Doris Kearns Goodwin Quotes

Just being ourselves is the biggest fear of humans. We have learned to live our life trying to satisfy other people's demands. We have learned to live by other people's points of view because of the fear of not being accepted and of not being good enough for someone else.

You're never totally sure. I shouldn't say that because you have to pretend you're completely self-secure all the time. But, the truth is, I know what I'm doing. I think I know what I'm doing.

Many people allow their need for other people's approval to control their lives. They spend their lives worrying about what others think of them.

My identity depended on men for so long. You can be successful and still have the feeling that if you're not with a man you don't exist.

I just have to remind myself that my daily quotidie in life has almost nothing to do with any aspect of my professional life as a public figure. And I think a lot of people get to that point - specifically, sort of getting comfortable looking out for yourself and taking care of yourself and defining yourself based on healthier criteria, and not criteria that's established by complete strangers that you've never met.

Confidence is a reduction of your own interest in whether others are thinking about you and if so, what they're thinking.

I am confident only when I am constantly in motion. Between projects, the doubt creeps in.

I'm not playing to prove anything to anybody.

I have to prove myself to everybody.

I don't feel that I have to prove anything to anyone as far as what I've done in fighting.

I'm always trying to prove myself to the rest of the world.

Thinking I'm a moron gives people something to feel smug about," Charles Wallace said. "Why should I disillusion them?

You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.

Sam doesn't hesitate for a minute. 'You say, "Mr and Mrs Tavish, you're making me feel inferior. Do you really think I'm inferior or is it just in my mind?

I love what I think, and I'm never tempted to believe it.

I don't really know how accepted I am. Nothing ever matters to me apart from the people with negative opinions. That's literally it. That always drives me on to the next thing. It's funny, you just focus on them and then the next movie. That's the only thing you're thinking about when it comes out.

As for worrying about what other people might think - forget it. They aren't concerned about yours. They're too busy worrying about what you and other people think of theirs.

Don't depend on other people as the source of your happiness or for approval.

...and the funny thing was that people who weren't entirely certain they were right always argued much louder than other people, as if the main person they were trying to convince were themselves.

What Do You Care What Other People Think?

Individuals with a good self esteem can accept or reject the opinions of others, but never depend on them for their sense of worthiness.

If my aim is to prove I am 'enough,' the project goes on to infinity-because the battle was already lost on the day I conceded the issue was debatable.

When you say, "I need more confidence," what you're really saying is, "I need those people over there to approve of me." That is the desire to control other people and what they think. The first person who figures out how to do this owns the world.

If you worry about what other people think of you, then you will have more confidence in their opinion than you have in your own.

I've given up trying to understand what people think about me.