Persons of high self-esteem are not driven to make themselves superior to others; they do not seek to prove their value by measuring themselves against a comparative standard. Their joy is being who they are, not in being better than someone else.
It is naive to think that self-assertiveness is easy. To live self-assertively – which means to live authentically – is an act of high courage. That is why so many people spend the better part of their lives in hiding – from others and also from themselves.
The greater a child’s terror, and the earlier it is experienced, the harder it becomes to develop a strong and healthy sense of self.
There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will be to treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity.
Self-acceptance is my refusal to be in an adversarial relationship to myself.
Of all the judgments we pass in life, none is more important than the judgment we pass on ourselves.
To love is to see myself in you and to wish to celebrate myself with you. What I love is the embodiment of my values in another person. Love is an act of self-assertion, self-expression and a celebration of being alive.
The higher our self-esteem, the stronger the drive to express ourselves, reflecting the sense of richness within. The lower our self-esteem, the more urgent the need to “prove” ourselves or to forget ourselves by living mechanically and unconsciously.
A commitment to lifelong learning is a natural expression of the practice of living consciously.
Force, governmental coercion, is the instrument by which the ethics of altruism – the belief that the individual exists to serve others – is translated into political reality.
Whether in the workplace or in personal relationships, success belongs to those who are willing to take responsibility for attaining their desires-those who respond to life actively rather than passively.
The real basic power of an individual isn’t what he or she knows; it’s the ability to think and learn and face new challenges.
What is guilt? It is moral self-reproach-I did wrong when it was possible to have done otherwise.
Our motive is not to prove our self-worth, but to live up to our possibilities.
Be careful what you say to your children. They may agree with you.
When we bury our feelings, we also bury ourselves. It means we exist in a state of alienation. We rarely know it, but we are lonely for ourselves.
When you are frightened, you typically pull energy in to your center, seeing less, hearing less-shrinking consciousness precisely when you need to expand it.
We are anxious when there is a dissonance between our “knowledge” and the perceivable facts. Since our “knowledge” is not to be doubted or questioned, it is the facts that have to be altered...
If you have high self-esteem, you might still know times of emotional suffering, but less often and with faster recovery-your resilience is greater.
In a world in which the total of human knowledge is doubling about every ten years, our security can rest only on our ability to learn.