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?
Nathaniel BrandenSelf-respecting men and women think about the consequences of their actions-and are willing to take responsibility for them.
Nathaniel BrandenIf you are terrified of making mistakes, you will be reluctant to acknowledge them when you do make them-and therefore you will not correct them.
Nathaniel BrandenThe more you surrender to the fear of someone's disapproval, the more you lose face in your own eyes, and the more desperate you become for someone's approval. Within you is a void that should have been filled by self-esteem. When you attempt to fill it with the approval of others instead, the void grows deeper and the hunger for acceptance and approval grows stronger. The only solution is to summon the courage to honor your own judgment, frightening though that may be in the beginning.
Nathaniel BrandenWhen your principles seem to be demanding suicide, clearly it's time to check your premises
Nathaniel Branden