100 Self Acceptance Quotes and Affirmations

For me, quotes have always been a really great way to reconnect with my deepest heartfelt intentions. I use them as a talisman and love to connect to the energy of the quotes. And since one of the things I know for sure is that self-acceptance is critical on the path to personal and spiritual growth, today, I’ve got a collection of self-acceptance quotes and affirmations.

I encourage you to use the self-acceptance quotes and affirmations in any way that resonates with you. Pin them on Pinterest, put them on a sticky note on your bathroom mirror, or, perhaps even meditate on them.

No matter how you use these self-acceptance quotes and affirmations, my hope is that they will inspire a deeper sense of self-acceptance.

Without further ado, here are my favorite self-acceptance quotes and affirmations.

Self Acceptance Quotes by Oprah Winfrey

1. As you become more clear about who you really are, you’ll be better able to decide what is best for you – the first time around. ~ Oprah Winfrey
2. Self-esteem means knowing you are the dream. ~ Oprah Winfrey
3. I was once afraid of people saying, “Who does she think she is?” Now I have the courage to stand and say, “This is who I am. ~ Oprah Winfrey
4. I am a woman in process. I’m just trying like everybody else.  ~ Oprah Winfrey
5. It isn’t until you come to a spiritual understanding of who you are – not necessarily a religious feeling, but deep down, the spirit within – that you can begin to take control. ~ Oprah Winfrey
6. Self-esteem comes from being able to define the world in your own terms and refusing to abide by the judgments of others. ~ Oprah Winfrey
7. All these years I’ve been feeling like I was growing into myself. Finally, I feel grown. ~ Oprah Winfrey
8. Let your light shine. Shine within you so that it can shine on someone else. Let your light shine. ~ Oprah Winfrey
9. What we’re all striving for is authenticity, a spirit-to-spirit connection. ~ Oprah Winfrey
10. Lack of self-esteem is what causes wars because people who really love themselves don’t go out and try to fight other people … It’s the root of all the problems. ~ Oprah Winfrey
11. True self-esteem is realizing that you are valuable because you were born. No matter where you came from, what color your skin is, what people say about your family or what mean things people may have done to you because you were born, you are important and you matter. ~ Oprah Winfrey

Self Acceptance Quotes by Carl Jung

12. Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. ~ Carl Jung
13. Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside dreams; who looks inside, awakes. ~ Carl Jung
14. Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate. ~ Carl Jung
15. Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people. ~ Carl Jung
16. The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are. ~ Carl Jung
17. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, to avoid facing their own souls. ~ Carl Jung
18. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. ~ Carl Jung
19. Whatever is rejected from the self, appears in the world as an event. ~ Carl Jung
20. We cannot change anything unless we accept it. ~ Carl Jung
21. How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also If I am to be whole. ~ Carl Jung
22. Shame is a soul eating emotion. ~ Carl Jung
23. The best political, social, and spiritual work we can do is to withdraw the projection of our shadow onto others. ~ Carl Jung
24. To find out what is truly individual in ourselves, profound reflection is needed; and suddenly we realize how uncommonly difficult the discovery of individuality is. ~ Carl Jung
25. Be silent and listen: have you recognized your madness and do you admit it? Have you noticed that all your foundations are completely mired in madness? Do you not want to recognize your madness and welcome it in a friendly manner? You wanted to accept everything. So accept madness too. Let the light of your madness shine, and it will suddenly dawn on you. Madness is not to be despised and not to be feared, but instead, you should give it life. ~ Carl Jung
26. What you resist, persists. ~ Carl Jung
27. I’d rather be whole than good. ~ Carl Jung
28. The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.  ~ Carl Jung

Self Acceptance Quotes by Gabby Bernstein

29.  The way we experience the world around us is a direct reflection of the world within us. ~ Gabby Bernstein
30. You can’t make people be or do what you want. All you can do is be unapologetic about what you want and let others show up however they can. ~ Gabby Bernstein
31. Be faithful that your authentic power is all you need to truly share your light with the world. ~ Gabby Bernstein
32. Bring acceptance and compassionate self-talk. Say nice things to yourself – you’re the only one listening. Tell yourself, I am doing the best I can. ~ Gabby Bernstein
33. The moment we begin to celebrate ourselves and focus on our successes is the moment we begin living. ~ Gabby Bernstein
34. All the happiness, self-confidence, and support you’re seeking is already within you. ~ Gabby Bernstein
35. Get naked with your truth, offering the world your greatest gift: your authentic self. ~ Gabby Bernstein
36. I would suggest that the next generation stop looking for happiness outside of themselves but instead turn inward. ~ Gabby Bernstein
37. At some point all lies are brought to the surface and truth comes forth no matter how hard we try to hide it. ~ Gabby Bernstein
38. The issue is that if you hold onto the resentment against yourself, you’re just going to recreate that destructive pattern in different forms because unconsciously it’s still a belief system that limits you. ~ Gabby Bernstein

Self Acceptance Quotes by Debbie Ford

39. Your life will be transformed when you make peace with your shadow. The caterpillar will become a breathtakingly beautiful butterfly. You will no longer have to pretend to be someone you’re not. You will no longer have to prove you’re good enough. When you embrace your shadow you will no longer have to life in fear. Find the gifts of your shadow and you will finally revel in all the glory of your true self. Then you will have the freedom to create the life you have always desired. ~ Debbie Ford
40. Each aspect within us needs understanding and compassion. If we are unwilling to give it to ourselves how can we expect the world to give it to us? ~ Debbie Ford
41. We can’t fight darkness with darkness. We have to find compassion and embrace the darkness inside of us in order to understand it and, ultimately, to transcend it. ~ Debbie Ford
42. The greatest act of courage is to be and to own all of who you are — without apology, without excuses, without masks to cover the truth of who you are. ~ Debbie Ford
43. It is only when we have the courage to face things exactly as they are, without any self-deception or illusion, that a light will develop out of events, by which the path to success may be recognized. ~ Debbie Ford
44. All of your so-called faults, all the things which you don’t like about yourself are your greatest assets. ~ Debbie Ford
45. You must go into the dark in order to bring forth your light. ~ Debbie Ford
46. Self-awareness is the ability to take an honest look at your life without any attachment to it being right or wrong, good or bad. ~ Debbie Ford
47. Perfect love is to feel what perfect white is to color. Many think that white is the absence of color. It is not. It is the inclusion of all color. White is every other color that exists combined. So, too, is love, not the absence of emotion (hatred, anger, lust, jealousy, covertness), but the summation of all feeling? It is the sum total. The aggregate amount. The everything. Love is inclusive: it accepts the full range of human emotion. ~ Debbie Ford
48. True courage comes not just from feeling confident and strong, but from being an honest, authentic expression of yourself. Think about how audacious it is to really believe in yourself. ~ Debbie Ford
49. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. ~ Debbie Ford
50. Every aspect of ourselves has a gift. Every emotion and every trait we possess helps show us the way to enlightenment, to oneness. ~ Debbie Ford
51. To liberate ourselves from the confines of our stories, we must be willing to give up the comfort of our self-made cocoons. ~ Debbie Ford
52. The purpose of our journey is to restore ourselves to wholeness.  ~ Debbie Ford

Self Acceptance Quotes by Brene Brown

53. You are imperfect, you are wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging. ~ Brene Brown
54. Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self–acceptance. ~ Brene Brown
55. Shame derives its power from being unspeakable. ~ Brene Brown
56. Those who feel lovable, who love, and who experience belonging simply believe they are worthy of love and belonging. ~ Brene Brown
57. We judge people in areas where we’re vulnerable to shame. ~ Brene Brown
58. Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. ~ Brene Brown
59. Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen. ~ Brene Brown
60. To love ourselves and support each other in the process of becoming real is perhaps the greatest single act of daring greatly. ~ Brene Brown
61. Fitting in and belonging are not the same thing. In fact, fitting in is one of the greatest barriers to belonging. Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be in order to be accepted. Belonging, on the other hand, doesn’t require us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are. ~ Brene Brown
62. Those who have a strong sense of love and belonging have the courage to be imperfect. ~ Brene Brown
63. You either walk inside your story and own it or you stand outside your story & hustle for your worthiness. ~ Brene Brown
64. Your level of belonging can never be greater than your level of self-acceptance. ~ Brene Brown
65. Owning our worthiness is the act of owning that we are sacred. ~ Brene Brown
66. In a society of “put yourself last”, self-love and self-acceptance are almost revolutionary. ~ Brene Brown

Other Self Acceptance Quotes You’ll Love

67. Accept yourself and experience true liberation. ~ Amy Leigh Mercee
68. Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are. ~ Marilyn Monroe
69. We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves. ~ Dalai Lama
70. Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself. ~ Coco Chanel
71. There is no perfection, only beautiful versions of brokenness. ~ Shannon Alder
72. When you accept yourself flaws, no one can use them against you. ~ Unknown
73. Be who you are, not who the world wants you to be.
74. No one is you and that is your power. ~ Vybe Source
75. If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be. ~ Maya Angelou
76. Embrace the glorious mess that you are. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert
77. You are not a drop in an ocean. You are the entire ocean in a single drop. ~ Rumi
78. I think the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself. ~ Rita Mae Brown
79. When you know yourself you are empowered. When you accept yourself, you are invincible. ~ Tina Lifford
80. The curious paradox is that when I accept myself, then I can change. ~ Carl Rogers
81. I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine. ~ Bruce Lee
82. Lighten up on yourself. No one in this world is perfect. Gently accept your humanness. ~ Deborah Day
83. I decided that the most revolutionary thing I could do was to show up for my life and not be ashamed. ~ Anne Lamott
84. Accepting yourself only as long as you look a certain way is not self-acceptance, it is self-destruction. ~ Laci Green
85. Don’t you carry stones in your bowl of Light ~ Trevor Hall

Self Acceptance Affirmations

86. I AM whole and complete.
87. I choose wholeness.
88. I choose to love and accept myself.
89. I AM willing to accept my wholeness.
90. I bring consciousness instead of judgment to myself.
91. My imperfections make me beautiful ~ Suzanne Heyn
92. I accept and love myself the way I am.
93. I celebrate all of who I am.
94. I AM everything.
95. I deeply approve of all that I am.
96. I approve of every single part of me.
97. I accept all that I AM.
98. I accept and forgive my flaws.
99. My opinion of me is the only opinion that really matters.
100. I embrace my wholeness.

I do hope that you have found these self-acceptance quotes and affirmations to be helpful as you walk your path of self-acceptance. If you need some step-by-step guidance on HOW to accept yourself, be sure to check out my eCourse, Shadow + Light.

And, if you’re in the mood for more quotes, I’ve got tons of them. Here are self-love quotes, gratitude and thank you quotes, quotes on shame, and self-compassion quotes. (I told you I love quotes!)