Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

If I am not pleased with myself, but should wish to be other than I am, why should I think highly of the influences which have made me what I am?

Show me a sensible person who likes himself or herself! I know myself too well to like what I see. I know but too well that I'm not what I'd like to be.

The name, his true name, was weaker and more flawed than he would have liked, and he hated himself for that, but there was also much to admire within it, and the more he thought about it, the more he was able to accept the true nature of his self. He was not the best person in the world, but neither was he the worst.

You don't have to look like George Clooney. You just have to know yourself.

I don't know if I was a desirable person, not just physically but emotionally and mentally and intellectually. I still have a long way go and a lot to learn, but I'm on my way, I don't think I'm terribly attractive, but I'm comfortable with my looks.

People see us as no better than we are.

What is self-image? Who started talking about one? I rather fancy it was Madison Avenue.

There will be many times when we won't look good-to ourselves or anyone else. We need to stop demanding that we do. It is impossible to get better and look good at the same time.

Remember this: No one is looking at your imperfections; they're all too busy worrying about their own.

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.

Self-love exaggerates our faults as well as our virtues.

I like who I am, and am puzzled to find that not everybody shares this opinion.

The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself.

Listeners ne'er hear good of themselves.

The only category I do badly in is my personality. And that's OK. Who cares? And you know what? You want to know something? I'm a better person than the people I'm running against. I see it.

The most important opinion you'll ever have is the one you hold of yourself.

If you can't see anything beautiful about yourself, get a better mirror.

We are not greatly pleased that our friends should respect our good qualities if they venture to perceive our faults.

The picture you have of yourself, your self-esteem, will have a profound effect on the way you see the world and the way your world sees you.

If we listen to our self-love, we shall estimate our lot less by what it is than by what it is not; shall dwell upon its hindrances and be blind to its possibilities; and, comparing it only with imaginary lives, shall indulge in flattering dreams of what we should do if we had but power, and give if we had but wealth, and be if we had no temptations.

The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the glowing opinion we hold of ourselves with the appalling things that other people think about us.

When I wake up in the morning, I don't think of myself as being better than anybody else. I think of myself as a good hitter.

We all put obstacles in our own path toward personal style, myself included. If we understood why we constructed these practical and emotional obstacles, we might move beyond it to healthier, happier perceptions of ourselves and, ideally, a better sense of self-esteem.

I don't really care what other people see me as. I seriously don't. I've always worried about what my opinion of myself is. And I've always thought that it carries most weight. So I don't care what other people's opinion of me is or how they view whatever I've said or done.

Whoever despises himself nonetheless respects himself as one who despises.