115 Self-Esteem Boosting Quotes

In a world where self-doubt and uncertainty often creep into daily life, finding ways to boost your self-esteem can make all the difference. Words have the remarkable power to inspire, uplift, and transform our perspectives. That's why we've gathered an exceptional selection of 115 self-esteem boosting quotes to help you navigate moments of self-doubt and rediscover your inner strength. Each quote is a reminder of your inherent worth and potential, encouraging you to embrace self-love and confidence. Whether you’re seeking a daily mantra or a little extra encouragement, these quotes are here to remind you that you are capable, worthy, and deserving of all the good life has to offer.

1. “Remember, you have been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” - LOUISE L. HAY

2. “Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.” - Andre Gide

3. “I believe that love--not imitation--is the sincerest form of flattery. Your imitator thinks that you can be duplicated; your lover knows you can't.” - Marilyn Vos Savant

4. “You're always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company.” - Diane Von Furstenberg

5. “In youth, it was a way I had,To do my best to please.And change, with every passing ladTo suit his theories.But now I know the things I knowAnd do the things I do,And if you do not like me so,To hell, my love, with you.” - Dorothy Parker

6. “I've always been told my presence brightened up any room. One might think that went doubly for dank underground cell." (Jace)” - Cassandra Clare

7. “Don't try to fix me, I'm not broken...” - Evanescence

8. “Many Christians... find themselves defeated by the most psychological weapon that Satan uses against them. This weapon has the effectiveness of a deadly missile. Its name? Low self-esteem. Satan's greatest psychological weapon is a gut level feeling of inferiority, inadequacy, and low self-worth This feeling shackles many Christians, in spite of wonderful spiritual experiences and knowledge of God's Word. Although they understand their position as sons and daughters of God, they are tied up in knots, bound by a terrible feeling inferiority, and chained to a deep sense of worthlessness.” - David Seamands

9. “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

10. “Self-talk reflects your innermost feelings.” - Dr. Asa Don Brown

11. “At every given moment we are absolutely perfect for what is required for our journey.” - Steve Maraboli

12. “Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing.” - August Wilson

13. “I have no nostalgia for the patriarchy, please believe me. But what I have come to realize is that, when that patriarchic system was (rightfully) dismantled, it was not necessarily replaced by another form of protection. What I mean is--I never thought to ask a suitor the same challenging questions my father might have asked him, in a different age.” - Elizabeth Gilbert

14. “Everything that happens to you is a reflection of what you believe about yourself. We cannot outperform our level of self-esteem. We cannot draw to ourselves more than we think we are worth.” - Iyanla Vanzant

15. “For once, you believed in yourself. You believed you were beautiful and so did the rest of the world.” - Sarah Dessen

16. “But then the pastors and men of God can only be human,--cannot altogether be men of God; and so they have oppressed us, and burned us, and tortured us, and hence come to love palaces, and fine linen, and purple, and, alas, sometimes, mere luxury and idleness.” - Anthony Trollope

17. “We're miserable because we think that we are mere individuals, alone with our fears and flaws and resentment and mortality.” - Elizabeth Gilbert

18. “In your own life it's important to know how spectacular you are.” - Steve Maraboli

19. “Last time I talked to her she didn't sound like herself. She's depressed. It's awful what happens when people run out of money. They start thinking they're no good.” - Barbara Kingsolver

20. “Inside CriticsThe critical voices in our own heads are far more vicious than what we might hear from the outside. Our "inside critics" have intimate knowledge of us and can zero in on our weakest spots. You might be told by the critics that you're too fat, too old, too young, not intelligent enough, a quitter, not logical, prone to try too many things...It's all balderdash!Some elements of these may be true, and it's completely up to you how they affect you. Inside critics are really just trying to protect you. You can:Learn to dialogue with them.Give them new jobs.Turn them into allies.You can also dismantle/exterminate them.” - Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (SARK)

21. “When I loved myself enough, I let the tomboy in me swing off the rope in Jackass Canyon. Yes!” - Kim McMillen

22. “I’m nothing great. But I’m a rose… I’m a rose whether I’m admired or not, I’m a rose whether anyone’s crazy about me or not… Like I said, nothing great. Just a rose… But, do you know what it means to be a rose, my friend? Being a rose means ‘freedom.’ It means not existing by the praises of Others or not ceasing to exist by their disapproval.” - Serdar Özkan

23. “Good for you and be proud of yourself because you have your priorities in order. Be proud of yourself if you are responsible, reliable, persistent, and take your job and education seriously.” - Ana Monnar

24. “I see at intervals the glance of a curious sort of bird through the close set bars of a cage: a vivid, restless, resolute captive is there; were it but free, it would soar cloud-high.” - Charlotte Brontë

25. “As you become more aligned with the truth of who you are, the question of liking yourself goes away. It is a natural state of being.” - Rachel Andrews

26. “If "Manners maketh man," as someone saidThen he's the hero of the dayIt takes a man to suffer ignorance and smileBe yourself, no matter what they say."(Englishman in New York)” - Sting

27. “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

28. “I'm Dylan. I'm so cool. I want to date myself, but I don't know how! You want to date me instead? You're so lucky!” - Rick Riordan

29. “The articles were extremely eye-opening. Not just in Teen Vogue but in Seventeen and CosmoGirl as well. They were all about being yourself, staying natural, loving your body as is, and going green! The messages were the exact opposite of Vik and Viv's.Hmmmmm. Frankie turned to face the full-length mirror that was up against the yellow wardrobe. She opened her robe and examined her body. Fit, muscular, and exquisitely proportioned, she agreed with the magazines. So what if her skin was mint? Or her limbs were attached with seams? According to the magazines, which were - no offense! - way more in touch with the times than her parents were, she was suppose to love her body just the way it was. And she did! Therefor if the normies read magazines (which obviously they did, because they were in them), then they would love her, too. Natural was in.Besides she was Daddy's perfect little girl. And who didn't love perfect?” - Lisi Harrison

30. “Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.” - Marilyn Monroe

31. “I am beginning to measure myself in strength, not pounds. Sometimes in smiles.” - Laurie Halse Anderson

32. “When people speak of great men, they think of men like Napoleon - men of violence. Rarely do they think of peaceful men. But contrast the reception they will receive when they return home from their battles. Napoleon will arrive in pomp and in power, a man who's achieved the very summit of earthly ambition. And yet his dreams will be haunted by the oppressions of war. William Wilberforce, however, will return to his family, lay his head on his pillow and remember: the slave trade is no more.” - Charles Fox

33. “Self-esteem is the reputation we acquire with ourselves.” - Nathaniel Branden

34. “If you want me, you'll have to earn me. And, mister, I don't come cheap.” - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

35. “When our feet talk to us, we listen.” - Alexander Nestoiter

36. “You are the hybrids of golden worlds and ages splendidly conceived.” - Aberjhani

37. “Did I love what I was doing, or did I love myself in doing it?” - C. Terry Warner

38. “A failure is always in the passenger seat in his or her life.” - Stephen Richards

39. “We are exactly what our history made us to be.” - Stephen Richards

40. “If someone does not consider those around them to be valuable and hold only themselves in high regard, they too have a very bad self-esteem.” - Stephen Richards

41. “Thank you very Much, I enjoyed myself” - Richard P. Feynman

42. “Do we take less pride in the possession of our home because its walls were built by some unknown carpenter, its tapestries woven by some unknown weaver on a far Oriental shore, in some antique time? No. We show our home to our friends with the pride as if it were our home, which it is. Why then should we take less pride when reading a book written by some long-dead author? Is it not our book just as much, or even more so, than theirs? So the landowner says, ‘Look at my beautiful home! Isn’t it fine?’ And not, ‘Look at the home so-and-so has built.’ Thus we shouldn’t cry, ‘Look what so-and-so has written. What a genius so-and-so is!’ But rather, ‘Look at what I have read! Am I not a genius? Have I not invented these pages? The walls of this universe, did I not build? The souls of these characters, did I not weave?” - Roman Payne

43. “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

44. “We are trapped here up on this wall by an evil beyond comprehension. It is here that we are damned to remain for all eternity, under the grime of centuries, beyond time. When even the paint falls off and these prison-canvases are bare again… well, then we are in limbo,” the poor man opened his eyes wide giving them a ghostly look.” - Nathalie M. Leblanc

45. “One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.” - Shannon L. Alder

46. “Never let the opinion of another affect your opinion of yourself.” - Teresa Mummert

47. “There was a time I stopped talking, just like you. My reasons were a little bit different, but... I think the feelings of being ashamed of myself and hating myself... are the same. Here it says "to like yourself." What does that mean? Good things---how are you supposed to find them? I only know things that I hate about myself. Because that's all I know: I hate myself. Even if your force yourself to find good things... it feels so empty. It doesn't work that way. People like your teacher just don't get it.I think... when you hear someone say they like you for the first time... then you can begin to like yourself. I think when someone accepts you for the first time... you feel like you can forgive yourself a little. You can begin to face your fears.~Yuki” - Natsuki Takaya

48. “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked” (Luke 6:35).” - Michele Woolley

49. “"...we’re all fucking Duffs.” (Designated Ugly Fat Friend)“I’m not the Duff,” Wesley said confidently.“That’s because you don’t have friends.” (Bianca)“Oh. Right.”” - Kody Keplinger

50. “Most urgently, women's identity must be premised upon our "beauty" so that we will remain vulnerable to outside approval, carrying the vital sensitive organ of self-esteem exposed to the air.” - Naomi Wolf

51. “Eating is not a crime. It’s not a moral issue. It’s normal. It’s enjoyable. It just is.” - Carrie Arnold

52. “Even the models we see in magazines wish they could look like their own images.” - Cheri K. Erdman

53. “In drawing attention to the physical characteristics of women leaders, they can be dismissed as either too pretty or too ugly. The net effect is to prevent women's identification with the issues. If the public women is stigmatized as too 'pretty,' she's a threat, a rival--or simply not serious; if derided as too 'ugly,' one risks tarring oneself with the same brush by identifying oneself with her agenda.” - Naomi Wolf

54. “Vogue began to focus on the body as much as on the clothes, in part because there was little they could dictate with the anarchic styles...In a stunning move, an entire replacement culture was developed by naming a 'problem' where it had scarcely existed before, centering it on the women's natural state, and elevating it to the existential female dilemma...The number of diet-related articles rose 70 percent from 1968 to 1972...The lucrative 'transfer of guilt' was resurrected just in time.” - Naomi Wolf

55. “The stronger that women grow, the more prestige, fame, and money is accorded to the display professions: They are held higher and higher above the heads of rising women, for them to emulate.” - Naomi Wolf

56. “Women are mere "beauties" in men's culture so that culture can be kept male. When women in culture show character, they are not desirable, as opposed to the desirable. A beautiful heroine is a contradiction in terms, since heroism is about individuality, interesting and ever changing, while "beauty" is generic, boring, and inert. While culture works out moral dilemmas, "beauty" is amoral: If a woman is born resembling an art object, it is an accident of nature, a fickle consensus of mass perception, a peculiar coincidence--but it is not a moral act. From the "beauties" in male culture, women learn a bitter amoral lesson--that the moral lessons of their culture exclude them.” - Naomi Wolf

57. “When our emotional health is in a bad state, so is our level of self-esteem. We have to slow down and deal with what is troubling us, so that we can enjoy the simple joy of being happy and at peace with ourselves.” - Jess C. Scott

58. “Women who love themselves are threatening; but men who love real women, more so.” - Naomi Wolf

59. “Sexual satisfaction eases the stranglehold of materialism, since status symbols no longer look sexual, but irrelevant. Product lust weakens where emotional and sexual lust intensifies. The price we pay for artificially buoying up this market is our heart's desire. The beauty myth keeps a gap of fantasy between men and women. That gap is made with mirrors; no law of nature supports it. It keeps us spending vast sums of money and looking distractedly around us, but its smoke and reflection interfere with our freedom to be sexually ourselves.” - Naomi Wolf

60. “When [beauty pornography is] aimed at men, its effect is to keep them from finding peace in sexual love. The fleeting chimera of the airbrushed centerfold, always receding before him, keeps the man destabilized in pursuit, unable to focus on the beauty of the woman--known, marked, lined, familiar—-who hands him the paper every morning.” - Naomi Wolf

61. “Aren't fairy godmothers supposed to be nice and make you feel better about yourself?...No, you're confusing fairy godmothers with sales clerks.” - Janette Rallison

62. “The surgeons are playing on the myth's double standard for the function of the body. A man's thigh is for walking, but a woman's is for walking and looking "beautiful." If women can walk but believe our limbs look wrong, we feel that our bodies cannot do what they are meant to do; we feel as genuinely deformed and disabled as the unwilling Victorian hypochondriac felt ill.” - Naomi Wolf

63. “Men are visually aroused by women's bodies and less sensitive to their arousal by women's personalities because they are trained early into that response, while women are less visually aroused and more emotionally aroused because that is their training. This asymmetry in sexual education maintains men's power in the myth: They look at women's bodies, evaluate, move on; their own bodies are not looked at, evaluated, and taken or passed over. But there is no "rock called gender" responsible for that; it can change so that real mutuality--an equal gaze, equal vulnerability, equal desire--brings heterosexual men and women together.” - Naomi Wolf

64. “Modern cosmetic surgeons have a direct financial interest in a social role for women that requires them to feel ugly. They do not simply advertise for a share of a market that already exists: Their advertisements create new markets. It is a boom industry because it is influentially placed to create its own demand through the pairing of text with ads in women's magazines. The industry takes out ads and gets coverage; women get cut open. They pay their money and they takes their chances. As surgeons grow richer, they are able to command larger and brighter ad spaces.” - Naomi Wolf

65. “What becomes of a man who acquires a beautiful woman, with her "beauty" his sole target? He sabotages himself. He has gained no friend, no ally, no mutual trust: She knows quite well why she has been chosen. He has succeeded in buying something: the esteem of other men who find such an acquisition impressive.” - Naomi Wolf

66. “Health makes good propaganda.” - Naomi Wolf

67. “Never," enjoins a women's magazine, "mention the size of his [penis] in public...and never, ever let him know that anyone else knows or you may find it shrivels up and disappears, serving you right." That quotation acknowledges that critical sexual comparison is a direct anaphrodisiac when applied to men; either we do not yet recognize that it has exactly the same effect on women, or we do not care, or we understand on some level that right now that effect is desirable and appropriate.A man is unlikely to be brought within earshot of women as they judge men's appearance, height, muscle tone, sexual technique, penis size, personal grooming, or taste in clothes--all of which we do. The fact is that women are able to view men just as men view women, as objects for sexual and aesthetic evaluation; we too are effortlessly able to choose the male "ideal" from a lineup and if we could have male beauty as well as everything else, most of us would not say no. But so what? Given all that, women make the choice, by and large, to take men as human beings first.” - Naomi Wolf

68. “What editors are obliged to appear to say that men want from women is actually what their advertisers want from women.” - Naomi Wolf

69. “The price tag you put on yourself decides your worth. Underestimating yourself will cost you dearly.” - Apoorve Dubey

70. “Real self-worth comes from mastery, from getting good at something. It doesn't matter what. Then you don't have to worry about empty compliments. You don't worry about what other people think. You have self-respect.” - Albert Borris

71. “The diet industry is making a lot of money selling us fad diets, nonfat foods full of chemicals, gym memberships, and pills while we lose a piece of our self-esteem every time we fail another diet or neglect to use the gym membership we could barely afford.” - Portia De Rossi

72. “The first and most important person you must believe in is yourself.” - Toni Sorenson

73. “I have to figure out why I worked at a job I hated for years. I have to find out why I can’t see what everyone else sees in me. I don’t feel beautiful. When I look in the mirror, I never saw beautiful. For this to happen to someone like me, it’s devastating, Jonas. I don’t want you to think it’s vanity, it isn’t. I can’t see me and I need to be able to do that. I need to find out what I’m like and what I want. I have to be comfortable in my own skin before I can be in a relationship the way you want.” - Christine Feehan

74. “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 Francis-Cheung

75. “Though the funny thing about never being asked for anything is that after a while you start to feel like maybe you don’t have anything worth giving.” - Lev Grossman

76. “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

77. “You will be your best self when you take time to understand what you really need, feel and want.” - Deborah Day

78. “The goal is to learn to be nurturing with yourself so you can feel free.” - Deborah Day

79. “The best lightning rod for your protection is your own spine.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

80. “If you always try to measure yourself withmoney... well, it's like counting backwards, the more youkeep on, the less you'll have to show for it.” - Steven J. Carroll

81. “Perhaps the most extraordinary popular delusion about violence of the past quarter-century is that it is caused by low self-esteem. That theory has been endorsed by dozens of prominent experts, has inspired school programs designed to get kids to feel better about themselves, and in the late 1980s led the California legislature to form a Task Force to Promote Self-Esteem. Yet Baumeister has shown that the theory could not be more spectacularly, hilariously, achingly wrong. Violence is a problem not of too little self-esteem but of too much, particularly when it is unearned.” - Steven Pinker

82. “Whatever one does, someone is always happy...then again, someone else is not pleased” - ArLeaBelle

83. “Self-pity is the most destructive of all narcotics.” - Sebastian Horsley

84. “Do the things that interest you and do them with all your heart. Don't be concerned about whether people are watching you or criticizing you. The chances are that they aren't paying any attention to you. It's your attention to yourself that is so stultifying. But you have to disregard yourself as completely as possible. If you fail the first time then you'll just have to try harder the second time. After all, there's no real reason why you should fail. Just stop thinking about yourself.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

85. “True beauty radiates not from outer cosmetics, but from the simple joy of making a difference for those that need your voice, passion, and time without expecting or wanting anything in return...” - Deborah Barnes

86. “The secret to your purpose is to find what you feel is important, and not pursue what others would think is important. When you think highly of yourself, me thinking highly of you will never be enough!” - Shannon L. Alder

87. “A low self-image is usually not based upon facts; it's mismanaged memory.” - Orrin Woodward

88. “Pain, too, comes from depths that cannot be revealed. We do not know whether those depths are in ourselves or elsewhere, in a graveyard, in a scarcely dug grave, only recently inhabited by withered flesh. This truth, which is banal enough, unravels time and the face, holds up a mirror to me in which I cannot see myself without being overcome by a profound sadness that undermines one's whole being. The mirror has become the route through which my body reaches that state, in which it is crushed into the ground, digs a temporary grave, and allows itself to be drawn by the living roots that swarm beneath the stones. It is flattened beneath the weight of that immense sadness which few people have the privilege of knowing. So I avoid mirrors.” - Tahar Ben Jelloun

89. “There are so many more important things to worry about than how you're perceived by strangers.” - Dennis Lehane

90. “Being human makes us one. Be uniquely ourselves makes us individual." - Nancy S. Mure, Author of Unidentical Twins” - Nancy S. Mure

91. “Piper had a new entry in her top-ten list of Times Piper Felt Useless. Fighting Shrimpzilla with a dagger and a pretty voice? Not so effective.” - Rick Riordan

92. “The most incredible architectureIs the architecture of Self,which is ever changing, evolving, revolving and has unlimited beauty and light inside which radiates outwards for everyone to see and feel. With every in breatheyou are adding to your lifeand every out breathe you are releasing what is not contributing to your life.Every breathe is a re-birth.” - Allan Rufus

93. “Be yourself, you're already fully equipped to succeed at that.” - Rob Liano

94. “Image is everything, self image that is.” - Rob Liano

95. “In essence, you are neither inferior nor superior to anyone. True self-esteem and true humility arise out of that realization. In the eyes of the ego, self-esteem and humility are contradictory. In truth, they are one and the same.” - Eckhart Tolle

96. “I naively believe that self-love is 80 percent of the solution, that it helps beyond words to take yourself through the day as you would with your most beloved mental-patient relative, with great humor and lots of small treats.” - Anne Lamott

97. “The way you think about yourself determines your reality. You are not being hurt by the way people think about you. Many of those people are a reflection of how you think about yourself.” - Shannon L. Alder

98. “The most stable, and therefore, the most healthy self-esteem is based on deserved respect from others rather than on external fame or celebrity and unwarranted adulation.” - Abraham Maslow

99. “Life is like a game of chess.To win you have to make a move.Knowing which move to make comes with IN-SIGHTand knowledge, and by learning the lessons that areacculated along the way.We become each and every piece within the game called life!” - Allan Rufus

100. “You cannot wish for happiness but you can work towards your life goals and create lasting happiness.” - Dr Roopleen

101. “Believe in yourself. Under-confidence leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy that you are not good enough for your work.” - Dr Roopleen

102. “Celebrating your achievements and applauding your triumphs is a sure way to refuel your enthusiasm and keep yourself motivated for your future endeavours.” - Dr Roopleen

103. “Extra miles, extensive preparation and exhaustive efforts usually show astonishing results.” - Dr Roopleen

104. “There is nothing in this world that you cannot do. Every goal is achievable. You just need to focus on your objectives, be persistent in your efforts and work hard to make it happen. There can be no hurdle uncrossable, no obstacle invincible and no stumbling block insurmountable.” - Dr Roopleen

105. “I don't know anyone who remembers meeting their parents when they were a baby so i'm just like everybody else. -Zoey (100% Real)” - Tara Michener

106. “Genuine self-acceptance is not derived from the power of positive thinking, mind games or pop psychology. IT IS AN ACT OF FAITH in the God of grace.” - Brennan Manning

107. “Don't be so defensive and afraid to be proven wrong that you miss the opportunity to learn from your mistakes.” - Karen E. Quinones Miller

108. “Only those few who are able to surpass their fear of death completely can fully experience the highest forms of life; not the mundane life of the mortal, but the godly life of the resurrected.” - Zeena Schreck

109. “When it comes to your self-esteem, it is best not to value the opinions of deluded psychopaths.” - Rosen Trevithick

110. “There's something AMAZING about you. You owe it to yourself to fulfill your destiny. You were put on earth for a reason. Don't betray yourself because of other people opinions of who you should be. God has already implanted within you who you MEANT to be. Trust your gut instincts.” - Yvonne Pierre

111. “I'd been through so much, falling short again and again, and only recently had found a place where who I was, right now, was enough.” - Sarah Dessen

112. “Sometimes people with low self-esteem will try to punish you for caring about them.” - Wayne Gerard Trotman

113. “If you have realistic ideals and can generally live up to them, your self-esteem will not be threatened. If your ideals are exaggerated and you cannot reach them, your good feelings from successes may be short lived, and you may feel that you are never good enough.The continued hope for the impossible, the expectation that you will or can be unconditionally loved and adored, is not facing reality but rather holding onto an idealized image of yourself and an idealized version of what others can provide. If this is the case, your sense of self may be threatened by shame and its resulting depression, or by feelings of inadequacy for not living up to your unrealistic ideals. A better understanding of shame may help you recognize your tendency to hide what you feel from yourself and others.” - Mary C. Lamia

114. “You've been criticising yourself for years and it hasn't worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” - Louise Hay

115. “Appreciate the things and people in your life while remaining independent of them. Give thanks for them, but realize that they do not complete you. Only you can complete you.” - Serenity Rey