One of the most powerful and important things you can do to live a happier life is – in my experience – to focus on loving and taking care of yourself.
But it can be tough, especially during hard times or if you’re having low or bad days. And it’s so easy to forget about it with everything else going on in everyday life.
So in today’s post I’d like to share 175 of the most empowering, helpful and inspirational self-love quotes.
To give you new motivation to up your self-love in daily life and through that also your self-esteem and happiness.
Because this is important. For your own well-being. But also for you to be able to recharge yourself and be your best self so you can better help and love the people closest to you.
I hope you’ll find something here to help you to treat yourself with more kindness and then spread that love out into your own world.
Inspirational Self-Love Quotes for a Happy Life
“Whatever you are doing, love yourself for doing it. Whatever you are feeling, love yourself for feeling it.”
– Thaddeus Golas
“Flowers grow back even after the harshest winters. You will, too.”
– Jennae Cecelia
“Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.”
– Coco Chanel
“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses.”
– Bob Moawad
“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
“Lighten up on yourself. No one is perfect. Gently accept your humanness.”
– Deborah Day
“Don’t rely on someone else for your happiness and self-worth. Only you can be responsible for that.”
– Stacey Charter
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
– Buddha
“Be so completely yourself that everyone else feels safe to be themselves, too.”
– Diane Von Furstenberg
“Tell yourself how wonderful you are, how great you are. Tell yourself how much you love yourself.”
– Don Miguel Ruiz
“Work on being in love with the person in the mirror who has been through so much but is still standing.”
– Unknown
“Every one of us needs to show how much we care for each other and, in the process, care for ourselves.”
– Princess Diana
“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.”
– Lucille Ball
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“To fall in love with yourself is the first secret to happiness.”
– Robert Morley
“Self-love has very little to do with how you feel about your outer self. It’s about accepting all of yourself.”
– Tyra Banks
“The better you feel about yourself, the less you feel the need to show off.”
– Robert Hand
“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
– Carl Gustav Jung
“There is nothing noble about being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.”
– Hindu Proverb
“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
“I celebrate myself, and sing myself.”
– Walt Whitman
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.”
– Stephen Covey
“You are very powerful, provided you know how powerful you are.”
– Yogi Bhajan
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“When things change inside you, things change around you.”
– Unknown
“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.”
– Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”
– Sir Edmund Hillary
Inspirational Self-Love Quotes for When Life is Tough
“Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the face.”
– Helen Keller
“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
“One’s dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered.”
– Michael J. Fox
“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.”
– Fred Rogers
“Don’t fall into the trap of sacrificing your self-esteem for affection and acceptance.”
– Ashley Graham
“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
“Plant hope in your heart’s wounds.”
– Alexandra Vasiliu
“Your problem is you’re too busy holding onto your unworthiness.”
– 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
“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
“Growth begins when we start to accept our own weakness.”
– Jean Vanier
“You can’t build joy on a feeling of self-loathing.”
– Ram Dass
“The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself.”
– Maya Angelou
“One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.”
– Shannon L. Alder
“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
“Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.”
– Roy T. Bennett
“Once you embrace your value, talents and strengths, it neutralizes when others think less of you.”
– Rob Liano
“Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.”
– Benjamin Spock
“The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.”
– Carl Gustav Jung
“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”
– Dale Carnegie
“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.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your hand-break on.”
– Maxwell Maltz
“The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself.”
– Mark Twain
“Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one’s own sunshine.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.”
– Malcolm S. Forbes
“Self-discipline is self-caring.”
– M. Scott Peck
“If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.”
– Charles Bukowski
Empowering Self-Love Quotes for Girls & Women (By Women)
“We just need to be kinder to ourselves. If we treated ourselves the way we treated our best friend, can you imagine how much better off we would be?”
– Meghan Markle
“I’m going to make everything around me beautiful. That will be my life.”
– Elsie de Wolfe
“I love the person I’ve become because I fought to become her.”
– Kaci Diane
“Put yourself first. Self-love is not selfish at all. It means that you’re taking care of yourself.”
– Laurie Hernandez
“If we spent our years nurturing the best of ourselves, heaven would be felt on earth.”
– Nikki Rowe
“I must undertake to love myself and to respect myself as though my very life depends upon self-love and self-respect.”
– Maya Angelou
“It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else’s eyes.”
– Sally Field
“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
“My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.”
– Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“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
“When a woman becomes her own best friend, life is easier.”
– Diane Von Furstenberg
“Be healthy and take care of yourself, but be happy with the beautiful things that make you, you.”
– Beyoncé
“Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.”
– Sophia Loren
“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
“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
“How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you.”
– Rupi Kaur
“I think no matter what you look like, the key first of all is to be happy with yourself.”
– Adele
“Your self-worth is determined by you. You don’t have to depend on someone telling you who you are.”
– Beyoncé
“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
“Don’t waste your energy trying to change opinions… Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it.”
– Tina Fey
“The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you but yourself.”
– Rita Mae Brown
“To make your dreams come true, the first person you have to believe in is yourself.”
– Estée Lauder
Quotes to Help You Love Yourself (Even on Bad Days)
“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.”
– Kim McMillen
“Learn to be alone without being lonely. Learn to admire your beauty without finding fault. Learn to love yourself without the love of others.”
– h.r.d
“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
“Believing in our hearts that who we are is enough is the key to a more satisfying and balanced life.”
– Ellen Sue Stern
“Be brave enough to heal yourself even when it hurts.”
– Bianca Sparacino
“No boundary or barrier surrounds the heart of a person that loves their self and others.”
– Shannon L. Alder
“In a society that profits from your self-doubt, liking yourself is a rebellious act.”
– Caroline Caldwell
“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
“You know more than you think you do.”
– Benjamin Spock
“Your biggest commitment must always be to yourself.”
– Bridgett Devoue
“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.”
– Andrew Matthews
“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
“When you feel your worst is when you need to love yourself more. Start with just something small to love about yourself. Then build on that.”
– Joy Stevens
“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
“Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious. You get to choose how you use it.”
– Anna Taylor
“Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we’ll ever do.”
– Brené Brown
“You’re always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company.”
– Diane Von Furstenberg
“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
“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 Sri Ravi Shankar
“You can have anything you want if you are willing to give up the belief that you can’t have it.”
– Dr. Robert Anthony
“Self-love is an ocean and your heart is a vessel. Make it full, and any excess will spill over into the lives of the people you hold dear. But you must come first.”
– Beau Taplin
“I’m constantly amazed by how easily we love ourselves above all others, yet we put more stock in the opinions of others than in our own estimation of self.”
– Marcus Aurelius
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
“You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.”
– Eckhart Tolle
“Self-love is giving the world the best of you, instead of what’s left of you.”
– Katie Reed
“When we fulfill our function, which is to truly love ourselves and share love with others, then true happiness sets in.”
– Gabrielle Bernstein
“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
Positive and Deep Self-Love Quotes
“To accept ourselves as we are means to value our imperfections as much as our perfections.”
– Sandra Bierig
“Did your mom ever tell you, ‘If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything’? She was right – and talking nicely also applies when you’re talking to yourself, even inside your head.”
– Victoria Moran
“To establish true self-esteem we must concentrate on our successes and forget about the failures and the negatives in our lives.”
– Denis Waitley
“The most powerful relationship you will ever have is the relationship with yourself.”
– Steve Maraboli
“Scarcity of self value cannot be remedied by money, recognition, affection, attention or influence.”
– Gary Zukav
“You must love yourself before you love another. By accepting yourself and fully being what you are, your simple presence can make others happy.”
– Unknown
“Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
“The challenge is not to be perfect — it is to be whole.”
– Jane Fonda
“Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment.”
– Thomas Carlyle
“Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval.”
– Lao-Tzu
“I don’t want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did.”
– Henry James
“Your problem is you’re too busy holding onto your unworthiness.”
– Ram Dass
“If you don’t love yourself, nobody will. Not only that, you won’t be good at loving anyone else. Loving starts with the self.”
– Wayne Dyer
“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
“Love is the great miracle cure. Loving ourselves works miracles in our lives.”
– Louise Hay
“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
“A person learns how to love himself through the simple acts of loving and being loved by someone else.”
– Haruki Murakami
“No other love no matter how genuine it is, can fulfill one’s heart better than unconditional self-love.”
– Edmond Mbiaka
“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
“Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.”
– Christopher Germer
“When I’m tired, I rest. I say, ‘I can’t be a superwoman today.’”
– Jada Pinkett Smith
“Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.”
– André Gide
“The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.”
– William James
“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 Watts
“Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.”
– Bell Hooks
Self-Love Quotes to Help You Prioritize Yourself and Self-Care
“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.”
– Ovid
“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
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”
– John Lubbock
“Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.”
– Edward Stanley
“You have to create little pockets of joy in your life to take care of yourself.”
– Jonathan Van Ness
“True self-care is not bath salts and chocolate cake, it’s making the choice to build a life you don’t need to escape from.”
– Brianna Wiest
“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”
– Anne Lamott
“Keep good company, read good books, love good things and cultivate soul and body as faithfully as you can.”
– Louisa May Alcott
“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
“There are thousands of causes for stress, and one antidote to stress is self-expression.”
– Garson Kanin
“Fall in love with taking care of yourself. Fall in love with the path of deep healing. Fall in love with becoming the best version of yourself but with patience, with compassion, and respect to your own journey.”
– S. McNutt
“Rest and self-care are so important. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve others from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty vessel.”
– Eleanor Brownn
“Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.”
– Oprah Winfrey
“It is so important to take time for yourself and find clarity. The most important relationship is the one you have with yourself.”
– Diane Von Furstenberg
“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
“If you feel ‘burnout’ setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself.”
– Dalai Lama
“Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.”
– St. Augustine
“To be a good parent, you need to take care of yourself so that you can have the physical and emotional energy to take care of your family.”
– Michelle Obama
“Keep taking time for yourself until you’re you again.”
– Lalah Delia
“Nourishing yourself in a way that helps you blossom in the direction you want to go is attainable, and you are worth the effort.”
– Deborah Day
“Self-care is not about trying to become perfect. It’s about realizing and honoring, in every moment, that you already are.”
– Vironika Tugaleva
“For those of you who struggle with guilt regarding self-care, answer this question: What greater gift can you give to those you love than your own wholeness?”
– Shannon Tanner
“Don’t take your health for granted. Don’t take your body for granted. Do something today that communicates to your body that you desire to care for it.”
– Jada Pinkett Smith
“The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.”
– Sydney J. Harris
Short Self-Love Quotes for Instagram to Help You Spread the Love
“Treat yourself like someone you love.”
– Glennon Doyle
“Loving yourself isn’t vanity; it’s sanity.”
– Katrina Mayer
“You must want to spend the rest of your life with yourself first.”
– Rupi Kaur
“Self-love is the best love.”
– Unknown
“Make yourself a priority. You matter just as much as everyone else that you’re helping.”
– Rip Miller
“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.”
– Malcolm S. Forbes
“Tell her how wildly capable you know she is of everything she dreams of.”
– Morgan Harper Nichols
“The most important day is the day you decide you’re good enough for you. It’s the day you set yourself free.”
– Tina Fey
“You carry so much love in your heart. Give some of it to yourself.”
– Unknown
“Talk to yourself like someone you love.”
– Brené Brown
“Embrace the glorious mess that you are.”
– Elizabeth Gilbert
“Trust the next chapter because you are the author.”
– Sandra Shea
“Be enough for yourself first. The rest of the world can wait.”
– fw
“Self-love is not so vile a sin as self-neglecting.”
– William Shakespeare
“Keep watering yourself. You’re growing.”
– E. Russell
“All love begins with the love within.”
– Vironika Tugaleva
“In your own life it’s important to know how spectacular you are.”
– Steve Maraboli
“Be a master at loving yourself and people will follow.”
– Kim Guerra
“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”
– Dolly Parton
“Our first and last love is self-love.”
– Christian Nestell Bovee
“May you choose yourself, always!”
– Malebo Sephodi
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
– George Bernard Shaw
“You are enough just as you are.”
– Unknown
Want more inspiration and help with improving how you feel about yourself? Then take a look at these 12 tips for improving your self-esteem, this one that’s all about self-care quotes, this post filled with self-esteem quotes and also this one about the top 10 ways to be kind to yourself.