If You Need A Reminder Of Your Greatness, Look No Further Than These Self-Love Quotes
You've probably heard your favorite celebrity or influencer (or, hey, your mom) preach the importance of self-love. And while their arguments for affirmation may sound cheesy, they do make some solid points.
'Self-love means having a high regard for your own happiness and well-being,' Brian Wind, PhD, chief clinical officer at JourneyPure, a national addiction rehabilitation center previously told Women’s Health. It’s important to have self-love as not only is it a great way of affirming yourself, but it 'can influence how you handle the challenges you face in different aspects of your life, your overall happiness, and your mental and physical health,’ he added. (All together now: “Self-love is good for my mental health.” Okay, noted.)
Nevertheless, loving yourself is often easier said than done (ahem, it’s really hard). When you’re going through a rough patch in this journey called life, or are simply not feeling the lovey-dovey feelings surrounding Valentine’s Day because you’re a single-pringle for the third year in a row (been there), it can be especially challenging to show yourself some self-compassion.
Well, if no one has told you recently, I’m here to remind you that you are that girl—person, bad b*tch–period, and it’s about time you lived your truth. But, don’t take it from me, take it from your favorite celebrities, writers, and overall game-changers.
These 100 self-love quotes will empower you whenever you’re feeling meh (or just need a gentle nudge to keep going). Read 'em all, write your faves down, and stash a few in your back pocket for those times when you need a li'l extra boost.
1. “I must undertake to love myself and to respect myself as though my very life depends upon self-love and self-respect.” —Maya Angelou
2. “Your self-worth is determined by you. You don’t have to depend on someone telling you who you are.” —Beyoncé Knowles
3. “Forgiveness isn’t just the absence of anger. I think it’s also the presence of self-love, when you actually begin to value yourself.” —Tara Westover
4. “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
5. “To be a Hottie, you gotta have a lot of self-love, a lot of confidence. You gotta be able to put your foot down. Hotties are supposed to turn other people into Hotties, too. If you see someone that’s not quite confident, you gotta be the Hottie to gas up your friend.” —Megan Thee Stallion
6. “This self-love is the instrument of our preservation; it resembles the provision for the perpetuity of mankind: it is necessary, it is dear to us, it gives us pleasure, and we must conceal it.” —Voltaire
7. “Self-love has very little to do with how you feel about your outer self. It’s about accepting all of yourself.” —Tyra Banks
8. “When you take care of yourself, you’re a better person for others. When you feel good about yourself, you treat others better.” —Solange Knowles
9. “Treat yourself like you’d treat your best friend…Be your own best friend.” —Jameela Jamil
10. “Everyone of us needs to show how much we care for each other and, in the process, care for ourselves.” —Princess Diana
11. “I think forgiveness is probably one of the greatest forms of self-love there is because you don’t do forgiveness for anybody else. My captors will never care if I forgive them…It will not make a day of difference to them at all, but it will make a huge difference to me.” —Elizabeth Smart
12. “As much as I preach self-love, it’s so hard for me to love myself. It’s really hard, and it’s just about building a good network of people and, in this case, a good network of artists. Trying to live your ideals as best as you can.” —Petra Collins
13. “I think self-love isn’t some destination you get to and you are then incapable of feeling those feelings, but a journey in which you adapt your experiences to make for a happier life.” —Paloma Elsesser
14. “People need to work on what self-love is and re-defining self-love... it comes from within: who you are and how you carry yourself in this world.” —Ashley Nell Tipton
15. “Self-love is not something that you get in one day or two days. It’s an ongoing process, and I go through it every day.” —Khoudia Diop
16. “Being diagnosed with cancer helped me identify all that was wrong in my life. It also helped me search for the solutions. I discovered self-love; I learned to prioritize myself over others and, most importantly, realized that I had to love myself first before somebody else loves me.” —Manisha Koirala
17. “If you don’t know where to find self-love, you’re going to spend the rest of your life trying to find it somewhere else.” —Jeannie Mai
18. “Do not allow people to dim your shine because they are blinded. Tell them to put on some sunglasses, ’cause we were born this way!” —Lady Gaga
19. “You have to be able to love yourself because that’s when things fall into place.” —Vanessa Hudgens
20. “There are so many layers to what makes you feel empowered. Obviously, self-love. If you can’t get into that, you can’t get into moving to care about others and changing the world.” —Denise Bidot
21. “Do your thing and don’t care if they like it.” —Tina Fey
22. “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
23. “When a woman becomes her own best friend, life is easier.” —Diane Von Furstenberg
24. “This life is mine alone. So I have stopped asking people for directions to places they’ve never been.” —Glennon Doyle
25. “How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you.” —Rupi Kaur
26. “Nobody is perfect. I just don’t believe in perfection. But I do believe in saying, ‘This is who I am and look at me not being perfect!’ I’m proud of that.”—Kate Winslet
27. “If we stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by what we are, we can all be freer.”—Emma Watson
28. “If we treated ourselves as well as we treated our best friend, can you imagine?”—Meghan Markle
29. “I like me. I like my story and all the bumps and bruises. That’s what makes me uniquely me.”—Michelle Obama
30. “It took many years of vomiting up all the filth I’d been taught about myself, and half-believed, before I was able to walk on the earth as though I had a right to be here.” —James Baldwin
Want more self-love inspo? Watch this video for new ways to love yourself each day:
31. “If you’re not someone who has a natural and effortless love for yourself, it’s hard to let go of your desire to please other people, and that’s really not an ingredient for a happy life.”—Anne Hathaway
32. “I now see how owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.” —Brené Brown
33. “You may not be the best that ever did it, you may not be the prettiest or the tallest or the funniest or the most talented or whatever you tell yourself that you’re not—if you’re stubborn and if you don’t give up and you work really hard—no one else can ever be you.” —Pink
34. “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.” —Eartha Kitt
35. “A person learns how to love himself through the simple acts of loving and being loved by someone else.” —Haruki Murakami
36. “One of the best guides to how to be self-loving is to give ourselves the love we are often dreaming about receiving from others.” —bell hooks
37. “I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art.” —Madonna
38. “Maybe I made a mistake yesterday, but yesterday’s me is still me. I am who I am today, with all my faults. Tomorrow I might be a tiny bit wiser, and that’s me, too. These faults and mistakes are what I am, making up the brightest stars in the constellation of my life.” —Kim Namjoon
39. “She remembered who she was and the game changed.” —Lalah Delia
40. “I am so beautiful, sometimes people weep when they see me. And it has nothing to do with what I look like really, it is just that I gave myself the power to say that I am beautiful, and if I could do that, maybe there is hope for them, too.” —Margaret Cho
41. “So then, the relationship of self to other is the complete realization that loving yourself is impossible without loving everything defined as other than yourself.” —Alan Wilson Watts
42. “My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.” —Ruth Bader Ginsburg
43. “It helps to even look in the mirror—and it sounds so cheesy—but if you just look in the mirror and say, ‘You are beautiful,’ and ‘You are worthy,’ those things really help you.” —Demi Lovato
44. “I’ve come to a realization that I need to be able to forgive myself for making the wrong choice, trusting the wrong person, or figuratively falling on my face in front of everyone. Step into the daylight and let it go.” —Taylor Swift
45. “I take self-love very seriously. And I take it seriously because when I was younger, I wanted to change everything about myself. I didn’t love who I was. And the reason I didn’t love who I was is because I was told I wasn’t lovable by the media, by [people at] school, by not seeing myself in beauty ads, by not seeing myself in television…by lack of representation. My self-hatred got so bad that I was fantasizing about being other people. But you can’t live your life trying to be somebody else. What’s the point?” —Lizzo
46. “I am sure of myself as a person. I am sure of my talent. I’m sure of my love for life and that sort of thing. I am very content, I like the kind of person that I am.” —Dolly Parton
47. “I always joke about letting the haters motivate you. Everybody has that in their life—people who doubt them or make them feel less than they are. It just takes faith and belief in yourself, and you’ve got to dig deep into that. That has to come from you—nobody’s going to give you that.”—Jennifer Lopez
48. “I’m not asking you to like my body. I’m just asking you to let me be me. Because I’m going to influence a girl who does look like me, and I want her to feel good about herself.” —Serena Williams
49. “If I have a negative thought that is about myself or I feel embarrassed about something or I feel ashamed about something, instantly, whatever it is, I will say, ‘I love you.’” —Bryce Dallas Howard
50. “To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.” —Oscar Wilde
51. “We can’t be so desperate for love that we forget where we can always find it; within.” —Alexandra Elle
52. “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” —Lucille Ball
53. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
54. “I have insecurities of course, but I don’t hang out with anyone who points them out to me.” —Adele
55. “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
56. “It’s okay to not be perfect and not to have everything figured out. It’s okay to feel things that are shameful, hate, and feel guilty. I feel like the message we’ve tried to stand by, is that it’s basically okay to have scars and to show them. To show that you’ve been through all sorts of things and have come out a different and better person because of it.” —Hayley Williams
57. “Why do I have to be like everyone else? Why can’t people just let other people feel good about themselves and do what they want? Wear whatever you want, people! As long as you feel good about yourself, that’s what matters. Don’t ever let anyone stifle who you are and how you express yourself.” —Ariel Winter
58. “Put yourself first. Self-love is not selfish at all. It means that you’re taking care of yourself, and like my mom reinforced to me, to make sure that I was safe and that I was healthy.” —Laurie Hernandez
59. “For me, self-love is like, ‘Am I sleeping enough? Eating well?’ Not: ‘Am I eating well to be able to fit into my skinny jeans?’ But: ‘Am I eating well to be healthy and strong?’ And to acknowledge the good, because there is always a lot of good.” —Kerry Washington
60. “I always feel confident. I never allow myself to not feel confident.” —Amber Rose
61. “When we fulfill our function, which is to truly love ourselves and share love with others, then true happiness sets in.” —Gabrielle Bernstein
62. “I’m not going to apologize for who I am, and I’m going to actually love the skin that I’m in. I’m not gonna be striving for some other version of myself.” —Amy Schumer
63. “The important thing is to realize that no matter what people’s opinions may be, they’re only just that—people’s opinions. You have to believe in your heart what you know to be true about yourself, and let that be that.” —Mary J. Blige
64. “Without personal power/self-love, there is no foundation to build love for someone else because it’s the power needed to dissolve the ego, which is our greatest obstacle to truly loving through its brutal and unkind nature.” —Jada Pinkett Smith
65. “I think everyone should do what they feel is best for them and not what other people think they should do or try to fit themselves into a mold. It’s about listening to yourself and truly knowing what makes you happy.” —Lea Michelle
66. “All relationships are a reflection of your relationship with yourself.” —Deepak Chopra
67. “I think once we let our ego go, [we] just get over the fact that everybody’s not going to like us—and that’s okay! Because there will be people who do dig it. And even if they don’t, do you? You get one life. Who cares what everyone else thinks?” —Kelly Clarkson
68. “Will I ever be done, transformed in the past tense, or will I always be transforming, better and better until I die?” —Carmen Maria Machado
69. “I’m centered in who I am, and I’m really grateful. I’m not perfect.” —Letitia Wright
70. “Stay true to yourself. An original is worth more than a copy.” —Suzy Kassem
71. “The greatest rebellion is loving yourself in a world trying to sabotage your light.” —Nikki Rowe
72. “I was made exactly the way I was meant to be made in who I am and my personality and the way I was born.” —Meghan Rapinoe
73. “Being perfect is being flawed, accepting it and never letting it make you feel less than your best.” —Jessica Alba
74. “You really have to look inside yourself and find your own inner strength, and say, ‘I’m proud of what I am and who I am, and I’m just going to be myself.’” —Mariah Carey
75. “Emotionally and mentally, I would say [my beauty philosophy is] just about loving yourself and loving what you’ve been given. To really appreciate it and take care of it.” —Jennifer Aniston
76. “I remind myself to be kind to myself, and as slightly ridiculous as it may sound, to treat myself in the same gentle way I’d want to treat a daughter of mine. It really helps.” —Emma Stone
77. “She would start to give them less and herself more: by draining her, they created in her a new capacity for selfishness.” —Rachel Cusk
78. “Being comfortable in your own skin is one of the most important things to achieve. I’m still working on it!” —Kate Mara
79. “I’m not going to conform, and hurt myself, and do something crazy to be a size two.” —Amber Riley
80. “I always get asked, ‘Where do you get your confidence?’ I think people are well meaning, but it’s pretty insulting. Because what it means to me is, ‘You Mindy Kaling, have all the trappings of a very marginalized person. You’re not skinny, you’re not white, you’re a woman. Why on earth would you feel like you’re worth anything?’” —Mindy Kaling
81. “One day, I had to sit down with myself and decide that I loved myself no matter what my body looked like and what other people thought about my body. I got tired of hating myself.”—Gabourey Sidibe
82. “It doesn’t matter what size you are. It doesn’t matter if you have cellulite. It doesn’t matter if things jiggle where they’re not supposed to. That’s still beautiful.” —Ashley Graham
83. “I’m an actress, I live in L.A., I work in Hollywood. But I’ve learned that if you’re too skinny, they’ll say something about it. If you’re not skinny enough, they’ll say something about it. I just try to feel good in my own skin as much as I can.” —Jennifer Love Hewitt
84. “God made a very obvious choice when he made me voluptuous; why would I go against what he decided for me? My limbs work, so I’m not going to complain about the way my body is shaped.” —Drew Barrymore
85. “I love and approve of myself. I rejoice in who I am, and it’s okay to express myself. I am enough.” —Fearne Cotton
86. “It’s really easy to be self-deprecating all day long, but it’s getting a little boring!” —Laura Dern
87. “Trans is beautiful. All the things that make me uniquely and beautifully trans, my big hands, my big feet, my wide shoulders, my deep voice, are beautiful.” —Laverne Cox
88. “In a way, you’ve already won in this world because you are the only one who can be you.” —Fred Rogers
89. “With realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s own ability, one can build a better world.” —Dalai Lama
90. “Never settle for anything less than you want.” —PJ Harvey
91. “There is nothing that you have to do to have self-esteem except agree and accept that you are worthy of your existence.” —Bruce Lee
92. “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” —Buddha
93. “Don’t sacrifice yourself too much, because if you sacrifice too much there’s nothing else you can give and nobody will care for you.” —Karl Lagerfeld
94. “Respect yourself and others will respect you.” —Confucius
95. “Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.” —Mark Twain
96. “You are what you believe yourself to be.” —Paulo Coelho
97. “You have to be odd to be number one.” —Dr. Seuss
98. “It’s just like, damn—I’m competing with myself.” —Cardi B
99. “You have to realize that you are everything and more just on your own.” —Jhené Aiko
100. “More often than not the love that someone gives you will be a reflection of the love you give yourself. If you can’t treat yourself with kindness, care, and patience, chances are someone else won’t either.” —Dolly Alderton
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