Quotes & Sayings About High Self Esteem

Tell me how a person judges his or her self-esteem, and I will tell you how that person operates at work, in love, in sex, in parenting, in every important aspect of existence - and how high he or she is likely to rise. The reputation you have with yourself - your self-esteem - is the single most important factor for a fulfilling life. — Nathaniel Branden

To be an actor, a lot of times it's a strange combination of high confidence and low self-esteem. Which is a weird combination to have, but I think it's sort of very common among actors. — Kurt Fuller

But what many psychologists have done, probably because they did well on a test themselves and everyone wants high self esteem, is to create this little box and then do their research inside it. — Robert Sternberg

Resistance is clear evidence of high self-esteem. It shows that on the deepest level, you intend to survive. And trust me, successful people know all about resistance, they've just developed ways to get around it (like hiring trainers and managers and secretaries and having deadlines to keep them moving). — Barbara Sher

It's all about self-esteem now. Build the kids' self-esteem, make them feel good about themselves. If everybody grows up with high self-esteem, who's gonna dance in our strip-clubs? — Greg Giraldo

Things that are attached to the body do not just add beauty to the body or probably enhances the self confidence of the man within, but they are also the very reasons for pride and excessive self confidence — Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

Parents need to fill a child's bucket of self-esteem so high that the rest of the world can't oke enough holes to drain it dry. — Alvin Price

People with high but unstable self-esteem exhibit the greatest hostility. — Roy Baumeister

Glennard did himself injustice. it was from the unexpected discovery of his own pettiness that he chiefly suffered. Our self-esteem is apt to be based on the hypothetical great act we have never had occasion to perform; and even the most self-scrutinizing modesty credits itself negatively with a high standard of conduct. Glennard had never thought himself a hero; but he had been certain that he was incapable of baseness. We all like our wrong-doings to have a becoming cut, to be made to order, as it were; and Glennard found himself suddenly thrust into a garb of dishonor surely meant for a meaner figure. — Edith Wharton

Economist Marvin Harris described women as a "literate and docile" labor pool, and "therefore desirable candidates for the information- and people-processing jobs thrown up by modern service industries." The qualities that best serve employers in such a labor pool's workers are: low self-esteem, a tolerance for dull repetitive tasks, lack of ambition, high conformity, more respect for men (who manage them) than women (who work beside them), and little sense of control over their lives. — Naomi Wolf

The actual confident man, the man truly sure of himself, is not he who esteems himself higher than others, but he who is sure enough that he can bear to esteem others higher than himself. — Criss Jami

You do not set a high enough value on yourself if you think a man who loves you should not weave you into the fabric of his life with every thread. - Robert Service to Constance MacLean, 1903 (age 28) — David Eso

The solution to the problem of poor performance scores had been a new system of grading that would encourage students to stay in school as well as improve their self-esteem. Beyond these important, admirable goals, it also had a more immediate purpose: it would undoubtedly reduce the school's notoriously high failure rate, which had become an embarrassment to the school and to the school board. Under the plan, equal weight was given to class participation (which to some teachers meant simply showing up, because how on earth were you supposed to quantify participation?), homework, weekly tests, and a final exam at the end of every six-week period. A student could flunk every weekly test as well as the final exam and still pass a course for that period. — H. G. Bissinger

People with high self esteem are risk takers, but more importantly, they are achievers. — Rick Pitino

You'd be surprised how addicting high self-esteem is. — Fergie

Those with a high level of confidence may have as many or more weaknesses than those with low self-esteem. The difference is this; instead of dwelling on their handicaps, they compensate for them by dwelling on their strengths. — Alan Loy McGinnis

The process of setting a goal, learning the necessary steps to achieve it, and giving it your best until you've mastered it will generate high self-esteem and pride. Those are feelings associated with joy. — Jude Bijou

This one phrase, "It is my life, I will do what I want," has done more damage than good. People choose to ignore the spirit and derive the meaning that is convenient to them. Such people have tied this phrase to selfishness and I'm sure that was not the intent.
These people forget that we don't live in isolation. What you do affects me and what I do affects you. We are connected. We have to realize that we are sharing this planet and we must learn to behave responsibly.
There are two kinds of people in this world
takers and givers. Takers eat well and givers sleep well. Givers have high self-esteem, a positive attitude, and they serve society. By serving society, I do not mean a run-of-the-mill pseudo leader-turned- politician who serves himself by pretending to serve others.
As human beings, we all have the need to receive and take. But a healthy personality with high self-esteem is one that not only has its need to take but also to give. — Shiv Khera

Sure, the job of high school teachers is not to tear down students' self-esteem. But it's certainly not to inflate students' sense of self-worth with a bunch of unearned compliments and half-truths. — LZ Granderson

As with the bud, so with the blossom. A boy is the only thing known from which a man can be made. I hope that we as parents are teaching our children that they are the sons and daughters of God, and that they have the capacity to become like him. It was the old Edinburgh weaver who prayed, 'O God, help me to hold a high opinion of myself.' Likewise I would counsel young people to hold a high opinion of themselves, to remember who they really are, and to put their faith in their Heavenly Father. — Paul H. Dunn

For many introverts like David, adolescence is the great stumbling place, the dark and tangled thicket of low self-esteem and social unease. In middle and high school, the main currency is vivacity and gregariousness; attributes like depth and sensitivity don't count for much. — Susan Cain

High self-esteem comes from feeling like you have control over events not that events have control over you. — Tony Robbins

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

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

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 Bronte

The women you've slept with, the ones you never did but primed for a future encounter, the ones who seemed interested but then suddenly stopped texting: Unless you do something horribly wrong, they never completely disappear. A lonely night, a cheating boyfriend, a sudden breakup, an attack of low self-esteem, an attack of high self-esteem - anything can, out of the blue, send them scrolling through their address book looking for validation, for security, for conversation, for adoration, for the fantasy of you filling some empty space in her life. — Neil Strauss

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

A person with low self-esteem is suffering from loneliness even when he is amongst large groups of people, whereas a person with high self-esteem is enjoying solitude out of choice. Loneliness is the pain of being alone, solitude is the pleasure of being alone. A person with high self-esteem is really saying I enjoy my company. I may be physically alone, but I am with myself. — Shiv Khera

The societal pursuit of high self-esteem for everyone may literally end up doing considerable harm. — Roy Baumeister

Exploring Feelings for Young Children with High-Functioning Autism or Asperger's Disorder: The STAMP Treatment Manual offers practical recommendations and creative practices that will certainly help young children with high functioning autism or Asperger's syndrome overcome their struggles with the really tough issues blocking their positive growth and development. Therapists, educators and parents caring for autistic children who endure a heavy load of anger, distrust, difficult interpersonal relationships, poor self-esteem and self-doubt need this excellent book. — Liane Holliday Willey

Self-justification, therefore, is not only about protecting high self-esteem; it's also about protecting low self-esteem if that is how a person sees himself. — Elliot Aronson

All the successful people I knew in life had high self-esteem and all the losers had low self-esteem. — Bill Bartmann

You are not mature if you have a high esteem of yourself. He who boasts in himself is but a babe in Christ, if indeed he be in Christ at all. Young Christians may think much of themselves. Growing Christians think themselves nothing. Mature Christians know that they are less than nothing. The more holy we are, the more we mourn our infirmities, and the humbler is our estimate of ourselves. — Charles Spurgeon

It is not important for life to meet your great expectations. What is important is that you hold high expectations of yourself and meet them greatly. — Roopleen

High expectations weren't nurtured in my neck of nowhere back then - children weren't fawned over from an early age as 'gifted' and groomed for a prizewinning future; self-esteem was considered something you had to pick from the garden yourself. — James Wolcott

Live your dreams. Dare to be you. — Lailah Gifty Akita

To pitch here is to live. People pitch their kids into good schools, pitch offers on houses they can't afford, and when they're caught in the arms of the wrong person, pitch unlikely explanations. Hospitals pitch birthing centers, daycares pitch love, high schools pitch success . . . car dealerships pitch luxury, counselors self-esteem, masseuses happy endings, cemeteries eternal rest . . . It's endless, the pitching - endless, exhilarating, soul-sucking, and as unrelenting as death. As ordinary as morning sprinklers. — Jess Walter

To consider yourself important means to have high self-esteem, as self-esteem is simply your own opinion of yourself-how valuable you deem yourself to be. It is a decision, not an emotion. People we label as having high self-esteem are those who appear that way because they put themselves first constantly-by making the decision to do so over and over regardless of how they feel on the inside — Anonymous

If you're self-compassionate, you'll tend to have higher self-esteem than if you're endlessly self-critical. And like high self-esteem - self-compassion is associated with significantly less anxiety and depression, as well as more happiness, optimism, and positive emotions. — David D. Burns

I set a high standard for myself. — Lailah Gifty Akita

High self esteem people can surely be knocked down by an excess of troubles, but they are quickerto pick themselves up again. — Nathaniel Branden

Own the room. Confidence has nothing to do with what you look like. If you obsess over that, you'll end up being disappointed in yourself all the time. Instead, high self-esteem comes from how you feel in any moment. So walk into a room acting like you're in charge, and spend your energy on making the people around you happy. Giving confidence to others will come back to you and you'll end up feeling better about yourself. — Marian Seldes

Life ups the self-esteem of a low-paid man by giving him things that the high-paid man that he envies cannot buy (intellect, looks, sex appeal, etc.). — Mokokoma Mokhonoana

The challenge for people today
and it is not and easy one
is to maintain high personal standards even while feeling that one is living in a moral sewer. — Nathaniel Branden

I think high self-esteem is overrated. A little low self-esteem is actually quite good ... Maybe you're not the best, so you should work a little harder.
— Jay Leno

The stakes are so high because auditions are make or break. You get the job or you don't. The stakes are about as high as they get, for yourself and your own self-esteem. — Madeline Zima

The industrial and technological revolutions have made our lives simpler, in terms of what is physically required of us on a daily basis, but they have also made it possible for us to do a whole lot less than we ought to be doing, and we suffer for it.

We have become flabby and overweight; our joints and muscles have become stiff from lack of use. We suffer from all sorts of problems related to our lack of physical exercise; it affects us on all levels, causing high blood pressure, increased cholesterol, anxiety, depression, insomnia and the list goes on and on.

We know, too, how much better we feel for a bit of exercise. Those "feel-good" hormones lift our spirits, boost self-esteem and improve our overall sense of well-being. It's a sort of built-in reward system. There's a reason for that. It's because we are meant to be active. — Liberty Forrest

The teacher not only shapes the expectations and ambitions of her pupils, but she also influences their attitudes toward their future and themselves. If she is unskilled, she leaves scars on the lives of youth, cuts deeply into their self-esteem, and distorts their image of themselves as human beings. But if she loves her students and has high expectations of them, their self-confidence will grow, their capabilities will develop, and their future will be assured. — Thomas S. Monson

Having low self-esteem and a shield of lard are not guarantees of safety. Having a warrior spirit, high self worth (most people are assaulted by someone they know, so if you think you're only worthy of hanging out with controlling low-life's, that's who you'll attract into your circle) and the ability to run, hit, kick and holler loudly are far more effective weapons against victimization. — Jane Olson

People with insecure high self-esteem tend to be insensitive to others and to show an excessive preoccupation with themselves, with success, and with their image and appearance in the eyes of others. This unhealthy high self-esteem is often called "threatened egotism," "insecure high self-esteem," or narcissism.44 At its most extreme, the constant — Christopher L. Hayes

In 1950, the [Gallup organization] asked high school kids, are you a very important person? Then 12 percent said yes. Asked again in 2005, 80 percent said, yes, I'm a very important person. — David Brooks

Low self-esteem cannot take anyone to high places. — Matshona Dhliwayo

Maybe I just have high self-esteem, but I have a lot that I really enjoy. — John Mulaney

The more you lose, the more positive you have to become. When you're winning, you can ride players harder because their self-esteem is high. If you are losing and you try to be tough, you're asking for dissension. — Rick Pitino

To accept struggle as part of life, to accept all of it, even the darkest moments of anguish; to be motivated by love rather than fear, by confidence rather than insecurity: these are the benchmarks of high self-esteem. The wish to avoid fear and pain is not the motive that drives the lives of highly evolved men and women; rather, it is the life force within them, thrusting toward its unique form of expression-the actualization of personal values. — Nathaniel Branden

A person who really likes himself or herself has high self-esteem and therefore a positive self-concept. When you really like yourself in a particular role, you perform at your best in that role. — Brian Tracy

Grosvenor and Burke suggest that continually, though silently, a school building tells students who they are and how they should think about the world. It can help to manufacture rote obedience or independent activity; it can create high self-confidence or low self-esteem. — Alison Lurie

Perhaps self-esteem is just the sum of self-love and self-confidence. People with high self-esteem know they deserve a good life and that they can get almost everything they focus on! — Mika.

Canadian researchers found those with low self-esteem actually felt worse after repeating positive statements about themselves. They said phrases such as "I am a lovable person" only helped people with high self-esteem. The study appeared in the journal Psychological Science. ... They found that, paradoxically, those with low self-esteem were in a better mood when they were allowed to have negative thoughts than when they were asked to focus exclusively on affirmative thoughts. ... Repeating positive self-statements may benefit certain people, such as individuals with high self-esteem, but backfire for the very people who need them the most. — Augusten Burroughs

Popcorn for breakfast! Why not? It's a grain. It's like, like, grits, but with high self-esteem. — James Patterson

Teach your children not to strive for high self-esteem. This is nothing less than teaching them arrogance, conceit and superiority feelings. — Paul Hauck

Don't do things or act out your posture and gestures to impress people, just be yourself and portray the confident 'you' with that high self-esteem. So relax because you are 'you'. Be sincere, be authentic. That will be impressive enough. — Archibald Marwizi

The NFL determines your worth as a player, but only God knows your true worth. Players work long and hard through pain and suffering, injuries, and pushing themselves further than they imagined going - then poof ! A dream is gone. That kind of treatment can really mess with one's self worth. Getting cut can be deemed a failure, the loss of a lifetime goal.
Thankfully, as Christians our worth is not determined by mistakes we've made, either accidentally or by stupid stuff we've purposely done. Neither is it determined by what anyone else thinks. Our worth is determined by what Jesus Christ has already done. — Jake Byrne

Where we see self esteem, we see self acceptance. High self esteem individual tend to avoid falling into an adversarial relationship with themselves. — Nathaniel Branden

How to identify love by knowing what it's not: love doesn't use a fist. Love never calls you fat or lazy or ugly. Love doesn't laugh at you in front of friends. It is not in Love's interest for your self-esteem to be low. Love is a helium-based emotion; Love always takes the high road. Love does not make you beg. Love does not make you deposit your paycheck into its bank account. Love certainly never, never, never brings the children into it. Love does not ask or even want you to change. But if you change, Love is as excited about this change as you are, if not more so. And if you go back to the way you were before you changed, Love will go back with you. Love does not maintain a list of your flaws and weaknesses. Love believes you. — Augusten Burroughs

My dream is to make families a place where adults with high self esteem can develop. I think we have reached a point where if we don't get busy on dreams of this sort, our end is in sight. We need a world that is as good for human beings as it is for technology. — Virginia Satir

The assumption being that if high-risk children could be made to 'feel good about themselves,' these epidemics could be mitigated ... This prescription, unfortunately, has proven to be yet another in a long list of nouveau homilies that haven't lived up to their promises. — John Rosemond

Confidence has nothing to do with what you look like. If you obsess over that, you'll end up being disappointed in yourself all the time. Instead, high self-esteem comes from how you feel in any moment. So walk into a room acting like you're in charge, and spend your energy on making the people around you happy. — Marian Seldes

We know that productivity suffers when uncertainty is high. But we've failed to realize the equally destructive effects of too little anxiety ... By protecting people from risk, we destroy their self-esteem. We rob them of the opportunity to become strong, competent people. — Judith M Bardwick

Toasted Heretic should have been cherished and helped, rather than ignored or sneered at, or put down as "quirky band with an arrogant singer". So I certainly didn't help the band, but the virtues I had meant that we recorded albums when everyone else just listened to them. But, yes, if you could suffer from high self-esteem, then I certainly suffered. — Julian Gough

I didn't have high self-esteem when I was a teen-ager, as I think most teen-agers don't. — Alanis Morissette

The love of power is either due to low or overly high self-esteem. — Sunday Adelaja

This column was an attempt to convey to British readers something of the flavor of high-school graduation, a ritual largely unknown across the Atlantic and one at odds with the basic organizing principle of English education: The continual assurances by commencement speakers that yours is the most awesome generation ever to walk the earth ring a little odd if you're a survivor of some grim Dotheboys Hall where the prevailing educational philosophy was to lower your self-esteem to undetectable levels by the end of the first week. — Mark Steyn

The reward for goal-setting is that as you achieve each goal, you feel in charge of your own destiny, with every moment taken up productively. Self-esteem increases and it becomes easier to remain motivated. So set those high goals and make clear plans for their execution. — Archibald Marwizi

She quotes three current studies into the subject of self-esteem, all of which reach this conclusion and she states that 'people with high self-esteem pose a greater threat to those around them than people with low self-esteem and feeling bad about yourself is not the source of our country's biggest, most expensive social problems.'1 — Timothy J. Keller

Up until the 20th century, traditional cultures (and this is still true of most cultures in the world) always believed that too high a view of yourself was the root cause of all the evil in the world ... Our belief today
and it in deeply rooted in everything
is that people misbehave for lack of self-esteem and because they have too low a view of themselves. — Timothy Keller

Put on your lips success creeds every day. Never see yourself as an unworthy being, incapable of receiving good gifts from God. — Israelmore Ayivor

It is a mistake to look at someone who is self assertive and say, "It's easy for her, she has good self-esteem." One of the ways you build self-esteem is by being self-assertive when it is not easy to do so. There are always times when self-assertiveness requires courage, no matter how high your self-esteem. — Nathaniel Branden

Don't seat quiet kids in high interaction areas of the classroom, says communications professor James McCroskey. They won't talk more in those areas; they'll feel more threatened and will have trouble concentrating. Make it easy for introverted kids to participate in class, but don't insist. Forcing highly apprehensive young people to perform orally is harmful. It will increase apprehension and reduce self-esteem. — Susan Cain

A high self-esteem having artist works hard to be understood. A low self-esteem having artist works hard to be agreed with. — Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Consumer culture is best supported by markets made up of sexual clones, men who want objects and women who want to be objects, and the object desired ever-changing, disposable, and dictated by the market. The beautiful object of consumer pornography has a built-in obsolescence, to ensure that as few men as possible will form a bond with one woman for years or for a lifetime, and to ensure that women's dissatisfaction with themselves will grow rather than diminish over time. Emotionally unstable relationships, high divorce rates, and a large population cast out into the sexual marketplace are good for business in a consumer economy. Beauty pornography is intent on making modern sex brutal and boring and only as deep as a mirror's mercury, anti-erotic for both men and women. — Naomi Wolf

Action is a high road to self-confidence and esteem. Where it is open, all energies flow toward it. It comes readily to most people, and its rewards are tangible. — Bruce Lee

High self-esteem isn't a luxury. It's a necessity for anyone who has important goals to achieve. — Jack Canfield

How did high schools all over the country decide that athletes needed pep rallies to boost their pride and self-esteem? Isn't it enough that people actually pay money to see these kids compete in games? That people cheer from the sidelines? And they get their names in the paper? Why don't they take all the lonely ghost floaters in every high school and have a pep rally for them? Make all the most popular kids in school sit on the hard bleachers and cheer until their asses hurt like hell? — Matthew Quick

For the first ten years after I got out of graduate school, I studied success. I read every book I could get my hands on and took every training I could find, and that allowed me to become an expert in this area. I learned how to create high self-esteem and success in my own life and in the lives of others. — Jack Canfield

A high quality life starts with a high quality you! — Cheryl Richardson

Of all the judgments you make in life, none is as important as the one you make about yourself. The difference between low self-esteem and high self-esteem is the difference between passivity and action, between failure and success. — Nathaniel Branden

Greater self-esteem produces greater success, and greater success produces more high self-esteem, so it keeps on spiraling up. — Jack Canfield

It is naive to think that self-assertiveness is easy. To live self-assertively
which means to live authentically
is an act of high courage. That is why so many people spend the better part of their lives in hiding
from others and also from themselves. — Nathaniel Branden

There are no college courses to build up self-esteem or high school or elementary school. If you don't get those values at a early age, nurtured in your home, you don't get them. — T.D. Jakes