85 Self-Acceptance Quotes to Cultivate Self-Worth and Peace
True happiness starts with embracing who you are, flaws and all.
That’s why we’ve gathered all the best self-acceptance quotes for your next post.
And if you’re looking for inspiring and empowering sayings to remind you to love yourself as you are, we also have you covered.
Now go ahead and browse through to find your favorite.
Top 10 Quotes About Self Acceptance
“Generally, self-acceptance is conceptualized as an affirmation or acceptance of self in spite of weaknesses or deficiencies.” – Michael Bernard, 2013, p. xiv
“[With unconditional self-acceptance]… you always – yes, always – accept and respect yourself, your personhood, your being, whether or not you perform well and whether or not other people approve of you and your behaviors.” – Albert Ellis, 2012
“To accept ourselves is to accept the fact that what we think, feel, and do are all expressions of the self at the time they occur.” – Nathaniel Branden, 2011, p. 59
“Continually feeding our need for positive self-evaluation is a bit like stuffing ourselves with candy. We get a brief sugar high, then a crash.” – Kristin Neff, 2015, p. 5
“The desire for others’ approval and reassurance creates sensitivity to real or imagined signs of rejection.” – Jennifer Crocker & Lora Park, 2004, p. 401
“We don’t have to wait until we are on our deathbed to realize what a waste of our precious lives it is to carry the belief that something is wrong with us.” – Tara Brach, 2004, p. 3
“… self-acceptance is truly a heroic act.” – Nathaniel Branden, 2011, p. 69
“When you learn to accept fear, you cease making a catastrophe of it. Then it ceases to be your master.” – Nathaniel Branden, 2011, p. 49
“Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.” – Brené Brown, 2015, p. 146
“I bask in the glory of my most magnificent self.” – Debbie Ford, 2001, p. 217
Short Self Acceptance Quotes
“In deep self-acceptance, grows a compassionate understanding.” – Jack Kornfield
“Shame makes self-acceptance and self-love impossible.” – bell hooks
“Yours is only what you always have on you.” – Peter Deunov
“If I am not for myself, who will be?” – Pirke Avot
“The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.” – C.G. Jung
“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” – Mark Twain
“It’s not your job to like me – it’s mine.” – Byron Katie
“Self-esteem is the reputation we acquire with ourselves.” – Nathaniel Branden
“Change is possible, but it must start with self-acceptance.” – Alexander Lowen
“Self-acceptance has been a blessed byproduct of middle age.” – Candice Bergen
“An act of imagination is an act of self-acceptance.” – Richard Hugo
“Acceptance is the key to everything.” – Michael J. Fox
“All I can do is be me, whoever that is.” – Bob Dylan
“Much of spiritual life is self-acceptance, maybe all of it.” – Jack Kornfield
“The greatest miracle you can hope for is self-acceptance.” – Maxwell Maltz
“I bask in the glory of my most magnificent self.” – Debbie Ford
“You are imperfect, permanently and inevitably flawed. And you are beautiful.” – Amy Bloom
“Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward.” – Roy Bennett
“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” – Joseph Campbell
“You are very powerful, provided you know how powerful you are.” – Yogi Bhajan
“This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits—anything that kept me small.” – Kim McMillen
“Self-acceptance is my refusal to be in an adversarial relationship to myself.” – Nathaniel Branden
“You are more powerful than you know; you are beautiful just as you are.” – Melissa Etheridge
“No amount of self-improvement can make up for any lack of self-acceptance.” – Robert Holden
“Nothing I accept about myself can be used against me to diminish me.” – Audre Lorde
“Success is total self-acceptance.” – Viktor Frankl
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” – Sharon Salzberg
“Generally, self-acceptance is conceptualized as an affirmation or acceptance of self in spite of weaknesses or deficiencies.” – Michael Bernard
“To say I love you one must know first how to say the I.” – Ayn Rand
“Be healthy and take care of yourself, but be happy with the beautiful things that make you, you.” – Beyonce
“Belonging starts with self-acceptance… Believing that you’re enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic.” – Brene Brown
“Self-acceptance begins in infancy, with the influence of your parents and siblings and other important people.” – Brian Tracy
“For once, you believed in yourself. You believed you were beautiful and so did the rest of the world.” – Sarah Dessen
“Belong… to yourself, to the earth, to others. Above all, engage in ‘radical self-acceptance.'” – Sandra Schrift
“Until you know that you are enough just the way you are, you will continue to look for more.” – Iyanla Vanzant
“My willingness to be intimate with my own deep feelings creates the space for intimacy with another.” – Shakti Gawain
“One woman filled with self-love and self-acceptance is a model more super than any cover girl.” – Amy Leigh Mercree
“We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves.” – Malcolm X
“You are you and that is the beginning and the end. No apologies, no regrets.” – Henry A. Kissinger
“Self-approval and self-acceptance in the now are the main keys to positive changes in every area of our lives.” – Louise Hay
“Total self-acceptance is empowering. It means allowing others to see you as they choose, without being offended.” – Deepak Chopra
“Becoming acquainted with yourself is a price well worth paying for the love that will really address your needs.” – Daphne Rose Kingma
“I seem to have the blind self-acceptance of the eccentric who can’t conceive that his eccentricities are not clearly understood.” – Saul Bellow
“If you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti
“A man needs self-acceptance or he can’t live with himself; he needs self-criticism or others can’t live with him.” – James Pike
“You can succeed if nobody else believes it, but you will never succeed if you don’t believe in yourself.” – William J. H. Boetcker
“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.” – Nhat Hanh
“Do something every day that is loving toward your body and gives you the opportunity to enjoy the sensations of your body.” – Golda Poretsky 49. “Self-criticism, like self-administered brain surgery, is perhaps not a good idea. Can the ‘self’ see the ‘self’ with any objectivity?” – Joyce Carol Oates
“The acceptance of vertical differentiation with the built-in principle of self-determination must apply on as many levels as possible.” – P. W. Botha
“Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there’s got to be a way through it.” – Michael J. Fox
“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” – Lucille Ball
“Your own level of self-acceptance is determined largely by how well you feel you are accepted by the important people in your life.” – Brian Tracy
“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” – E. E. Cummings
“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
“The only person who can pull me down is myself, and I’m not going to let myself pull me down anymore.” – C. JoyBell C.
“Accept everything about yourself—I mean everything. You are you and that is the beginning and the end. No apologies, no regrets.” – Henry A. Kissinger
“I now see how owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.” – Brene Brown
“The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.” – Anna Quindlen
“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
“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
“When you stop living your life based on what others think of, your real life begins. At that moment, you will finally see the door of self-acceptance opened.” – Shannon L. Alder
“If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.” – Nora Roberts 64. “I was once afraid of people saying ‘Who does she think she is?’ Now I have the courage to stand and say, ‘This is who I am.'” – Oprah Winfrey
“Self-acceptance is involved in this process. You have got to be able to look at both your dark and your light side and not get enamored or depressed by either.” – Frederick Lindemann
“The journey into self-love and self-acceptance must begin with self-examination until you take the journey of self-reflection, it is almost impossible to grow or learn in life.” – Iyanla Vanzant
“To be nobody but yourself in a world that’s doing its best to make you somebody else, is to fight the hardest battle you are ever going to fight. Never stop fighting.” – E. E. Cummings
“Loving yourself.. does not mean being self-absorbed or narcissistic, or disregarding others. Rather it means welcoming yourself as the most honored guest in your own heart, a guest worthy of respect, a lovable companion.” – Margo Anand
“Self-acceptance begets acceptance from others, which begets even deeper, more genuine self-acceptance. It can be done. But no one is going to bestow it on you. It is a gift only you can give yourself.” – Camryn Manheim
“What unconditional self-acceptance is, is… … … you always – yes, always – accept and respect yourself, your personhood, your being, whether or not you perform well and whether or not other people approve of you and your behaviors.” – Albert Ellis
“With unconditional self-acceptance… … … you always – yes, always – accept and respect yourself, your personhood, your being, whether or not you perform well and whether or not other people approve of you and your behaviors.” – Albert Ellis
“Forgive yourself. The supreme act of forgiveness is when you can forgive yourself for all the wounds you’ve created in your own life. Forgiveness is an act of self-love. When you forgive yourself, self-acceptance begins and self-love grows.” – Miguel Angel Ruiz
“At 30 a man should know himself like the palm of his hand, know the exact number of his defects and qualities, know how far he can go, foretell his failures – be what he is. And, above all, accept these things.” – Albert Camus
“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 judgment called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving.” – Kim McMillen
“I understand now that I’m not a mess but a deeply feeling person in a messy world. I explain that now, when someone asks me why I cry so often, I say, ‘For the same reason I laugh so often – because I’m paying attention.'” – Glennon Doyle Melton
“Receiving the universe in all its diversity allows us a new self-appreciation, and coming to a level of self-acceptance and self-love prepares us to love the world in return. When this awareness lives at our core, celebration becomes a way of life.” – Adriana Diaz
“Self-acceptance comes from meeting life’s challenges vigorously. Don’t numb yourself to your trials and difficulties, nor build mental walls to exclude pain from your life. You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. You will find peace not in denial, but in victory.” – Goswami Kriyananda
