33 Insightful Quotes about Self Esteem That will Change the Way You Think

Last Updated on October 24, 2021

Simply put, self esteem refers to how you feel about your own value and worth. It’s the effect of your inner self talk. Do you accept yourself fully and completely, forgive yourself for your mistakes, and even hype yourself up for being the awesome person you are? If so, then you might have high self esteem. Building self esteem starts with self discovery, and is critical for becoming a confident person

But it’s totally normal to have high and low moments for your self esteem. In those low moments, it might be helpful to read some quotes about self esteem to gain a fresh perspective.

Some of these quotes will focus on building self esteem, others share unique perspectives on self esteem, and others discuss the importance of building self esteem.

Keep reading for 33 quotes about self esteem.

1. Notice Those Who Accept you For Who You Are

“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, Change of Heart

2. Self Esteem & Protecting Your Dignity

“One’s dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered.”
― Michael J. Fox

3. The Scary Part of Self Esteem

“The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.”
― C.G. Jung

4. Value Yourself First

“The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone.”
― Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism

5. Be True to Yourself

“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

6. Building Self Esteem By Approving of Yourself

“You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.”
– Louise L. Hay

7. A Woman Who Has Figured out Her Worth

“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

8. Measure Yourself in Strength

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

9. Self Esteem & Loving Yourself

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

– Buddha

10. The Cliches are True

“I believe with all my heart that the cliches are true, that we are our own best friends and best company, and that if you’re not right for yourself, it’s impossible to be right for anyone.”
― Rachel Machacek, The Science of Single: One Woman’s Grand Experiment in Modern Dating, Creating Chemistry, and Finding L ove

11. Your Life is a Reflection of Your Self Esteem

“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

12. Self Esteem & Valuing Your Own Time

“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

13. For Once, believe in Yourself…

“for once, you believed in yourself. you believed you were beautiful and so did the rest of the world.”
― Sarah Dessen, Keeping the Moon

14. Celebrate your Differentness

“If you celebrate your differentness, the world will, too. It believes exactly what you tell it—through the words you use to describe yourself, the actions you take to care for yourself, and the choices you make to express yourself. Tell the world you are one-of-a-kind creation who came here to experience wonder and spread joy. Expect to be accommodated.”
― Victoria Moran, Lit From Within: Tending Your Soul For Lifelong Beauty

15. Low Self-Esteem…

“Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your hand-break on.”
– Maxwell Maltz

16. Love Yourself First

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

17. Accept Your Past

“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

18. Confidence is a Habit that Builds Self Esteem

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

– Brian Tracy

19. Everything is Connected

“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

20. The Only Thing that matters…

“The only thing that matters in life, is your own opinion about yourself.”
— Osho

21. The Power of Being Yourself

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

22. A Lifelong Romance

“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”

– Oscar Wilde

23. Self Esteem & True Nobility

“There is nothing noble about being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.”
– Hindu Proverb

24. Embrace your Value

“Once you embrace your value, talents and strengths , it neutralizes when others think less of you.”
– Rob Liano

25. Don’t Be Embarrassed of your Weirdness…

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

26. Self Esteem & Barriers Within

“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

27. Healthy Self Love

“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

28. Self Esteem & Finding Peace

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

29. Don’t Overvalue What You Are Not

“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.”
– Malcolm S. Forbes

30. Self Esteem & Body Image

“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

31. Building Self Esteem is a Privilege

“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

32. Overcoming How You Think About Yourself

“The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself.”
– Maya Angelou

33. Accept Yourself & Keep Moving Forward

“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

Closing Thoughts

I hope you found at least a few of these quotes about self esteem on this list that can inspire you to build your own self esteem. Looking for another way to build your self esteem? Check out these affirmations for self love.

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