Quotes & Sayings About Self Acceptance

As we become more mature we will learn to master the interplay between the past and the present and not be so self-conscious of our rejection or acceptance of tradition. We will not make the mistake that both rigid modernists and conservatives make, of confusing the quality of form with the specific forms themselves. — Alvin Lustig

I'm not talking about the blood ecstasy. I'm talking about my being able to fill that emotion void she has. You know her as well as I do, maybe better. She aches with it. She needs to be accepted for who she is so badly. And I was able to do that. Do you know good that felt? To be able to show someone that, yes, you are someone worth sacrificing for? That you like them for their faults and that you respect them for their ability to rise above them? — Kim Harrison

When we ponder the vastness of the universe and eternity, we are closer to understanding the role of death in the mysterious life we are all experiencing. Through these realizations, greater acceptance of the inevitability of death positions us to be happier in our lives. After my journey through these ideas I feel strongly that happiness and a deeper understanding of death are linked phenomena that offer a fuller existence. — Loren Mayshark

When we acknowledge the kingdom of the self, we will no longer accept slavery either for ourselves or for others, no matter how it is disguised. — Gerry Spence

The answer to any challenge you are having has nothing to do with God's willingness to help. It has to do with your acceptance of how the Infinite is already active within you, how it has already placed within you all that you need to solve and dissolve inner conflict through conscious communion with the Self. — Michael Beckwith

When we can no longer change a situation, its the time to changed our self. — Glenda Radores

I hate how long it takes to feel radical, militantly maternal self-acceptance. — Anne Lamott

Accept me for who iam or leave me the way iam, for a true image of God needs no Photoshop and the core of who i really am has no settings — Morgan Chabane

You break free when you feel neither beneath anyone nor superior to anyone, when you shed the need to control other people, when you create space for others to be who they are and for your real self to be what it is. — Deepak Chopra

A crucial element of the real self is its unconditional acceptance of itself. — Michael Adzema

She was perhaps too young to realize that what she assumed was her love for [him] was actually a tentative, timorous, acceptance of herself. — Arundhati Roy

We are at our most powerful the moment we no longer need to be powerful. — Eric Micha'el Leventhal

To hate the hate was just more hate; to reject the rejection was just more rejection; to judge the judging, just more judging. — T. Scott McLeod

If you'd called me an ox, I'd have said I was an ox; if you'd called me a horse, I'd have said I was a horse. If the reality is there and you refuse to accept the name men give it, you'll only lay yourself open to double harassment. — Zhuangzi

We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves. — Dalai Lama XIV

My job, my only job here in this moment, is to love myself and, by extension, to love others. My job is just to live and to realize that to live is to love. — Vironika Tugaleva

Self-compassion is an inoculate for the mind, protecting it from potential harm. Emotional disease cannot contaminate the minds of those who are wise enough to love and accept themselves. — Miya Yamanouchi

Love is the state of being; it is not a personal feeling directed to a particular someone. Love is beyond romance and attraction.
Love is when it doesn't matter when you get that person or not because you have met your own self through that person and that self will always be with you....within you.Love is not your loftiest fantasy you always thought will happen to you. Love is not wanting someone at any cost and cursing them if you do not "get" them. Love is who you are - your very essence felt and experienced by all that come into your vicinity — Rashmit Kalra

It's a fact that you're going to have a different opinion or view on certain topics or issues. You need stand your ground by sharing your view. — Michael Barbarulo

Unfortunately, oppression does not automatically produce only meaningful struggle. It has the ability to call into being a wide range of responses between partial acceptance and violent rebellion. In between you can have, for instance, a vague, unfocused dissatisfaction; or, worst of all, savage infighting among the oppressed, a fierce love-hate entanglement with one another like crabs inside the fisherman's bucket, which ensures that no crab gets away. This is a serious issue for African-American deliberation.
To answer oppression with appropriate resistance requires knowledge of two kinds: in the first place, self-knowledge by the victim, which means awareness that oppression exists, an awareness that the victim has fallen from a great height of glory or promise into the present depths; secondly, the victim must know who the enemy is. He must know his oppressor's real name, not an alias, a pseudonym, or a nom de plume! — Chinua Achebe

You have peace," the old woman said, "when you make it with yourself. — Mitch Albom

The first steps in self-acceptance are not at all pleasant, for what one sees is not a happy sight. One needs all the courage to go further. — Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Self-approval and self-acceptance in the now are the main keys to positive changes in every area of our lives. — Louise L. Hay

Shame makes self-acceptance and self-love impossible. — Bell Hooks

We're hungry for acceptance - from ourselves even more than from others - for love, for fulfillment, for peace. We're hungry for a life we think we don't deserve or can't have, for the person we know we can be if only we'd give ourselves the chance. — Mary DeTurris Poust

Pondering the legitimate modern day problem of intellectual bullies. Self-proclaimed smarties attacking the innocent.

They revel in being politically correct, all-loving and open-minded while not applying these principles to themselves.

The ultimate double standard in the name of truth and acceptance. It's sad.

This is not a post about anyone in particular. This is an observation over years.

Have you seen it? Call it out when you do.

The offender won't know what to do because they know that you know their game. — Richie Norton

Self-acceptance is hard for many of us. There is a voice inside that is constantly judging, first ourselves and then others. — Bell Hooks

Self acceptance is common, Unfortunately, for some daft reason you are expected to have some kind of psychology degree to learn it. — Auliq Ice

Omigosh - I'm a squash! — Dave Horowitz

You are Perfection and Imperfection's Love Child. — Sera Beak

The message of love is self-acceptance in the smaller sense and self-acceptance in the large sense - the Self as eternity. — Frederick Lenz

Still not sure about how easily he could be integrated into their posse, Trevor smiled in delighted relief at how tolerantly two of his close friends had received his new identity. — Zack Love

A majority that yields to the promises of security instead of seeking liberty and self-reliance is giving up something real and valuable in return for false promises. The fact that strong leaders are willing to demagogue, spin, deceive, and lie proves their goal is neither to care for the people nor to advance liberty. Instead, it's their perverted desire to rule over others that drives them. But, even authoritarian regimes don't last if there isn't general acceptance of their governance by the people. — Ron Paul

A Gift for You
I send you ...
The gift of a letter from your wise self. This is the part of you that sees you with benevolent, loving eyes. You find this letter in a thick envelope with your name on it, and the word YES written boldly above your name.
My Dear,
I am writing this to remind you of your 'essence beauty.' This is the part of you that has nothing to do with age, occupation, weight, history, or pain. This is the soft, untouched, indelible you. You can love yourself in this moment, no matter what you have, or haven't done or been.
See past any masks, devices, or inventions that obscure your essence.
Remember your true purpose, WHICH is only Love.
If you cannot see or feel love, lie down now and cry; it will cleanse your vision and free your heart.
I love you; I am you. — SARK

As a Black lesbian feminist comfortable with the many different ingredients of my identity, and a woman committed to racial and sexual freedom from oppression, I find I am constantly being encouraged to pluck out some one aspect of myself and present this as the meaningful whole, eclipsing or denying the other parts of self. But this is a destructive and fragmenting way to live. — Audre Lorde

The therapist can interpret, advise, provide the emotional acceptance and support that nurtures personal growth, and above all, he can listen. I do not mean that he can simply hear the other, but that he will listen actively and purposefully, responding with the instrument of his trade, that is, with the personal vulnerability of his own trembling self. This listening is that which will facilitate the patient's telling of his tale, the telling that can set him free. (5) — Sheldon B. Kopp

Valor consists in the power of self-recovery, so that a man cannot have his flank turned, cannot be out-generalled, but put him where you will, he stands. This can only be by his preferring truth to his past apprehension of truth; and his alert acceptance of it, from whatever quarter; the intrepid conviction that his laws, his relations to society, his Christianity, his world may at any time be superseded and decease. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is not giving up, it is accepting. And the light will enter. Always does. — Kamal Ravikant

Whether you're as healthy as you should be or not, that doesn't disallow you to look your best. Style is only possible from a place of self-acceptance. — Stacy London

Time doesn't always heal all wounds. — A.J. Darkholme

I laugh at myself.
I don't take myself completely seriously.
I think that's another quality that people have to hold on to ... you have to laugh, especially at yourself. — Madonna

One of the concepts essential to molecular manufacturing is that of a self-replicating manufacturing system. That concept has lagged behind in its acceptance. — Ralph Merkle

When our challenge persists, returning in different forms, it may be a sign for us to accepted it as a valuable lesson. — Raphael Zernoff

What I'm starting to realize is that when you conform, people are not accepting you for who you are. They're accepting you for who they think you are. — Kaiylah Muhammad

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection — Gautama Buddha

Self-growth does not always mean that we've changed. It means that we've stopped listening to what others say we 'ought' to be doing and finally live our lives according to our own values. — Anthea Syrokou

If you love someone, you will want to understand them and accept them as they grow and change; similarly, loving yourself involves a never-ending process of self-understanding and self-acceptance through life's ups and downs...we are finally coming to understand that love for neighbor and love for self naturally lead to love for the earth...if you love your neighbor as yourself, you want both them and you to be able to breathe, so you need to love clean fresh air...you want them and you to be able to drink, so you need to love pure water in all its forms...you want them and you to be be able to eat, so you need to care about the climate...." (p. 59-60) — Brian McLaren

Attaining inner peace isn't about letting someone else read your lines; it's about embracing your character and giving the performance of a lifetime. Never be afraid to express your inner thoughts, never be afraid to dance to a different beat because when you shine with self-acceptance, you light up the world." -Lakeysha-Marie Green, Author — Lakeysha-Marie Green

Self-acceptance isn't the beginning of happiness; it's at the core of peaceful and happy living. — K.J. Kilton

People often tell themselves lies, in order to reach what they consider acceptance in difficult situations. In reality, they fool themselves into believing they are healed, until that lie is corrected by time, further information or their own personal growth. True healing comes when we learn to not avoid truth, but face it. Only then will we be set free. — Shannon L. Alder

It was hard to remember what I'd been so scared of. Being treated differently? Lack of acceptance? I was the one who hadn't accepted myself for who I was. I was the one who needed to be comfortable in my own skin. I hoped I could do that moving forward. — Kasie West

Accept only the divine self. — Lailah Gifty Akita

All energy given to us for the achievements of goals and self-actualization is instead spent on deriving acceptance from our surroundings and compliance with the requirements of the society — Sunday Adelaja

My whole journey has been about self-acceptance. — Jordin Sparks

Most of the time Marilyn's mother remained unconscious, her breath labored and erratic. One morning before dawn, she suddenly opened her eyes and looked clearly and intently at her daughter. "You know," she whispered softly, "all my life I thought something was wrong with me." Shaking her head slightly, as if to say, "What a waste," she closed her eyes and drifted back into a coma. — Tara Brach

Be like a river. Be open. Flow. — Julie Connor

It's hard to remember who you were when you're constantly pretending to be someone you're not. — Amy Ewing

The face of love is variable. I am able to love without demanding that my relationships assume the structures and forms I might choose for them. My love is fluid, flexible, committed, creative. My love allows people and events to unfold as they need. My love is not controlling. It does not dictate or demand. My love allows those I love the freedom to assume the forms most true to them. I release all those I love from my preconceptions of their path. I allow them the dignity of self-definition while I offer them a constant love that is every variable in shape. — Julia Cameron

Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. Your really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world. — Lucille Ball

Every relationship will suffer to some degree without finding self-acceptance and treating yourself like your own best friend. — L.K. Elliott

If you really want to find your voice, your goal is to journey toward inner wholeness
which is what life is about anyway. It involves self-acceptance and genuine self-respect.
from Unleash the Writer Within — Cecil Murphey

Be as loving, gentle and tender with yourself, as you are with your children or your beloved. — Miya Yamanouchi

When you believe you reflect what is holy and good, you can see more that is good in every stage of your life. (319) — Victoria Moran

It takes strength to be proud of yourself and to accept yourself when you know that you have something out of the ordinary about you. — Abigail Tarttelin

All I'm saying is that sooner of later, you'll have to come to terms with yourself. You can't wish away the vampire in you, and you shouldn't keep atoning for it. You should figure out who you are and what you need, and then don't apologize for it. Not to me, to your mum, or to anyone. — Jeaniene Frost

Action painting has to do with self-creation or self-definition or self-transcendence; but this dissociates it from self-expression, which assumes the acceptance of the ego as it is, with its wound and its magic. — Hannah Arendt

The basis of everything in the wizards' world rests upon the insight "All this is myself." Therefore, in accepting the world as it is, the wizard views everything in the light of self-acceptance, which is the light of love. — Deepak Chopra

Identifying as a writer is a matter of self-acceptance. It's not a thing that can be given to you, or bestowed upon you. You are a writer if you write. That's it. If what you are seeking is to be acknowledged as a writer by other people, many of them strangers, you're in for a demoralizing journey. It is a silly club where those who have been 'accepted' are loathe to permit others into. It's sort of like how we Americans love denying our own immigrant origins while railing against immigration. — Vincent Louis Carrella

Being happy where you are does not mean that you must unquestioningly accept parts of your environment that don't serve you. Where you are is inside of this amazing body, this beautiful moment, this capable mind. Where you are is inside of an eternal opportunity. And sometimes you need to change your environment to remember that. — Vironika Tugaleva

No more looking at a wall and pretending it's a mirror. No more shelving fiction in the non-fiction section. No more thinking I could get away with it. — David Levithan

They are called, "SELF-worth" and "SELF-esteem" for a reason ... we can't let others decide what we are worth, that is so dangerous! Empower yourself! — Jaeda DeWalt

To watch an American on a beach or crowding into a subway, or buying a theater ticket, or sitting at home with his radio on, tells you something about one aspect of the American character: the capacity to withstand a great deal of outside interference, so to speak; a willing acceptance of frenzy which though it's never self-conscious, amounts o a willingness to let other people have and assert their own lively, and even offensive, character. They are a tough race in this. — Alistair Cooke

Lord, please restore to us the comfort of merit and demerit. Show us that there is at least something we can do. Tell us that at the end of the day there will at least be one redeeming card of our very own. Lord, if it is not too much to ask, send us to bed with a few shreds of self-respect upon which we can congratulate ourselves. But whatever you do, do not preach grace. Give us something to do, anything; but spare us the indignity of this indiscriminate acceptance. — Robert Farrar Capon

I called it a baptism in flaming ink that forced me to shed my shyness about recognizing myself as a poet and to accept the fact that life had never given me any choice in the matter. And then I had to discover exactly what that meant. — Aberjhani

The acceptance of vertical differentiation with the built-in principle of self-determination must apply on as many levels as possible. — P. W. Botha

To the extent that we honor all aspects of ourselves, we remove revulsion, self-hate, horror, and terror from our lives. As whole human beings we are the creatures of the greatest complexity on this planet. Respect for this complexity includes our insisting on acceptance of the inconsistent and incongruous. — Theodore Isaac Rubin

Acceptance is approval, a word with a bad name in some psychologies. Yet it is perfectly normal to seek approval in childhood and throughout life. We require approval from those we respect. The kinship it creates lifts us to their level, a process referred to in self-psychology as transmuting internalization. Approval is a necessary component of self-esteem. It becomes a problem only when we give up our true self to find it. Then approval-seeking works against us. — David Richo

Your self-worth and self-esteem cannot be changed by doing positive affirmations. If that were the case many people would be super confident and are not. It may appear to work for some, but only because they have already faced the hurts inside that have caused low self-worth and low self-esteem, and are ready to feel differently.

Acknowledging the pain and the suffering that take place inside you, and allowing the feelings, will take time, but this new way of handling these feelings will change the way you relate to you and to the outside world. — Kelly Martin

Self-improvement without self-love is like building a house upon sand. You can build and build, but it will always sink. — Vironika Tugaleva

Dismantle your wounds so you stop living your life by them. — Nikki Rowe

The old Ivy feared parental reaction from each tiny act of defiance. But the new Ivy says, "Fuck 'em all!" a sentiment that Rachel will surely appreciate. My new motto? Be who you are and own that shit-because only with true self-acceptance comes peace and joy. — B.L. Berry

To love, and be loved, this is the greatest challenge that any of us face in our lives. — T. Scott McLeod

You cannot change a man . . . you can only change yourself. — Michelle Muriel

No amount of self-improvement can make up for any lack of self-acceptance. — Robert Holden

Endeavour to appreciate life while you experience it, for some will never experience life again, because they are six feet inside the grave. — Auliq Ice

Focusing on who you are, and pursuing opportunities to improve your abilities, allows you to be in acceptance of yourself. This makes you a beautiful person who could care less about what others think of you. — Ellen J. Barrier

In life one has a choice to take one of two paths: to wait for some special day - or to celebrate each special day. — Rasheed Ogunlaru

That's an animal fable about humility. If you survive your mistake, you must learn from it. Accept that you're fragile, vulnerable, and sometimes stupid. Realize that you're not immortal and you've got to take care of yourself. And then laugh it off and fly away. — Marc Maron

You are a self and an other.
Your 'others' are in part your own creation.
This in turn affects and shapes your experiences of self.
Your levels of self-awareness and self-acceptance largely shape how you perceive others. p.231 — Stephanie Dowrick

Americans want action for their money. They are fascinated by its self- reproducing qualities if it's put to work. Gold- hoarding goes against the American grain; it fits in better with European pessimism than with America's traditional optimism. — Paula Nelson

It is only when you accept how different you all are, that you will be able to see how much the same you all are. Don't expect anybody to be the same as you, then you will see that you are in many ways the same as everybody. — C. JoyBell C.

In the rosy glow it diffused her companions seemed full of amiable qualities. She liked their elegance; their lightness, their lack of emphasis: even the self-assurance which at times was so like obtuseness now seemed the natural sign of social ascendency. They were lords of the only world she cared for, and they were ready to admit her to their ranks and let her lord it with them. Already she felt within her a stealing allegiance to their standards, an acceptance of their limitations, a disbelief in the things they did not believe in, a contemptuous pity for the people who were not able to live as they lived. — Edith Wharton

The odds are, you highly underestimate how awesome you are. Stop doing that. — Rob Liano

To be accepted by others is a small achievement.
To accept yourself is a great achievement.
To be accepted by God is the greatest achievement. — Matshona Dhliwayo

Indicating his twisted legs without a trace of self-pity or bitterness, as if they belonged to all of us, he casts his arms wide to the sky and the snow mountains, the high sun and dancing sheep, and cries, 'Of course I am happy here! It's wonderful! Especially when I have no choice!' In its wholehearted acceptance of what is;I feel as if he had struck me in the chest. Butter tea and wind pictures, the Crystal Mountain, and blue sheep dancing on the snow-it's quite enough!
Have you seen the snow leopard?
No! Isn't that wonderful? — Peter Matthiessen

Feelings and stories of unworthiness and shame are perhaps the most binding element in the trance of fear. When we believe something is wrong with us, we are convinced we are in danger. Our shame fuels ongoing fear, and our fear fuels more shame. The very fact that we feel fear seems to prove that we are broken or incapable. When we are trapped in trance, being fearful and bad seem to define who we are. The anxiety in our body, the stories, the ways we make excuses, withdraw or lash out - these become to us the self that is most real. — Tara Brach

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

Acceptance is the vessel of realization. — Eric Micha'el Leventhal

I while away my time wishing I were someone else when simply being me is the most magnificent thing I could ever wish to do. — Craig D. Lounsbrough

There is a subtle but inescapable connection between the "sacred" attitude and the acceptance of one's in most self. — Thomas Merton