I wish I’d heard these self-care quotes sooner. But, they’re quotes that required a lot more living and trials before I could truly appreciate their honesty. That’s the thing about life, everything you experience whether good or bad ultimately lends itself to a greater overall understanding and well-being.
Before self-care was a mainstream term, I simply referred to it as “putting my foot down.” And, the more I became comfortable “putting my foot down” or communicating my preferences, the more I saw my life changed for the better. Myactively prioritizing self-careis the basis for the freedom and empowerment I feel today and it unfolded one choice at a time.
Every time I say “No, not tonight…,” “No thank you…,” “I’m not comfortable with this…,” “This is what I need…,” “You don’t have to be or do anything for me…,” “This doesn’t feel right….,” “I’m not ready…,” “This feels amazing…,” “This feels like the right thing to do…,” and “I’m going to have a good time anyway…”I’m loving myselfin a way I’ve never done before.
While I wish I would’ve been ready a long time ago to stop waiting for others to return the love I freely gave, I am grateful that those lessons serve me well today.
So, without further ado…
100 Self-Care Quotes That Remind You to Take Care of Yourself
“When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn't healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits - anything that kept me small.My judgment called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving.”
―Kim McMillen
“I sometimes sit on my roof. Not to be closer to God. To be further from y'all.”
―Darnell Lamont Walker
“Your time is way too valuable to be wasting on people that can't accept who you are.”
―Turcois Ominek
“You are not broken. You are not a problem to be solved. Solving your “problem”, whatever you perceive your problem or problems to be, is not the key to happiness.”
―Golda Poretsky
“If you don't love yourself, you won't be happy with yourself. If you can't love yourself, you can't love anyone else. You can't give the love you do not have. You can't make anyone love you without loving yourself first.”
―Kemi Sogunle
“Don’t worry if people think you’re crazy. You are crazy. You have that kind of intoxicating insanity that lets other people dream outside of the lines and become who they’re destined to be.”
―Jennifer Elisabeth
“Nourishing yourself in a way that helps you blossom in the direction you want to go is attainable, and you are worth the effort.”
―Deborah Day
“Life is too short to waste any amount of time on wondering what other people think about you. In the first place, if they had better things going on in their lives, they wouldn't have the time to sit around and talk about you. What's important to me is not others' opinions of me, but what's important to me is my opinion of myself.”
―C. JoyBell C.
“How would your life be different if…You stopped allowing other people to dilute or poison your day with their words or opinions? Let today be the day…You stand strong in the truth of your beauty and journey through your day without attachment to the validation of others”
―Steve Maraboli,
“I now see how owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.”
―Brené Brown
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection”
– Buddha
“It took many years of vomiting up all the filth I’d been taught about myself, and half-believed, before I was able to walk on the earth as though I had a right to be here.”
―James Baldwin
“We can't be so desperate for love that we forget where we can always find it; within.”
―Alexandra Elle
“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.”
– Lucille Ball
“Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
“It’s okay to not be perfect and not to have everything figured out. It’s okay to feel things that are shameful, hate, and feel guilty. I feel like the message we’ve tried to stand by, is that it’s basically okay to have scars and to show them. To show that you’ve been through all sorts of things and have come out a different and better person because of it.”
―Hayley William
“You are here, alive and awake and for whatever reasons you have fought your battles, it's time to start focusing on what strengths pulled you up when the entire world had knocked you down.
That's where the virtue in self grows.”
―Nikki Rowe
“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don't need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself. "
– Thich Nhat Hanh
“Self-care is never a selfish act - it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer others. Anytime we can listen to true self and give the care it requires, we do it not only for ourselves, but for the many others whose lives we touch.”
―Parker Palmer
“When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.”
– Jean Shinoda Bolen
“Don't waste your energy trying to change opinions … Do your thing, and don't care if they like it.”
– Tina Fey
“You can't assumeI'm in bad shape just because I've run out of the energy to impress you.”
―Curtis Tyrone Jones
“If you want to live an authentic, meaningful life, you need to master the art of disappointing and upsetting others, hurting feelings, and living with the reality that some people just won’t like you. It may not be easy, but it’s essential if you want your life to reflect your deepest desires, values, and needs.”
―Cheryl Richardson
“We must treat ourselves with care, respect and compassion before we can effectively extend these things to others.”
―Kristi Bowman
“I do not want to suppress the parts of me that most want to soar for fear of what someone else may think or because it may be too much or not worthy enough or not complete or brilliant or normal enough. Self-care also means honoring the truth within us.Set yours free.”
―Ashley Asti
“Bad feminism seems like the only way I can both embrace myself as a feminist and be myself, and so I write. I chatter away on Twitter about everything that makes me angry and all the small things that bring me joy. I write blog posts about the meals I cook as I try to take better care of myself, and with each new entry, I realize that I'm undestroying myself after years of allowing myself to stay damaged.”
―Roxane Gay
“Take time off...
The world will not fall apart without you”
―Malebo Sephodi
“Self-care is taking all the pressures you are facing right now, and deciding to which you will respond, and how.”
―Imani Shola
“How necessary Sundays have become. I reach for them like sleeping lovers on the other side of my earth or my mattress.”
―Darnell Lamont Walker
“Don't ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
– Howard Washington Thurman
“Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious. You get to choose how you use it. You teach people how to treat you by deciding what you will and won’t accept.”
―Anna Taylor
“Self-care should include the cold shower as well as the scented tub.”
―Mary Catherine Bateson
“Selfishness at the expense of others is bad. Self-care for the betterment of others is good.”
―Richie Norton
“Seeking happiness is not the problem. The problem is that we often do not know where and how to find genuine happiness and so make the mistakes that cause suffering for ourselves & others.”
―Sharon Salzberg
“Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing.”
―August Wilson
“A fine glass vase goes from treasure to trash, the moment it is broken. Fortunately, something else happens to you and me. Pick up your pieces. Then, help me gather mine.”
―Vera Nazarian
“That's what real love amounts to - letting a person be what he really is. Most people love you for who you pretend to be. To keep their love, you keep pretending - performing. You get to love your pretenses. It's true, we're locked in an image, an act - and the sad thing is, people get so used to their image, they grow attached to their masks. They love their chains. They forget all about who they really are. And if you try to remind them, they hate you for it, they feel like you're trying to steal their most precious possession.”
―Jim Morrison
“Loving yourself isn’t vanity. It’s sanity.”
– Katrina Mayer
“Lighten up on yourself. No one is perfect. Gently accept your humanness.”
– Deborah Day
“It’s all about falling in love with yourself and sharing that love with someone who appreciates you, rather than looking for love to compensate for a self-love deficit.”
– Eartha Kitt
“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.”
– Malcolm S. Forbes
“You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn't worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.”
– Louise L. Hay
“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”
– Frederick Douglass
“People who love themselves, don’t hurt other people. The more we hate ourselves, the more we want others to suffer.”
―Dan Pearce
“I believe with all my heart that the cliches are true, that we are our own best friends and best company, and that if you're not right for yourself, it's impossible to be right for anyone.”
―Rachel Machacek
“You may be the only person left who believes in you, but it's enough. It takes justone starto pierce a universe of darkness. Never give up.”
―Richelle E. Goodrich
“The only person that deserves a special place in your life is someone that never made you feel like you were an option in theirs.”
―Shannon L. Alder
“I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art.”
―Madonna
“If you do not respect your own wishes, no one else will. You will simply attract people who disrespect you as much as you do.”
– Vironika Tugaleva
“You're always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company.”
– Diane Von Furstenberg
“The better you feel about yourself, the less you feel the need to show off.”
– Robert Hand
“You may be the only person left who believes in you, but it's enough. It takes justone starto pierce a universe of darkness. Never give up.”
―Richelle E. Goodrich,
“Dance with the flowers of enlightenment—then watch as your mind and body blossom as you begin to harvest the fruits of self-progression and self-realization”
―Natasha Potter
“When you concentrate your energy purposely on the future possibility that you aspire to realize, your energy is passed on to it and makes it attracted to you with a force stronger than the one you directed towards it.”
―Stephen Richards,
“What you think of yourself in your mind is nobody's business. Make it count.”
―Majid Kazmi
“Stand up for who you are. Respect your Self and ignite the divine sparks in you. Access your powers. Choose your rights and work together with others to bring blessings into the lives.”
―Amit Ray
“I think everybody's weird. We should all celebrate our individuality and not be embarrassed or ashamed of it.”
– Johnny Depp
“It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to.”
– W.C. Fields
“Man will never be stronger nor independent if he lives under perpetual motivation of others.”
―Toba Beta
“The amount of time an individual may spend pondering over what his neighbor has and what he does not, is equivalent to the amount of time the individual has lost in becoming an equal to his neighbors.”
―Victoria Addino
“You keep tabs on the victories of others but failed to notice that you just crossed yet another milestone. How do you hold up the light for others but turn it out when it gets to you.”
―Chinonye J. Chidolue
“There are days I drop words of comfort on myself like falling leaves and remember that it is enough to be taken care of by myself.”
– Brian Andreas
“People who want the most approval get the least and the people who need approval the least get the most.”
– Wayne Dyer
“Your darkest shadows can only be less than your brightest light.”
―Benjamin Aubrey Myers
“The echo of your silliness defines the speed and distance of your awareness; - keep wishing through actionable failures that reasonably calculate your success.”
―Kangoma Kindembo
“Though we all make mistakes, don't handicap yourself in difficult tasks; self-sabotage is not a strategy. Sometimes all you need to do is protect yourself from your own self.”
―Efrat Cybulkiewicz
“I found in my research that the biggest reason people aren't more self-compassionate is that they are afraid they’ll become self-indulgent. They believe self-criticism is what keeps them in line. Most people have gotten it wrong because our culture says being hard on yourself is the way to be.”
– Kristen Neff
“Mark you, no Krishna can clear your eyes and make you look with a broader vision upon life in your march upward and onward, until the Self within you morphs into Krishna – until the Self morphs into Buddha – until the Self turns into Christ.”
―Abhijit Naskar
“Most females are dissatisfied with how they look and battle with countless insecurities, not realizing that you look most beautiful when you think you don’t. I wish that women and girls all over the world knew just how uniquely beautiful that we ALL are. Loving yourself for who YOU are is empowering! There’s great freedom in being unbothered by other people’s opinion of you.”
―Stephanie Lahart
“If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.”
– T. Harv Eker
“Happiness comes from living as you need to, as you want to. As your inner voice tells you to. Happiness comes from being who you actually are instead of who you think you are supposed to be.”- Shonda Rhimes
“When you stop living your life based on what others think of you real life begins. At that moment, you will finally see the door of self-acceptance opened.”
– Shannon L. Alder
“As important as it is to have a plan for doing work, it is perhaps more important to have a plan for rest, relaxation, self-care, and sleep.”
―Akiroq Brost
“You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.”
– Eckhart Tolle
“Did your mom ever tell you, ‘If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything’? She was right–and talking nicely also applies when you’re talking to yourself, even inside your head.”
– Victoria Moran
“Self-love is an ocean and your heart is a vessel. Make it full, and any excess will spill over into the lives of the people you hold dear. But you must come first.”
– Beau Taplin
“Your problem is you’re too busy holding onto your unworthiness.”
– Ram Dass
“There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
– Anaïs Nin
“A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world. Everyone you meet is your mirror.” – Ken Keyes
“The Best Health Care Plan Is A Self Care Plan”
―Nina Leavins
“My willingness to be intimate with my own deep feelings creates the space for intimacy with another.” – Shakti Gawain
“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” – Jack Kornfield
“I’ve finally stopped running away from myself. Who else is there better to be?” – Goldie Hawn
“Our entire life… consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are.” – Jean Anouih
“It's my choice to be beautiful. It's my choice to be ugly. And it's my choice to decide what those words actually mean.”
―Virginia Petrucci
“Our entire life… consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are.” – Jean Anouih
“Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” – M. Scott Peck
“When nobody celebrates you, learn to celebrate yourself. When nobody compliments you, then compliment yourself. It’s not up to other people to keep you encouraged. It’s up to you. Encouragement should come from the inside.” – Joel Osteen
“Her toolbox is full. She has learned to not let go of the pieces of herself that she needs in order to be what someone else wants. She’s learned not to compromise. She’s learned not to settle. She’s learned, as difficult as it is, how to be her own sun.”- Shonda Rhimes
“I've always taken risks, and never worried what the world might really think of me.” - Cher
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
―Audre Lorde
“Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.”
―Bell Hooks
“Do what you can, but also know your limits. Don’t forget to take care of you too.”
―Akiroq Brost
“When the body forces you to STOP it's saying, hey buddy, you've gone too far.”
―Jacqueline Escolme
“Be kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world.”
―Pema Chodron
“Self-care is not selfish. You cannot serve from an empty vessel.”
―Eleanor Brownn
“Many of us follow the commandment 'Love One Another.' When it relates to caregiving, we must love one another with boundaries. We must acknowledge that we are included in the 'Love One Another.”
―Peggi Speers
“Each positive thought, every vibrant attitude, all purposeful activities water the seeds for success along your path. You will encounter many seeds for success today. Pay attention to these and feed them appropriately. Then maintain their beautiful growth through conscious self-care.”
―Rebecca Gordon
“Every time you make a commitment to your own self-care, self-love and self-respect and then follow through, you build trust in yourself.”
―Miranda J. Barrett
“Only bacteria thrive and live well in a poorly cared for body.”
―Nina Leavins
“Self-care is how you take your power back.”
―Lalah Delia
“When you can't find your purpose in a day, make it to look after yourself.”
―Dodie Clark
