37 Self-Worth Quotes to Boost Your Self-Esteem and Self-Love

Self-worth is something almost all young people struggle with. The mechanisms of the human mind and body are fascinating. It has limitless potential for making new discoveries and shaping the world.

And yet, due to mere chemical imbalances in your brain, from time to time, you still feel empty, as if there’s nothing of worth you have to offer. Here are some self-worth quotes that will change your mind.

What Is Self-Worth?

Self-worth is how you see yourself. How good of a person you believe you are, how you think you look, how smart you see yourself as, how talented, or how funny. When one of these criteria of self-perception takes a hit, it lowers your self-esteem and can impact how you perceive yourself.

These self-worth quotes are not just wise statements but are often regarded as truisms about human nature to help people find their worth.

Most Famous Self-Worth Quotes

#1. “We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves.” — Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X

#2. “It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him.” — Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln, his life and times (ed. 1891)

#3. “If you could only 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 (Mr. Rogers), The World According to Mr. Rogers

#4. “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

#5. “Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.” — Malcolm S. Forbes

#6. “I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.” — Frederick Douglass

#7. “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” — Helen Keller

#8. “Dig within. There lies the wellspring of good: ever dig, and it will ever flow.” — Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Aurelius Meditations

Inspirational Self-Worth Quotes

#9. “Your sense of self-worth comes from you alone, never the opinion of others.” — Robert Greene, Twitter Feed

#10. “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson

#11. “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” — Marie Curie

#12. “Our beliefs about what we are and what we can be, precisely determine what we will be.” — Tony Robbins, Twitter Feed

#13. “Action is a high road to self-confidence and esteem.” — Bruce Lee, In an Interview

Short Self-Worth Quotes

#14. “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” — Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband

#15. “Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your hand-break on.” — Maxwell Maltz

#16. “Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.” — Kurt Cobain

#17. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

#18. “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” — Sir Edmund Hillary, An Interview from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

#19. “The worst thing about loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself.” — Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn

#20. “Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.” — Peter T. McIntyre

#21. “Respect yourself and others will respect you.” — Confucius, The Analects

Wise Self-Worth Quotes

#22. “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” — Buddha

#23. “Sometimes the hardest part of the journey is believing you’re worth the trip.” — Glenn Beck

#24. “Be a good person, but don’t waste your time trying to prove it.” — Paulo Coelho, Twitter Feed

#25. “As a mountain of rock is unshaken by wind, so also, the wise are unperturbed by blame or by praise.” — The Dhammapada

#26. “Those who realize the self are always satisfied. Having found the source of joy and fulfillment, they no longer seek happiness from the external world. Happiness can only be found within the self.” — Vyasa, The Bhagavad Gita

#27. “The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself.” — Maya Angelou, Haters, Life, Reading and Love

Unexpected Self-Worth Quotes to Boost Confidence

#28. “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, In An Interview

#29. “You need to know that as long as you love who you are — your morals, your values, that type of stuff, you’re OK.” — Nicki Minaj, In An Interview

#30. “It’s very hard for them to attack me on looks, because I’m so good looking.” — Donald Trump, Press Conference.

#31. “L’Oreal’s slogan ‘because you’re worth it’ has come to epitomise banal narcissism of early 21st century capitalism; easy indulgence and effortless self-love all available at a flick of the credit card.” — Geoff Mulgan, The Guardian

#32. “It’s not your job to like me… it’s mine!” — Byron Katie

#33. “You’re always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company.” — Diane Von Furstenberg

#34. “Self-love seems so often unrequited.” — Anthony Powell, Memoirs

#35. “I have an everyday religion that works for me. Love yourself first, and everything else falls into line.” — Lucille Ball

#36. “When life gives you lemons, squirt someone in the eye.” — Cathy Guisewite, When Life Gives You Lemons, Squirt Back!

#37. “I’ve finally stopped running away from myself. Who else is there better to be?” — Golden Hawn

A Few Parting Words

Don’t let criticisms or intentionally mean comments determine your self-worth. Some people wouldn’t know a good song if it made them levitate. Your uniqueness is a blend of both beauty and imperfections, so you should never stop working on yourself. But in the meantime, don’t rush to conclusions about your self-worth.

The truism most of these self-worth quotes silently scream is that your story isn’t over. Your worth is something that you will continue to keep building, like everyone else.