Nathaniel Branden Quotes

Of all the judgements we pass, none is as important as the one we pass on ourselves.

A bully hides his fears with fake bravado. That is the opposite of self-assertiveness.

One of the great self-deceptions--and one of the great foolishnesses--is to tell yourself, Only I wi...

We are parts of one universe, true enough. We stand within an almost infinite network of relationshi...

The idea of original sin--of guilt with no possibility of innocence, no freedom of choice, no altern...

Live with integrity, respect the rights of other people, and follow your own bliss.

There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem the more likely one will tr...

Anyone who engages in the practice of psychotherapy confronts every day the devastation wrought by t...

If you choose not to live self-responsibly, you count on others to make up your default. No one abju...

The challenge for people today--and it is not and easy one--is to maintain high personal standards e...

It is humiliating to realize that when you drive yourself underground, when you fake who you are, of...

One of the hardest expressions of self-assertiveness is challenging your limiting beliefs.

For the rational psychologically healthy man the desire for pleasure is the desire to celebrate hi...

The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.

Out of fear, out of the desire for approval, out of misguided notions of duty, people surrender them...

It sounded, I told him, as if he had never learned to balance projecting goals into the future with ...

Genuine self esteem – please understand this – genuine self esteem is not competitive or comparative...

Self-discipline is the ability to organize your behavior over time in the service of specific goals.

In a world in which the total of human knowledge is doubling about every ten years, our security can...

There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will be...

Suffering is just about the easiest of all human activities; being happy is just about the hardest. ...

It is a mistake to look at someone who is self assertive and say, "It's easy for her, she has good s...

The opposite of self-assertiveness is self-abnegation--abandoning or submerging your personal values...

It is not only negative feelings that become blocked. The repression extends to more and more of his...

In any culture, subculture, or family in which belief is valued above thought, and self-surrender is...

To honor the self is to be willing to think independently, to live by our own mind, and to have the ...

All positive interactions with other human beings involve, to some degree, the experience of visibil...

It is painful to face the self we know we have never had the integrity to honor and assert.

The greater a child’s terror, and the earlier it is experienced, the harder it becomes to develop a ...

I am responsible for my own existence and happiness.

Some people stand and move as if they have no right to the space they occupy. They wonder why others...

A mind that trusts itself is light on its feet.

To persevere with the will to understand in the face of obstacles is the heroism of consciousness.

Self-esteem is the reputation we acquire with ourselves.

We must become what we wish to teach.

Everyone who has any familiarity with psychology knows about the danger of disowning the murderer wi...

Most of us are capable of more than we believe.

Fear and pain should be treated as signals not to close our eyes but to open them wider.

In the inner courtroom of my mind, mine is the only judgment that counts.

The higher our self-esteem, the more likely we are to be creative in our work, which means the more ...

Our liabilities pose the problem of inadequacy; our our assets, the challenge of responsibility. Our...

It is naive to think that self-assertiveness is easy. To live self-assertively--which means to live ...

Sometimes the path to higher self-esteem is lonely and frightening. We cannot fully know in advance ...

Tell me how a person judges his or her self-esteem, and I will tell you how that person operates at ...

Chances are, when you were young, you were told, in effect, "Listen, kid, here is the news: life is ...

Integrity is congruence between what you know, what you profess, and what you do.

Never marry a person who is not a friend of your excitement.

Romantic love can be terrifying. We experience another human being as enormously important to us. So...

Most people do not erode their self-esteem over big issues but over small ones, little acts of betra...

The first act of honoring the self is the assertion of consciousness: the choice to think, to be awa...

Your life is important. Honor it. Fight for your highest possibilities.

While self-esteem touches virtually every aspect of our existence, there are two aspects to which it...

Of all the judgments we pass in life, none is more important than the judgment we pass on ourselves.