Nathaniel Branden Quotes

Lack of self-worth is the fundamental source of all emotional pain. A feeling of insecurity, unworthiness and lack of valueis the core experience of powerlessness.

Most people with low self-esteem have earned it.

Self-approval is a dangerous state of mind.

Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your hand-brake on.

I never give myself enough credit.

There is nothing I need so much as nourishment for my Self Esteem

Thought is always troublesome to him who lives without his own approbation.

When you have more respect for yourself and put yourself in a position where you feel your sense of value or worth, that's how you know you're on the right path.

Self-esteem is the goddamn root of all evil.

The reputation you have with yourself - your self-esteem - is the single most important factor for a fulfilling life.

If I were to search for the central core of difficulty in people as I have come to know them, it is that in the great majority of cases they despise themselves, regarding themselves as worthless and unlovable.

In man's life, the absence of an essential component usually leads to the adoption of a substitute. The substitute is usually embraced with vehemence and extremism, for we have to convince ourselves that what we took as second choice is the best there ever was. Thus blind faith is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves; insatiable desire a substitute for hope; accumulation a substitute for growth; fervent hustling a substitute for purposeful action; and pride a substitute for an unattainable self-respect.

To me the thought of oneself as low and humble is a sin and ignorance.

It is easy to look down on others; to look down on ourselves is the difficulty.

self-esteem, n. An erroneous appraisal.

I don't hate myself, as a general rule. I'd say the best way to describe it is that I have moments of self-loathing at fairly regular intervals.

I get literally a physical sensation of low self-esteem that is a result of not engaging the world and getting comfortable that way.

Self-respect. It would make me lovable. And it's the secret to good sex.

I have no self-respect. But can a man of acute sensibility respect himself at all?

People who are insecure about themselves will avoid social comparisons that are potentially threatening to their self-esteem

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life.

We really damage our own confidence when we put ourselves down, so I try not to.

You can be loved by your family, your mate, and your friends yet not love yourself. You can be admired by your associates yet regard yourself as worthless. You can project an image of assurance and poise that fools almost everyone yet secretly tremble with a sense of inadequacy. You can fulfill the expectations of others yet fail your own. You can win every honor yet feel that you have accomplished nothing. What shall it profit a person to gain the esteem of the whole world yet lose his or her own?

We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem: we undergo a test, we have to prove ourselves.

Knowing you’re worthless doesn’t give you value any more than knowing you are a captive sets you free.