajan

The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment, it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone.

Orison Swett Marden

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.

Thomas Jefferson

Nobody holds a good opinion of a man who holds a low opinion of himself.

Anthony Trollope

When you stop living your life based on what others think of you real life begins. At that moment, you will finally see the door of self-acceptance opened.

Shannon L. Alder

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