Nathaniel Branden

"The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance."

- Nathaniel Branden

"Of all the judgments we pass in life, none is more important than the judgment we pass on ourselves."

- Nathaniel Branden

"Self-respect tends to inspire respect from others."

- 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

"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

"Self-acceptance is my refusal to be in an adversarial relationship to myself."

- Nathaniel Branden

"As you grow in self-esteem, your face, manner, way of talking and moving will tend naturally to project the pleasure you take in being alive."

- Nathaniel Branden

"Self-esteem is a powerful force within each of us... Self-esteem is the experience that we are appropriate to life and to the requirements of life."

- Nathaniel Branden

"Productive achievement is a consequence and an expression of health and self-esteem, not its cause."

- Nathaniel Branden