"No one else can make you feel inferior without your consent."
--Eleanor Roosevelt"
"We're here to make people feel like a million dollars, not two cents."
Marion D. Hanks:
"Every human being is trying to say something to others. Trying to cry out, "I am alive, notice me!!!! Speak to me! Listen to me! Confirm for me that I am important. That I matter!"
"It is extremely
important
for you to believe in yourselves, not only for what you are now, but
for
what you have the power to become. Trust in the Lord as He leads
you along. He has things for you to do that you won't know about
now, but that will unfold later. If you stay close to Him,
you will have some great
adventures. You will live in a time when instead of just
talking
about prophecies that will sometime be fulfilled, many of them will
actually
be fulfilled. The Lord will unfold your future bit by bit."
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
"When your goal is to build people up, to make them feel better, to share in their joy, you too reap the rewards of their positive feelings. The next time you have the chance to correct someone, even if their facts are a little off, resist the temptation. Instead, ask yourself, "What do I really want out of this interaction?" Chances are, what you want is a peaceful interaction where all parties leave feeling good. Each time you resist 'being right,' and instead choose kindness, you'll notice a peaceful feeling within."
Richard Carlson
"Love not what you are, but what you may become."
Miguel de Cervantes
"It is something to
be
able to paint a picture, or carve a statue, and so to make a few
objects
beautiful. But, it is far more glorious to carve and paint the
very
atmosphere and medium through which we
look.... To affect the quality of the day, and thereby make
all things a bit more beautiful - that is the highest of arts."
"To have the approval of your conscience when you are alone with your thoughts is like being in the company of true and loving friends. To merit your own self-respect gives you strength of character. Conscience is the link that binds your soul to the Spirit of God."
-- Unknown --
Og Mandino:
"Be yourself.
Try
to be anything else but your genuine self, even if you deceive the
entire
world, and you will be ten thousand times worse than nothing.
...You have been
blessed
with special skills that are yours alone. Use them, whatever they
may be and forget about wearing another's hat. A talented chariot
driver can win gold and renown with his skills. Let him pick figs
and he would starve. No one can take your place! Realize
this
and be yourself. You have no obligation to succeed. You
have
only the obligation to be true to yourself. Do the very best that
you can, in the things you do best, and you will know, in thy soul,
that
you are the greatest success in the world."
The Greatest Success in the World, p. 94
Quoted in John Bytheway's book: What I
Wish
I'd Known in High School, p. 18-19
"The self-esteem to which I refer is something different. It is not blind, arrogant, vain love of self, but is self-respecting, unconceited, honest esteem of ourselves. It is born of inner peace and strength."
James E. Faust, book: Reach Up for
the Light,
p. 31
Quoted in John Bytheway's book: What I
Wish
I'd Known in High School, p. 24
"Each of us has great gifts, but many of us severely limit ourselves with negative attitudes about our potential."
"At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At 40, we don't care what they think of us. At 60, we discover they haven't been thinking of us at all."
Ann Landers
"One of the great tragedies of life, it seems to me, is when a person classifies himself as someone who has no talents and gifts. When, in disgust or discouragement, we allow ourselves to reach depressive levels of despair because of our demeaning self-appraisal, it is a sad day for us and a sad day in the eyes of God. For us to conclude that we have no gifts when we judge ourselves by stature, intelligence, grade-point average, wealth, power, position, or external appearance is not only unfair but unreasonable."
Marvin J. Ashton, "There are Many Gifts," Ensign, Nov. 1987, p. 20
"Some of you may
feel
that you are not as attractive and beautiful and glamorous as you would
like to
be. Rise above any such feelings, cultivate the light you have
within
you, and it will shine through as
a radiant expression that will be seen by others.
You need never feel
inferior.
You need never feel that you were born without talents or without
opportunities to give them expression. Cultivate whatever talents
you have, and they will grow and
refine and become an expression of your true self appreciated by
others."
Gordon B. Hinckley
(From the Life of Gordon B. Hinckley)
"Having faith in the plan of salvation includes steadfastly refusing to be diverted from our true identities and responsibilities. In the brief season of our existence on earth we may serve as a plumber, professor, farmer, physician, mechanic, bookkeeper, or teacher. These are useful activities and honorable designations; but a temporary vocation is not reflective of our true identities. Matthew was a tax collector, Luke a physician, and Peter a fisherman. In a salvational sense, 'so what!'"
H. Burke Peterson, "Prepring the Heart" - (Ensign, May 1990, page 83)
"If you don't believe in yourself, neither will anyone else."
Anne L. Horton, Ph.D.
"Mr. Rogers likes you just the way you are."
“Hang on the walls of your mind the memory of your successes. Take counsel of your strength, not your weakness. Think of the good jobs you have done. For whenever excellence is recounted, it is increased.”
Sterling W. Sill
Brian Tracy
“Self-respect is the noblest garment with which a man can clothe himself, the most elevating feeling with which the mind can be inspired.”
“Every man stamps his value on himself. The price we challenge for ourselves is given us by others.
—Man is made great or little by his own will.”
"We should teach, particularly ourselves, that nobody is a nobody. We are someone, and with God's help we can accomplish all things."
"A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one would find fault with what he had done."
"Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. "
M. Scott Peck
"As with the bud, so with the blossom. A boy is the only thing known from which a man can be made. I hope that we as parents are teaching our children that they are the sons and daughters of God, and that they have the capacity to become like him. It was the old Edinburgh weaver who prayed, 'O God, help me to hold a high opinion of myself.' Likewise I would counsel young people to hold a high opinion of themselves, to remember who they really are, and to put their faith in their Heavenly Father."