If you struggle with confidence, negative self-comparisons, or self-criticism, you may lack a healthy level of self-acceptance. Embrace every part of yourself, including the qualities you perceive as flaws—it’s easier than spending a lifetime trying to change them!
This article provides inspirational self-acceptance quotes across categories like body acceptance, radical self-acceptance, self-love and self-esteem.
Discover the power of self-acceptance with this collection of 143 empowering quotes. Self-acceptance is the ultimate gift we can give ourselves—embracing who you are without conditions or limitations!
(By the way, throughout this brew of quotes, I’ve added splashes of colour to some of my personal favourite quotes—enjoy!)
Self-Acceptance Quotes
2. “Friendship with oneself is all important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.”―Eleanor Roosevelt
3. “I want to be the best version of myself for anyone who is going to someday walk into my life and need someone to love them beyond reason.”―Jennifer Elisabeth
4. “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”―Siddhārtha Gautama
5. “To say “I love you” one must know first how to say the ‘I’.”―Ayn Rand
6. “’You have peace,’ the old woman said, ‘when you make it with yourself.’”―Mitch Albom
7. “We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.”―Dalai Lama XIV
9. “I think that young men and women are so caught by the way they see themselves. Now mind you. When a larger society sees them as unattractive, as threats, as too black or too white or too poor or too fat or too thin or too sexual or too asexual, that’s rough. But you can overcome that. The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself. If we don’t have that we never grow, we never learn, and sure as hell we should never teach.”―Maya Angelou
10. “Generally, self-acceptance is conceptualized as an affirmation or acceptance of self in spite of weaknesses or deficiencies.”—Michael Bernard
11. “It is important to recognize that it’s not unjust to let go of those who show no concern for you.”—Vex King
12. “Loving yourself isn’t vanity. It’s sanity.”—André Gide
13. “The desire for others’ approval and reassurance creates sensitivity to real or imagined signs of rejection.”—Jennifer Crocker & Lora Park
14. “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
16. “It is very important for every human being to forgive herself or himself because if you live, you will make mistakes- it is inevitable. But once you do and you see the mistake, then you forgive yourself and say, ‘Well, if I’d known better I’d have done better,’ that’s all. So you say to people who you think you may have injured, ‘I’m sorry,’ and then you say to yourself, ‘I’m sorry.’”―Maya Angelou
17. “It is not worth the while to let our imperfections disturb us always.”―Henry David Thoreau
18. “There is a magnificent, beautiful, wonderful painting in front of you! It is intricate, detailed, a painstaking labor of devotion and love! The colors are like no other, they swim and leap, they trickle and embellish! And yet you choose to fixate your eyes on the small fly which has landed on it! Why do you do such a thing?”―C. JoyBell C.
19. “self-acceptance is truly a heroic act.”—Nathaniel Branden
20. “If you truly loved yourself, you could never hurt another.”—Buddha
22. “When you learn to accept fear, you cease making a catastrophe of it. Then it ceases to be your master.”—Nathaniel Branden
23. “[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
24. “I don’t know if I continue, even today, always liking myself. But what I learned to do many years ago was to forgive myself.”―Maya Angelou
25. “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”―Sharon Salzberg
27. “Being different is a revolving door in your life where secure people enter and insecure exit.”―Shannon L. Alder
28. “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
29. “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
30. “When you start loving yourself, life starts loving you, too. By keeping your vibration high, you’ll attract more opportunities and blessings into your life.”—Vex King
31. “You are beautiful because of your unrelenting insistence on being utterly, uncompromisingly, completely you.”—Jeanette LeBlanc
33. “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
34. “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve love and affection.”—Buddha
35. “Self-love is the balance between accepting yourself as you are while knowing you deserve better, then working towards it.”—Vex King
Body Acceptance Quotes
43. “Self-love has very little to do with how you feel about your outer self. It’s about accepting all of yourself.” ―Tyra Banks
44. “When we’re self-accepting, we’re able to embrace all facets of ourselves—not just the positive, more “esteem-able” parts.” —Leon F. Seltzer
46. “When you stop living your life based on what others think of you, real life begins. At that moment, you will finally see the door of self-acceptance opened.” ―Shannon L. Alder
47. “Be confident at any size.”—Unknown
49. “To me, beauty is about being comfortable in your own skin. It’s about knowing and accepting who you are.”—Ellen DeGeneres
50. “When I accept myself as a fallible human being capable of being liked and disliked, I will be concerned but not anxious if there is a possibility that new people may dislike me.”—Windy Dryden
52. “Shoutout to all the girls working on loving themselves, because that shit’s hard, and I’m proud of you.”—Unknown
53. “Briefly, unconditional acceptance means liking yourself, others, and the world when you are not getting what you want and in spite of your getting what you don’t want.”—Albert Ellis
55. “The more I bathe in the experience of loving and being loved, the more accessible it becomes in daily life.”—Tara Brach
56. “If we make self-love or body acceptance conditional, the truth is, we will never be happy with ourselves. The reality is that our bodies are constantly changing, and they will never remain exactly the same. If we base our self-worth on something as ever-changing as our bodies, we will forever be on the emotional rollercoaster of body obsession and shame.”—Chrissy King
58. “We do whatever we can to avoid the raw pain of feeling unworthy… we hold back and play it safe rather than risking failure.”—Tara Brach
59. “You don’t exist solely to lose weight and be pretty.”—Unknown
61. “To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.”—Thich Nhat Hahn
62. “Entangled in the trance of unworthiness, we grow accustomed to caging ourselves in with self-judgment and anxiety, with restlessness and dissatisfaction.”—Tara Brach
64. “Let go of who you are supposed to be and who you are.”—Brene Brown
68. “I bask in the glory of my most magnificent self.”—Debbie Ford
Deep Self-Acceptance Quotes
76. “The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.”—Carl Jung
77. “Self-forgiveness is a process that enables us to release guilt, while self-acceptance is a process that enables us to process our shame.”—Colin Tipping
78. “When you learn to accept instead of expect, you’ll have fewer disappointments.”—Unknown
79. “A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.”—Mark Twain
80. “Acceptance isn’t about giving up or settling, throwing in the towel. No. Accepting yourself is about having your own back and never abandoning yourself.”—Kris Carr
82. “Happiness and self-acceptance go hand in hand. In fact, your level of self-acceptance determines your level of happiness. The more self-acceptance you have, the more happiness you’ll allow yourself to accept, receive and enjoy.”—Robert Holden
Radical Self-Acceptance Quotes
83. “Radical Acceptance is the willingness to experience ourselves and our life as it is. A moment of Radical Acceptance is a moment of genuine freedom.”—Tara Brach
84. “The happiest people in life are able to be themselves. But you cannot be yourself until you accept yourself.”—Jeff Moore
86. “Just be yourself. Let people see the real, imperfect, flawed, quirky, weird, beautiful, and magical person that you are.”—Unknown
87. “Loving yourself is the greatest revolution.”—Unknown
89. “I assure you there is [no blanket that’s] richer, thicker, cozier [than self-acceptance] to carry through the world. There is a realm infinitely more mind-blowing. It’s called radical self-love.”—Sonya Renee Taylor
90. “We are at our most powerful the moment we no longer need to be powerful.”―Eric Micha’el Leventhal
92. “Celebrate who you are in your deepest heart. Love yourself, and the world will love you.”―Amy Leigh Mercree
93. “Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?” —Ian Wallace
95. “I decided that the most subversive, revolutionary thing I could do was to show up for my life and not be ashamed.”—Anne Lamott
97. “The medicine for shame is radical compassion, the loving presence that helps us trust our belonging and essential goodness.”—Tara Brach
Inspiring Self-Love and Growth Quotes
98. “Laugh at yourself, not with ridicule but with objectivity and acceptance of self.”—C. W. Metcalf
99. “Love for others without the foundation of love for ourselves becomes a loss of boundaries, codependency, and a painful and fruitless search for intimacy. But when we contact, through meditation, our true nature, we can allow others to also find theirs.”—Sharon Salzberg
101. “The secret is—not changing yourself in order to fit in, but instead loving, accepting and embracing all parts of yourself.”—Nara Lee
102. “Respect yourself, love yourself, because there has never been a person like you and there never will be again.”—Osho
104. “Self-love is complete forgiveness, acceptance, and respect for who you are deep down—all your beautiful and hideous parts included.”—Aletheia Luna
105. “Sometimes your soulmate is yourself. You have to be the love of your life until you discover that type of love in someone else.”—R.H. Sin
107. “In order to love who you are, you can’t hate the experiences that shaped you.”—Andrea Dykstra
108. “May I accept myself as I am today. May I learn to love and accept myself unconditionally. I’m here, I’m home.”—Laurasia Mattingly
110. “If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.”—Buddha
111. “Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward.”―Roy Bennett
114. “Let us therefore teach our children and our therapy clients to have unconditional self-acceptance – that is, to fully accept themselves as valuable and enjoyable humans whether or not they are self-efficacious and whether or not others approve of or love them.”—Albert Ellis
115. “If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.”―Charles Bukowski
117. “if we want our children to love and accept who they are, our job is to love and accept who we are.”—Brené Brown
119. “To find the good life, you must accept yourself.”—Dr. Bill Jackson
Short Self-Esteem Quotes
121. “Rather, we think of boosts to self-esteem as analogous to sugar: tasty but not nutritious.”—Jennifer Crocker & Katherine Knight
122. “The moment you accept yourself, you become beautiful.” —Osho
123. “The greatest success is successful self-acceptance.”—Ben Sweet
125. “Every step of our life we need to accept ourselves all over again.”—Jeff Moore
126. “Happiness can only exist in acceptance.”—George Orwell
127. “The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself.”—Maya Angelou
129. “It’s only when we stop judging ourselves that we can secure a more positive sense of who we are.”—Leon F. Seltzer
130. “No amount of self-improvement can make up for any lack of self-acceptance.”—Robert Holden
131. “Within yourself, you must come to a total sense of acceptance of everything.”—Sadhguru
133. “Self-esteem is perhaps the greatest emotional sickness known to humans.”—Albert Ellis
134. “Basing self-esteem on external contingencies of self-worth, such as appearance or others’ approval, requires continual validation from others.”—Jennifer Crocker & Katherine Knight
135. “Pursuing self-esteem can be motivating, but other sources of motivation, such as goals that are good for the self and others, can provide the same motivation without the costs.”—Jennifer Crocker & Lora Park
137. “Rather, we think of boosts to self-esteem as analogous to sugar: tasty but not nutritious.”—Jennifer Crocker & Katherine Knight
138. “The short-term emotional benefits of pursuing self-esteem are often outweighed by long-term costs.”—Jennifer Crocker & Lora Park
139. “The pursuit of self-esteem sacrifices autonomy.”—Jennifer Crocker & Lora Park
141. “Unconditional, non-egoistic self-acceptance is actually more in line with self-compassion than [self-esteem], suggesting that self-compassion may be a better candidate for predicting healthy relationship interactions.”—Kristin Neff & Natasha Beretvas
142. People with high self-esteem have a stronger tendency than those with low self-esteem to judge and treat their own groups more favorably than out-groups.”—Roy Baumeister et al.
love,
emily
