100+ Inspirational Quotes to Boost Your Self-Esteem and Confidence

"Never dull your shine for somebody else."

- Tyra Banks

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Believe you can and you're halfway there."

- Theodore Roosevelt

"To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance."

- Oscar Wilde

"Life is tough, my darling, but so are you."

- Stephanie Bennett Henry

"Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

- Christopher Robin

"If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life. With confidence, you have won even before you have started."

- Cicero

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive and do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style."

- Maya Angelou

"Life is tough, but so are you."

- Carmi Grau

"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

"Self-esteem is made up primarily of two things: feeling lovable and feeling capable."

- Jack Canfield

"Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle."

- Christian D. Larson

"Self-worth comes from one thing—thinking that you are worthy."

- Wayne Dyer

"Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment."

- Thomas Carlyle

"You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody."

- Maya Angelou

"…if there’s one thing I’m willing to bet on, it’s myself."

- Beyoncé

"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

"Your success will be determined by your own confidence and fortitude."

- Michelle Obama

"You are valuable simply because you exist. Not because of what you do or what you have done, but simply because you are."

- Max Lucado

"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

"You were born an original. Don’t die a copy."

- John Mason

"You are your best thing."

- Toni Morrison

"You are loved just for being who you are, just for existing. You don't have to do anything to earn it. Your shortcomings, your lack of self-esteem, physical perfection, or social and economic success - none of that matters. No one can take this love away from you, and it will always be here."

- Ram Dass

"You are enough, a thousand times enough."

- Atticus

"Always be yourself–express yourself, have faith in yourself. Do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it."

- Bruce Lee

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

- Nathaniel Branden

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

- Nathaniel Branden

"The first place where self-esteem begins its journey is within us."

- Stephen Richards

"Self respect, self worth and self love, all start with self. Stop looking outside of yourself for your value."

- Rob Liano

"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

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

- Louise L. Hay

"Self-esteem and self-love are the opposites of fear; the more you like yourself, the less you fear anything."

- Brian Tracy

"Stop trying to "fix" yourself; you're NOT broken! You are perfectly imperfect and powerful beyond measure."

- Steve Maraboli

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

- Buddha

"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. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. 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

"Accept who you are, and revel in it."

- Mitch Albom

"Believe deep down in your heart that you’re destined to do great things."

- Joe Paterno

"Accept yourself as you are. Otherwise you will never see opportunity. You will not feel free to move toward it; you will feel you are not deserving."

- Maxwell Maltz

"Well, we all know that self-esteem comes from what you think of you, not what other people think of you."

- Gloria Gaynor

"To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself."

- Thich Nhat Hanh

"The most beautiful thing you can wear is confidence."

- Blake Lively

"I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself."

- Charlotte Brontë

"You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection."

- Sharon Salzberg

"Love yourself unconditionally, just as you love those closest to you despite their faults."

- Les Brown

"Just believe in yourself. Even if you don’t, pretend that you do, and at some point, you will."

- Venus Williams

"Self-worth comes from one thing - thinking that you are worthy."

- Wayne Dyer

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

- Maxwell Maltz

"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are."

- Kurt Cobain

"The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself."

- Mark Twain

"When you're different, sometimes you don't see the millions of people who accept you for what you are. All you notice is the person who doesn't."

- Jodi Picoult

"That's what real love amounts to - letting a person be what he really is. Most people love you for who you pretend to be. To keep their love, you keep pretending - performing. You get to love your pretence. It's true, we're locked in an image, an act - and the sad thing is, people get so used to their image, they grow attached to their masks. They love their chains. They forget all about who they really are. And if you try to remind them, they hate you for it, they feel like you're trying to steal their most precious possession."

- Jim Morrison

"It is an absolute human certainty that no one can know his own beauty or perceive a sense of his own worth until it has been reflected back to him in the mirror of another loving, caring human being."

- John Joseph Powell

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

- Michel de Montaigne

"The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone."

- Ayn Rand

"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

"Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends."

- Author-Poet Aberjhani

"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

"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

"Accept who you are; and revel in it."

- Mitch Albom

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

- Robert Hand

"Self-confidence is contagious."

- Stephen Richards

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

- Anna Freud

"The fundamental problem most patients have is an inability to love themselves, having been unloved by others during some crucial part of their lives."

- Bernie S. Siegel

"When people believe in themselves they have the first secret of success."

- Norman Vincent Peale

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

- Yogi Bhajan

"Believing in our hearts that who we are is enough is the key to a more satisfying and balanced life."

- Ellen Sue Sterm

"You’re not free, unless you come to the place where you have nothing to prove."

- Joyce Meyer

"Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have."

- Doris Mortman

"Most fears of rejection rest on the desire for approval from other people. Don't base your self-esteem on their opinions."

- Harvey Mackay

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

- Malcolm S. Forbes

"It's not what you are that holds you back, It's what you think you're not."

- Denis Waitley

"All things splendid have been achieved by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance."

- Bruce Barton

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

- Peter T. McIntyre

"We have to learn to be our own best friends because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies."

- Roderick Thorp

"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."

- Edmund Hillary

"They are the weakest, however strong, who have no faith in themselves or their own powers."

- Christian Bovee

"If you doubt yourself, then indeed you stand on shaky ground."

- Henrik Ibsen

"It's me who is my enemy. Me who beats me up. Me who makes the monsters. Me who strips my confidence."

- Paula Cole

"By being yourself, you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before."

- Edwin Elliot

"You are as amazing as you let yourself be. Let me repeat that. You are as amazing as you let yourself be."

- Elizabeth Alraune

"So long as you are still worried about what others think of you, you are owned by them. Only when you require no approval from outside yourself can you own yourself."

- Neale Donald Walsch

"I have an everyday religion that works for me. Love yourself first, and everything else falls into line."

- Lucille Ball

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

- Albert Einstein

"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

"When I loved myself enough, I no longer needed things or people to make me feel safe."

- Kim McMillen

"Putting someone down with name calling reveals your own low self-esteem."

- Stephen Richards

"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

"A diamond doesn't start out polished and shining. It once was nothing special, but with enough pressure and time, becomes spectacular. I'm that diamond."

- Solange Nicole

"Do you know God loves you? He really does. To Him, you're perfect, absolutely perfect. You always have been."

- Nikki Rosen

"People settle for so much less because they find their identities in the world's fickle and untrue opinions. God made you royal with His blood. Live."

- Lacey Sturm

"Contrary to popular thinking, being worthy isn't something you earn, it's something you recognize."

- Mike Dooley

"You alone are the judge of your worth and your goal is to discover infinite worth in yourself"

- Deepak Chopra

"The most destructive thing we can possibly do in life is to make another person doubt his worth and identity as a child of God. The very most productive thing we can do is to help ourselves and others realize that as children of God, our worth is infinite."

- Toni Sorenson

"Dare to love yourself, as if you were a rainbow, with gold at both ends."

- Aberjhani

"You are one thing only. You are a Divine Being. An all-powerful Creator. You are a Deity in jeans and a t-shirt, and within you dwells the infinite wisdom of the ages and the sacred creative force of All that is, will be and ever was."

- Anthon St. Maarte

"Ye are gods"

- Jesus

"If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are."

- Mother Teresa

"We are like the little branch that quivers during a storm, doubting our strength and forgetting we are the tree - deeply rooted to withstand all of life's upheavals."

- Dodinsky

"I wish I could show you, When you are lonely or in darkness, The astonishing light of your own being."

- Hafiz

"You are much deeper, much broader, much brighter than any idea you could have of yourself."

- Harry Palmer

"Know that you yourself are a miracle."

- Norman Vincent Peale

"Opening the door to self-respect is a key of happiness."

- Charles Glassman

"Your worth consists in what you are, and not in what you have. What you are will show in what you do."

- Thomas Davidson

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

- Tina Fey

"You teach people how to treat you by what you allow, what you stop, and what you reinforce."

- Tony Gaskins Jr.

"If you value yourself, you understand that you are a gift to anyone you meet."

- Rhonda Britten

"The moment you feel you have to prove your worth to someone is the moment to absolutely and utterly walk away."

- Alysia Harris

"Self-love is the source of all our other loves."

- Yung Pueblo

"You are not what you’ve done. You are what you keep doing."

- Jack Butcher

"You are the only person on Earth who can use your ability."

- Zig Ziglar

"The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it."

- J. M. Barrie

"As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit"

- e e cummings

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

- Tina Fey

"To overcome fear is the quickest way to gain your self-confidence."

- Roy T. Bennett

"She remembered who she was and the game changed."

- Lalah Delia

"If my mind can conceive it, My heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it!"

- Jesse Jackson

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

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I’m going to keep showing up as my best self and stay focused on my own path. That’s how I know I’ll win."

- @bossbabe

"Make no comparisons. Keep your head down and do your own thing."

- Torrie Asai

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear."

- Mark Twain

"I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship."

- Louisa May Alcott

"If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves."

- Thomas Alva Edison

"Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot."

- Truman Capote

"If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem."

- Abraham Lincoln

"It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves."

- Sir Edmund Hillary

"If we get our self-esteem from superficial places, from our popularity, appearance, business success, financial situation, health, any of these, we will be disappointed, because no one can guarantee that we'll have them tomorrow."

- Kathy Ireland

"Adversity, and perseverance and all these things can shape you. They can give you a value and a self-esteem that is priceless."

- Scott Hamilton

"If we focus on our health, including our inner health, our self-esteem, and how we look at ourselves and our confidence level, we'll tend to be healthier people anyway, we'll tend to make better choices for our lives, for our bodies, we'll always be trying to learn more, and get better as time goes on."

- Queen Latifah

"Self-esteem is the greatest sickness known to man or woman because it's conditional."

- Albert Ellis

"Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion."

- Henry David Thoreau

"Be the winner in your life!"

- Tae Yun Kim

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

- Rita Mae Brown

"By creating so many illusory images of physical perfection, whether on store aisles or storefront ads, magazine covers or TV shows, we speak more to the profit margins of companies than the self-esteem of today's girls."

- Adora Svitak

"Altruism raises your mood because it raises your self-esteem, which increases happiness. Plus, giving to others gets you outside of yourself and distracts you from your problems."

- Karen Salmansohn

"Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option."

- Mark Twain

"When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you."

- Winston S. Churchill

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

- Sally Field

"You have no control over other people’s taste, so focus on staying true to your own."

- Tim Gunn

"Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory."

- Arthur Ashe

"I have said many times: We have self-esteem or don't, based on how we were raised! Self-esteem is normally produced in your first 7-8 years of life."

- Dan Pena

"I struggled with self-esteem issues as a young girl, and it was not until my gymnastics career was completed in 2000 that I realized my accomplishments would not have been possible without my type of body, and I finally started to appreciate and celebrate myself."

- Dominique Dawes

"Humor comes from self-confidence."

- Rita Mae Brown

"Our dependency makes slaves out of us, especially if this dependency is a dependency of our self-esteem. If you need encouragement, praise, pats on the back from everybody, then you make everybody your judge."

- Fritz Perls

"I don't have to look for love, because I am love."

- Euphoria Godsent

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

- W.C. Fields

"One of the things you're supposed to hold and be able to develop is divine pride, and learning to distinguish that from egoic pride is extremely important, and once you actually figure that out that's graduation."

- Ken Wilber

"Accept your humanness as well as your divinity, totally and without reserve."

- Emmanuel

"Rewriting the negative beliefs you have learned is the essence of becoming the director of your life."

- Deborah Day

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

- Hindu Proverb

"The key to life is accepting challenges. Once someone stops doing this, he's dead."

- Bette Davis

"Self doubt is the brother of shame."

- Erik Erikson

"Being comfortable with who you are is the ultimate threat."

- Sean Beaudoin

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

- Johnny Depp

"Be kinder to yourself, and celebrate little wins."

- Charlotte, The Fringe of It

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm."

- Winston Churchill

"Great tranquillity of heart is his who cares for neither praise nor blame."

- Thomas à Kempis

"You sometimes lose by taking risks, but you always lose by holding back."

- Rachel Wolchin

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all."

- Helen Keller

"Let's remember that our children's spirits are more important than any material things. When we do, self-esteem and love blossoms and grows more beautifully than any bed of flowers ever could."

- Jack Canfield

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

- Michael J. Fox

"There is no magic cure, no making it all go away forever. There are only small steps upward; an easier day, an unexpected laugh, a mirror that doesn't matter anymore."

- Laurie Halse Anderson

"You cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with."

- Wayne Dyer

"It's not my responsibility to be beautiful. I'm not alive for that purpose. My existence is not about how desirable you find me."

- Warsan Shire

"You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down."

- Toni Morrison

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."

- Edward Everett Hale

"In youth, it was a way I had, To do my best to please. And change, with every passing lad To suit his theories. But now I know the things I know And do the things I do, And if you do not like me so, To hell, my love, with you."

- Dorothy Parker

"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

"Why should I care what other people think of me? I am who I am. And who I wanna be."

- Avril Lavigne

"Jealousy is the result one’s lack of self-confidence, self-worth, and self-acceptance."

- Sasha Azevedo

"Every woman that finally figured out her worth, has picked up her suitcases of pride and boarded a flight to freedom, which landed in the valley of change."

- Shannon L. Alder

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

- Sally Field

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

- William James

"Every word, facial expression, gesture, or action on the part of a parent gives the child some message about self-worth. It is sad that so many parents don't realize what messages they are sending."

- Virginia Satir

"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

"Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom."

- Aristotle

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

- Laurie Halse Anderson

"When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself."

- Wayne Dyer

"He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away."

- Raymond Hull

"Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish."

- Sam Walton

"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment."

- Lao Tzu

"Come home to yourself."

- Robin Casarjean

"Consciousness dwells in you, as you."

- Swami Vivekananda

"Social media websites are no longer performing an envisaged function of creating a positive communication link among friends, family and professionals. It is a veritable battleground, where insults fly from the human quiver, damaging lives, destroying self-esteem and a person's sense of self-worth."

- Anthony Carmona

"Consciousness is closer to you then you are to yourself."

- Meister Eckhart

"Never was there anything outside of you. Never shall there be. The infinite expressed, a celebration to discover, YOU are the ONE."

- Harry Palmer

"Every new adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem."

- Eric Hoffer

"Whenever you are self-conscious you are simply showing that you are not conscious of the true Self at all."

- Osho

"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience."

- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

"Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are."

- Chinese proverb

"What we are looking for is what is looking."

- St. Francis of Assisi

"Your burden is of false self-identifications—abandon them all."

- Nisargadatta Maharaj

"I'm very passionate about the use of sports in young people's lives to build self-esteem and self-discipline and self-confidence. It's been a big thing for me."

- Ed Skrein

"Both of my girls have very high self-esteem because they were both able to master certain things; I should think that's good for their confidence."

- Amy Chua

"I think if you exercise, your state of mind - my state of mind - is usually more at ease, ready for more mental challenges. Once I get the physical stuff out of the way it always seems like I have more calmness and better self-esteem."

- Stone Gossard

"I like to work. The self-esteem and satisfaction that I get from working makes me a better person, which makes me a better mom. I feel lucky because I have the luxury of working only one or two days a week."

- Cindy Crawford

"I don't think ethical people deal with intimidation as a method to achieve success. Undermining someone's self-esteem isn't a method to achieve success."

- Dominique Moceanu

"Experts say that if children can't read by the end of the fifth grade, they lose self-confidence and self-esteem, making them more likely to enter the juvenile justice system."

- Dirk Kempthorne

"Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?"

- Ian

"Anger is a manifestation of a deeper issue... and that, for me, is based on insecurity, self-esteem and loneliness."

- Naomi Campbell

"Narcissism is not about self love. It's a clinical trait that belies a deep sense of emptiness, low self-esteem, emotional detachment, self-loathing, extreme problems with intimacy."

- Drew Pinsky

"Our lyrics deal with real issues that face all humans: choices in life, depression, self-esteem. And the fans know that we are there for them, and they are there for us."

- RM

"My mama didn't want me; my daddy wasn't there. So there were a lot of insecurities and low self-esteem."

- Kirk Franklin

"Colonialism deprives you of your self-esteem and to get it back you have to fight to redress the balance."

- Imran Khan

"I have low self-esteem and I always have. Guys always cheated on me with women who were European-looking. You know, the long-hair type. Really beautiful women that left me thinking, 'How I can I compete with that?' Being a regular black girl wasn't good enough."

- Lil' Kim

"Most misunderstandings in the world could be avoided if people would simply take the time to ask, "What else could this mean?""

- Shannon L. Alder

"Women who love themselves are threatening; but men who love real women, more so."

- Naomi Wolf

"Anger, resentment and jealousy doesn't change the heart of others-- it only changes yours."

- Shannon L. Alder

"It is a sign of strength, not of weakness, to admit that you don't know all the answers."

- John P. Loughrane

"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

"I'd like to live permanently in October 1988, when I started college. I had no responsibility and the energy to do whatever I wanted. My optimism wasn't dented by experience or low self-esteem."

- Sue Perkins

"I believe that the dissolution of a marriage comes about by the breaking down of self-esteem."

- Dixie Carter

"Demands for equality for women are threats to men's self-esteem and sense of sexual turf."

- Alice S. Rossi

"The passive aggressive arguer comes armed with tricky tactics. They cannot take the risk that they might be wrong: their self-esteem is too intertwined with their opinions. It is more important to affirm their rightness, and sense of superiority, than to arrive at the truth."

- Robert Greene

"Rejection is an opportunity for your selection."

- Bernard Branson

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

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

"The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely."

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

"If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced."

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

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

"Remember, you have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn't worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens."

"Be messy and complicated and afraid and show up anyways."

"Tear off the mask, your face is glorious."

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

"Be yourself; because an original is worth more than a copy."

"Don’t lower your standards for anyone or anything. Self respect is everything."