Public opinion is a weak tyrant, compared with our private opinion – what a man thinks of himself, that is which determines, or rather indicates his fate.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Only the person who has faith in himself is able to be faithful to others.
—Erich Fromm (1900–80) German-American Psychoanalyst, Social Philosopher
Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.
—Anne Frank (1929–45) Holocaust Victim
Who is sure of their own motives can in confidence advance or retreat.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
If I have lost confidence in myself, I have the universe against me.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
It is what you are inside that matters. You, yourself, are your only real capital.
—Vladimir K. Zworykin (1889–1982) Russian-born American Physicist, Television Pioneer
Confidence, like the soul, never returns whence it has once departed
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
If you think you can, you can.
And if you think you can’t, you’re right.
—Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
He who fears he shall suffer already suffers what he fears.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look at fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along”. You must do the think you think you cannot do.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Self-trust is the essence of heroism.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
When you engage in systematic, purposeful action, using and stretching your abilities to the maximum, you cannot help but feel positive and confident about yourself.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
If a man wants his dreams to come true, he must wake up.
—Unknown
Life marks us all down, so it’s just as well that we start out by overpricing ourselves.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Confidence imparts a wondrous inspiration to its possessor.—It bears him on in security, either to meet no danger, or to find matter of glorious trial.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said today… Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable.
—Paul Tillich (1886–1965) American Lutheran Theologian, Philosopher
For they conquer who believe they can.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back on himself. He imposes his own stamp of action, takes responsibility for it, makes it his own.
—Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970) French General, Statesman
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined! As you simplify your life, the laws of the Universe will be simpler, solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
We tend to view confidence as a product of accomplishment rather than part of the process that leads there. But supremely confident people were confident long before they achieved anything.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
There are certain people who so ardently and passionately desire a thing, that from dread of losing it they leave nothing undone to make them lose it.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
Never allow a person to tell you ‘no’ who doesn’t have the power to say ‘yes.’
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
One’s self-image is very important because if that’s in good shape, then you can do anything, or practically anything.
—John Gielgud (1904–2000) English Actor, Theatre Director
There is no dependence that can be sure but a dependence upon one’s self.
—John Gay (1685–1732) English Poet, Dramatist
The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Believe that with your feelings and your work you are taking part in the greatest; the more strongly you cultivate this belief, the more will reality and the world go forth from it.
—Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian Poet
All causes are essentially mental, and whosoever comes into daily contact with a high order of thinking must take on some of it.
—Charles Fillmore (1854–1948) American New Thought Mystic
All times are beautiful for those who maintain joy within them; but there is no happy or favorable time for those with disconsolate or orphaned souls.
—Rosalia de Castro (1837–1885) Galician Romanticist Writer, Poet
A gentleman that loves to hear himself talk, will speak more in a minute than he will stand to in a month.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The wise don’t expect to find life worth living; they make it that way.
—Unknown
True prosperity is the result of well-placed confidence in ourselves and our fellow man.
—Unknown
I have not a particle of confidence in a man who has no redeeming vices.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
—Marianne Williamson (b.1952) American Activist, Author, Lecturer
Never dull your shine for somebody else.
—Tyra Banks (b.1973) American Supermodel, Talk Show Host
Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.
—Kazuo Ishiguro (b.1954) Japanese-born British Novelist
To have that sense of one’s intrinsic worth which constitutes self-respect is potentially to have everything: the ability to discriminate, to love and to remain indifferent. To lack it is to be locked within oneself, paradoxically incapable of either love or indifference.
—Joan Didion (1934–2021) American Essayist, Novelist, Memoirist
You cannot consistently perform in a manner which is inconsistent with the way you see yourself.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
What a fool, quoth he, am I, thus to lie in a stinking dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty! I have a key in my bosom, called Promise, that will, I am persuaded, open any lock in Doubting Castle.
—John Bunyan (1628–88) English Puritan Writer, Preacher
As is our confidence, so is our capacity.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
To confide, even though to be betrayed, is much better than to learn only to conceal.—In the one case your neighbor wrongs you;—but in the other you are perpetually doing injustice to yourself.
—William Gilmore Simms (1806–70) American Poet, Novelist, Historian
The mansion should not be graced by its master, the master should grace the mansion.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Thinking is like loving and dying. Each of us must do it for himself.
—Josiah Royce (1855–1916) American Idealist Philosopher
I’ve always seen myself as a winner, even as a kid. If I hadn’t, I just might have gone down the drain a couple of times. I’ve got something inside of me, peasant like and stubborn, and I’m in it ’til the end of the race.
—Truman Capote (1924–84) American Novelist
Confidence is not a guarantee of success, but a pattern of thinking that will improve your likelihood of success, a tenacious search for ways to make things work.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
Self-respect will keep a man from being abject when he is in the power of enemies, and will enable him to feel that he may be in the right when the world is against him.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Debt is a trap which man sets and baits himself, and then deliberately gets into.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
There is no man so low down that the cure for his condition does not lie strictly within himself.
—Thomas Masson (1866–1934) American Journalist, Humorist, Author
Remember that what pulls the strings is the force hidden within; there lies the power to persuade, there the life—there, if one must speak out, the real man.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher