Daniel Handler Quotes

Flattery has a short battery life, but reminding people they are amazing and precious and wanted and works of art can truly change their lives.

I know what it's like to feel that fear and the need of affirmation and appreciation. To build confidence in yourself is the toughest thing.

Who is that person that comes around and says, 'You are OK, you are worthy, you are special?' That makes all the difference in the world for many of us. Those are the people we appreciate the most.

There was a person who thought I was OK. I wasn't a complete dope. I got some confidence out of that.

An occasional compliment is necessary to keep up one's self-respect.

Anyway, even if she's sugarcoating my good points, I appreciate it. Frankly, I could use a little sugarcoating.

I cannot be so bad when everybody is so fond of me.

I suppose if it has a practical purpose, I appreciate a pat on the back. I suppose it's rewarding, ultimately.

I guess other people's compliments motivate you.

If you keep telling a youngster he is no good, he might begin to doubt himself. A pat on the back could bring the very best out of him.

I think that the majority of messages are validating messages to confirm the survival of conscious. And many times that validation message is negative or sad.

It's lovely to be told you're wonderful by someone when you're used to being told how awful you are.

People often say, 'I don't need recognition,' and the truth is they are right. We don't need it. But like healthy food and exercise, life is a whole lot better with it.

It feels good to hear good things about yourself.

Probably the best thing for me to hear from my family is telling me that they are proud. To be able to see them smile is a great thing.

By listening, by caring, by playing you back to yourself, friends ratify your better instincts and endorse your unique worth. Friends validate you.

We nourish the bodies of our children and friends and employees, but how seldom do we nourish their selfesteem? We provide them with roast beef and potatoes to build energy, but we neglect to give them kind words of appreciation that would sing in their memories for years like the music of the morning stars.

I don't know if we tell women great news about themselves enough. You'd be surprised how often a young woman doesn't hear positive things about herself - not in her home, not at school. It's hard to create a beautiful image for yourself when you've never seen it or heard it.

The people on the QVC shopping channel convince me that life is worth living. They see the good in everything. People who go to counselling should actually go to a room with a QVC seller for half an hour and let them find the qualities within them. For example, they'd look at me and say, 'To anybody else this looks like a stomach but, actually, his feet never get wet in the rain.

I need what I'm thinking to come out into the world, even if it's a two-word approval, like, "Yeah, I agree," I need that approval so that in the morning I can get up and use that when I go to work. It's a weird version of focusing.

I just wanted somebody to tell me that I could sing.

Listen to the people who love you. Believe that they are worth living for even when you don't believe it.

To find beauty in everyone you must see beauty in everyone, then announce that you see it, for in announcing it, you place it there in their reality. Make it your life's mission today to bring to the attention of another just how extraordinary they are. Say it. Say it. SAY it. Their heart is waiting to know that their own best thought about themselves can be believed.

It feels nice to be wanted, to be reading and hearing good things about me, so I have to push myself.

Thank you for this lovely blunt object that I will forevermore use as a weapon against self-doubt.