Self-love is the instinct by which one’s actions are directed to the promotion of one’s own welfare or well-being, especially an excessive regard for one’s own advantage. It’s the belief one holds that he/she is a valuable and worthy person. Self-love has often been seen as the inner understanding and appreciation of oneself in thoughts, words and actions.
Some of the best quotes on self-love are listed below.
- “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
- “A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world. Everyone you meet is your mirror.” – Ken Keyes
- “A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” – Mark Twain
- “A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success.” – Joyce Brothers
- “Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it.” – Unknown
- “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James
- “All I can do is be me, whoever that is.” – Bob Dylan
- “As you build trust in yourself, your ability to expand your vision and fully live in your magnificence is amplified.” – Miranda J. Barrett
- “Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.” – André Gide
- “Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.” – Lao-Tzu
- “Becoming acquainted with yourself is a price well worth paying for the love that will really address your needs.” – Daphne Rose Kingma
- “Believing in our hearts that who we are is enough is the key to a more satisfying and balanced life.” – Ellen Sue Stern
- “Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends.” – Aberjhani
- “Do your thing and don’t care if they like it.” – Tina Fey
- “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Washington Thurman
- “Don’t rely on someone else for your happiness and self-worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can’t love and respect yourself – no one else will be able to make that happen. Accept who you are – completely; the good and the bad – and make changes as YOU see fit – not because you think someone else wants you to be different.” – Stacey Charter
- “Every decision I make is the right decision for me.” – Louise Hay
- “Find the love you seek, by first finding the love within yourself. Learn to rest in that place within you that is your true home.” – Sri Ravi Shankar
- “Follow that will and that way which experience confirms to be your own.” – Carl Gustav Jung
- “Growth begins when we start to accept our own weakness.” – Jean Vanier
- “I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “I celebrate myself, and sing myself.” – Walt Whitman
- “I found in my research that the biggest reason people aren’t more self-compassionate is that they are afraid they’ll become self-indulgent. They believe self-criticism is what keeps them in line. Most people have gotten it wrong because our culture says being hard on yourself is the way to be.” – Kristen Neff
- “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
- “I love myself for I am a beloved child of the universe and the universe lovingly takes care of me now.” – Louise Hay
- “I think everybody’s weird. We should all celebrate our individuality and not be embarrassed or ashamed of it.” – Johnny Depp
- “I think the most important thing in life is self-love, because if you don’t have self-love, and respect for everything about your own body, your own soul, your own capsule, then how can you have an authentic relationship with anyone else?” – Shailene Woodley
- “I’ve finally stopped running away from myself. Who else is there better to be?” – Golden Hawn
- “If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.” – Fred Rogers
- “If you aren’t good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you’ll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren’t even giving to yourself.” – Barbara De Angelis
- “If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” – Jack Kornfield
- “It ain’t what they call you, it’s what you answer to.” – W.C. Fields
- “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
- “It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else’s eyes.” – Sally Field
- “It’s all about falling in love with yourself and sharing that love with someone who appreciates you, rather than looking for love to compensate for a self love deficit.” – Earth Kitt
- “It’s not your job to like me…it’s MINE!” – Byron Katie
- “It’s surprising how many persons go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely determined by their feelings toward themselves, and if you’re not comfortable within yourself, you can’t be comfortable with others.” – Sidney J. Harris
- “Love is the great miracle cure. Loving ourselves works miracles in our lives.” – Louise L. Hay
- “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” – Lucille Ball
- “Loving yourself isn’t vanity. It is sanity.” – Katrina Mayer
- “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
- “Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your hand-break on.” – Maxwell Maltz
- “Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one’s own sunshine.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “My willingness to be intimate with my own deep feelings creates the space for intimacy with another.” – Shakti Gawain
- “Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.” – Harvey Fierstein
- “Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the face.” – Helen Keller
- “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Our entire life… consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are.” – Jean Anouih
- “Our self-respect tracks our choices. Every time we act in harmony with our authentic self and our heart, we earn our respect. It is that simple. Every choice matters.” – Dan Coppersmith
- “People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.” – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
- “People may flatter themselves just as much by thinking that their faults are always present to other people’s minds, as if they believe that the world is always contemplating their individual charms and virtues.” – Elizabeth Gaskell
- “People who want the most approval get the least and the people who need approval the least get the most.” – Wayne Dyer
- “Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.” – Veronica A. Shoffstall
- “Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Remember to delight yourself first, then others can be truly delighted.” – SARK
- “Scarcity of self value cannot be remedied by money, recognition, affection, attention or influence.” – Gary Zukav
- “Self love is the source of all other loves.” – Pierre Corneille
- “Self respect, self worth and self love, all start with self. Stop looking outside of yourself for your value.” – Rob Liano
- “Self-care is never a selfish act—it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others.” – Parker Palmer
- “Self-love has very little to do with how you feel about your outer self. It’s about accepting all of yourself.” – Tyra Banks
- “Self-pity gets you nowhere. One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world making the most of one’s best.” – Harry Emerson Fosdick
- “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
- “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
- “The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours – it is an amazing journey – and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.” – Bob Moawad
- “The better you feel about yourself, the less you feel the need to show off.” – Robert Hand
- “The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.” – William James
- “The hardest challenge is to be yourself in a world where everyone is trying to make you be somebody else.” – E. E. Cummings
- “The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassions, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” – Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
- “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
- “The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you but yourself.” – Rita Mae Brown
- “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
- “There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anaïs Nin
- “There is nothing noble about being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.” – Hindu Proverb
- “To accept ourselves as we are means to value our imperfections as much as our perfections.” – Sandra Bierig
- “To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
- “To be successful, the first thing to do is fall in love with your work.” – Sister Mary Lauretta
- “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “To establish true self-esteem we must concentrate on our successes and forget about the failures and the negatives in our lives.” – Denis Waitley
- “To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.” – Oscar Wilde
- “To love yourself right now, just as you are, is to give yourself heaven. Don’t wait until you die. If you wait, you die now. If you love, you live now.” – Alan Cohen
- “Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.” – Malcolm S. Forbes
- “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
- “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
- “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Whatever you are doing, love yourself for doing it. Whatever you are feeling, love yourself for feeling it.” – Thaddeus Golas
- “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 judgement called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving.” – Kim McMillen
- “When nobody celebrates you, learn to celebrate yourself. When nobody compliments you, then compliment yourself. It’s not up to other people to keep you encouraged. It’s up to you. Encouragement should come from the inside.” – Joel Osteen
- “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
- “When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.” – Jean Shinoda Bolen
- “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” – Carl Gustav Jung
- “Why should we worry about what others think of us, do we have more confidence in their opinions than we do our own?” – Brigham Young
- “You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.” – Maya Angelou
- “You are very powerful, provided you know how powerful you are.” – Yogi Bhajan
- “You can’t build joy on a feeling of self-loathing.” – Ram Dass
- “You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” – Louise L. Hay
- “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection” – Buddha
- “You’re always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company.” – Diane Von Furstenberg
- “Your value does not decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.” – Unknown
For the true riches in life&in living are found in ones individual capacity to love? The question then becomes, how does one become more loving? For he who knows love, knows God, for God is love. Is it then about becoming love? Keep pressing in, go deeper&higher&become my friend.