Self-acceptance quotes. Self-acceptance can be defined as the awareness of one’s strengths and weaknesses, the subjective appraisal of one’s talents, capabilities, general worth, and feelings of satisfaction with one’s self despite deficiencies and regardless of past behaviors and choices. According to Shepard (1979), self-acceptance is an individual’s satisfaction or happiness with oneself, and is thought to be necessary for good mental health.
Self-acceptance involves self-understanding, a realistic, albeit subjective, awareness of one’s strengths and weaknesses. It results in an individual’s feeling about oneself, that they are of “unique worth”. In clinical psychology and positive psychology, self-acceptance is considered the prerequisite for change to occur. It can be achieved by stopping criticizing and solving the defects of one’s self, and then accepting them to be existing within one’s self. That is, tolerating oneself to be imperfect in some parts.
Self-acceptance is one of the six factors in Carol D. Ryff’s structure for eudaimonic well-being. Therefore a person who scores high on self-acceptance: has a positive self-attitude, acknowledges and accepts all aspects of themselves (including the good and bad), is not self-critical or confused about their identity, and, does not wish they were any different from who they already are. Self-acceptance is also thought to be necessary for good mental health.
Some psychological benefits of self-acceptance include mood regulation, a decrease in depressive symptoms, and an increase in positive emotions. An example of this can be seen in a 2014 study that looked at affective profiles. The results yielded suggest that individuals categorized as self-fulfilling (as compared to the other profiles) tended to score higher on all the factors of Ryff’s eudaimonic well-being dimensions (self-acceptance included). In addition to that, self-acceptance (and environmental mastery) specifically and significantly predicted harmony in life across all affective profiles.
Other psychological benefits include: a heightened sense of freedom, a decrease in fear of failure, an increase in self-worth, an increase in independence (autonomy), an increase in self-esteem, less desire to win the approval of others, less self-critique and more self-kindness when mistakes occur, more desire to live life for one’s self (and not others), and, the ability to take more risks without worrying about the consequences.
In addition to psychological benefits, self-acceptance may have physical benefits as well.[6] For example, the results of a 2008 study propose that older women with higher levels of environmental mastery, positive relations with others, and self-acceptance showed lower levels of glycosylated hemoglobin, which is a marker for glucose levels/insulin resistance.
Learn to… be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not.
Henri Frederic Amiel (1821-1881, Swiss philosopher, poet, critic)
In order to improve your self-acceptance appraoch, you should make a list of all the negative judgments you have towards yourself and clear them, then learn to validate your emotional reality, and cultivate a great relationship with failure. Furthermore avoid to compare yourself to anyone else and finally, learn to accept your imperfections.
Carl William Brown
You can’t make the Duchess of Windsor into Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. The facts of life are very stubborn things.
Cleveland Amory (1887-1950, American animal rights activist)
Interest in the lives of others, the high evaluation of these lives, what are they but the overflow of the interest a man finds in himself, the value he attributes to his own being?
Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941 American writer)
Each of us has a day… when he has to accept, finally, the fact that he is a man.
Jean Anouilh (1910-1987, French playwright)
Our entire life… consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are.
Jean Anouilh (1910-1987, French playwright)
Of all afflictions, the worst is self-contempt.
Berthold Auerbach
Nothing is a greater impediment to being on good terms with others than being ill at ease with yourself.
Honore De Balzac (1799-1850, French novelist)
There is always a certain peace in being what one is, in being that completely.
Ugo Betti
You can succeed if nobody else believes it, but you will never succeed if you don’t believe in yourself.
William Boetcker
To do all that one is able to do is to be a man; to do all that one would like to do is to be a god.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821, French general, emperor)
There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity. People who do not experience self-love have little or no capacity to love others.
Nathaniel Branden (1930- Canadian-born American psychologist, author, expert on self-esteem)
About all you can do in life is being who you are. Some people will love you for you. Most will love you for what you can do for them, and some won’t like you at all.
Rita Mae Brown (1944-, American writer)
If you hold yourself dear, protect yourself well.
Buddha (568-488 BC, Indian born, founder of Buddhism)
If you must love your neighbor as yourself, it is at least as fair to love yourself as your neighbor.
Sebastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741-1794, French writer, journalist, playwright)
One must not hope to be more than one can be.
Sebastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741-1794, French writer, journalist, playwright)
A true man never frets about his place in the world, but just slides into it by the gravitation of his nature, and swings there as easily as a star.
Edwin Hubbel Chapin (1814-1880, American author, clergyman)
I hope to work, support my children and die quietly without pain.
Sean Connery (1930-, Scottish-born American actor)
It is not the eyes of others that I am wary of, but my own.
Noel Coward (1899-1973, British writer)
Try as hard as we may for perfection, the net result of our labors is an amazing variety of imperfectness. We are surprised at our own versatility in being able to fail in so many different ways.
Samuel McChord Crothers
Your problem is you’re… too busy holding onto your unworthiness.
Ram Dass (1931-, American spiritual author, lecturer)
If you want to be respected by others, the great thing is to respect yourself.
Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881, Russian novelist)
How I relate to my inner self influences my relationships with all others. My satisfaction with myself and my satisfaction with other people are directly proportional.
Sue Atchley Ebaugh
Accept the place the divine providence has found for you.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American poet, essayist)
We expect more of ourselves than we have any right to.
Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894, American author, wit, poet)
Of all the young men in America only a few hundred can get into major league baseball, and of these only a handful in a decade can get into the Hall of Fame. So it goes in all human activity…. Some become multimillionaires and chairmen of the board, and some of us must be content to play baseball at company picnics or manage a credit union without pay.
William Feather (1888-19, American writer, businessman)
George Foreman. A miracle. A mystery to myself. Who am I? The mirror says back. The George you was always meant to be.” Wasn’t always like that. Used to look in the mirror and cried a river.
George Foreman (1949-, American boxer)
Man has to live with the body and soul which have fallen to him by chance.
Jose Ortega Y Gasset (1883-1955, Spanish essayist, philosopher)
I am what I am, so take me as I am!
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832, German poet, dramatist, novelist)
If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832, German poet, dramatist, novelist)
The man with insight enough to admit his limitations comes nearest to perfection.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832, German poet, dramatist, novelist)
All the discontented people I know are trying to be something they are not, to do something they cannot do.
David Grayson (1870-1946, American journalist and writer)
Despair is the price one pays for setting himself an impossible aim.
Graham Greene (1904-1991, British novelist)
You have to deal with the fact that your life is your life.
Alex Hailey
Every man must at last accept himself for his portion, and learn to do his work with the tools and talents with which he has been endowed.
Charles A. Hawley
Let a man’s talents or virtues be what they may, he will only feel satisfaction in his society as he is satisfied in himself.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830, British essayist)
Those people who are uncomfortable in themselves are disagreeable to others.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830, British essayist)
It doesn’t matter what we do until we accept ourselves. Once we accept ourselves, it doesn’t matter what we do.
Charly Heavenrich
The secret of my success is that at an early age I discovered I was not God.
Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894, American author, wit, poet)
We set up harsh and unkind rules against ourselves. No one is born without faults. That man is best who has fewest.
Horace (BC 65-8, Italian poet)
To find the good life you must become yourself.
Dr. Bill Jackson
It’s OK if you mess up. You should give yourself a break.
Billy Joel (1949-, American musician, piano man, singer, songwriter)
The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.
Carl Jung (1875-1961, Swiss psychiatrist)
What thou art, that thou art.
Thomas a Kempis (1379-1471, German monk, mystic, religious writer)
Healthy personalities accept themselves not in any self-idolizing way, but in the sense that they see themselves as persons who are worth giving to another and worthy to receive from another.
William Klassen
Souls that are regular and strong of themselves are rare.
Michel Eyquem De Montaigne (1533-1592, French philosopher, essayist)
You can be pleased with nothing when you are not pleased with yourself.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762, British society figure, letter writer)
Sometimes it is more important to discover what one cannot do, than what one can do.
Yutang, Lin (1895-1976, Chinese writer and philologist)
It is a sign of strength, not of weakness, to admit that you don’t know all the answers.
John P. Lougbrane
I have done what I could do in life, and if I could not do better, I did not deserve it. In vain I have tried to step beyond what bound me.
Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949, Belgian author)
If you make friends with yourself you will never be alone.
Maxwell Maltz (1944-, Canadian-born American plastic surgeon, author of “Psycho-Cybernetics”)
Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it.
Marcus Valerius Martial (40-104, Latin poet and epigrammatist)
Love yourself and do yourself a favor without doing other people a favor, and vice versa.
Dr. Karl Menninger
I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself. I will be rich by myself, and not by borrowing.
Michel Eyquem De Montaigne (1533-1592, French philosopher, essayist)
I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself. I will be rich by myself, and not by borrowing.
Michel Eyquem De Montaigne (1533-1592, French philosopher, essayist)
No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character.
John Morley (1838-1923, British journalist, biographer, statesman)
Don’t keep any secrets of yourself from yourself.
Greek Proverb (Sayings of Greek origin)
I needed to find my way to write. I need about six hours of uninterrupted time in order to produce about two hours of writing, and when I accepted that and found the way to do it, then I was able to write.
Robert B. Parker
A man needs self-acceptance or he can’t live with himself; he needs self-criticism or others can’t live with him.
James A. Pike (1913-1969, American Episcopal bishop)
Life is a very sad piece of buffoonery, because we have… the need to fool ourselves continuously by the spontaneous creation of a reality… which, from time to time, reveals itself to be vain and illusory.
Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936, Italian author, playwright)
It is enough that I am of value to somebody today.
Hugh Prather
The person who guards himself will not be destroyed.
African Proverb (Sayings of African origin)
Don’t cry over spilt milk.
American Proverb (Sayings of American origin)
Don’t hang your hat higher than you can reach.
Belizean Proverb
Don’t sail out farther than you can row back.
Danish Proverb (Sayings of Danish origin)
The person who is not ashamed does whatever he wants.
Egyptian Proverb
No one is expected to achieve the impossible.
French Proverb (Sayings of French origin)
Even if you hide yourself from the world, don’t lose sight of your real nature.
Japanese Proverb (Sayings of Japanese origin)
I can’t write a book commensurate with Shakespeare, but I can write a book by me.
Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618, British courtier, navigator, writer)
Self-control is the quality that distinguishes the fittest to survive.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950, Irish-born British dramatist)
Every man stamps his value on himself… man is made great or small by its own will.
Johann Friedrich Von Schiller (1759-1805, German dramatist, poet, historian)
We cannot all be masters.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616, British poet, playwright, actor)
If one is cruel to himself, how can we expect him to be compassionate with others?
Hasdai Ibn Shaprut
Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections.
St. Francis De Sales (1567-1622, Roman Catholic bishop, writer)
Do not wish to be anything but what you are.
St. Francis De Sales (1567-1622, Roman Catholic bishop, writer)
Perhaps they think that since they can master the job, there is no need to master themselves.
John Stevenson
We would have to settle for the elegant goal of becoming ourselves.
William Styron (1925-, American novelist)
Shall a man go and hang himself because he belongs to the race of pygmies, and not be the biggest pygmy that he can?
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862, American essayist, poet, naturalist)
The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable.
Paul Tillich (1886-1965, German protestant theologian, philosopher)
Nobody holds a good opinion of a man who has a low opinion of himself.
Anthony Trollope (1815-1882, British novelist)
The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself.
Mark Twain (1835-1910, American humorist, writer)
Accept your humanness as well as your divinity, totally and without reserve.
Author Unknown
Growth begins when we start to accept our own weakness.
Jean Vanier
Self-acceptance comes from meeting life’s challenges vigorously. Don’t numb yourself to your trials and difficulties, nor build mental walls to exclude pain from your life. You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them
Donald J. Walters (1926-, American author, lecturer, playwright)
You can also read the following posts:
Self-words quotes and thoughts
