Nearly everyone has attacks of insecurity and self-doubt. Gathered from outstanding novelists, activists, adventurers, and self-dev authors, the following quotes will help you reclaim your confidence and shine. So, read on—and be brave, be bold, and be your amazing self!
On confidence to face your fears
"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look 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 thing you think you cannot do.'" -Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn by Living
"Fear begets fear. Power begets power. I willed myself to beget power. And it wasn't long before I actually wasn't afraid." -Cheryl Strayed, Wild
"The coward, then, is a despairing sort of person; for he fears everything,' Aristotle wrote. 'The brave man, on the other hand, has the opposite disposition; for confidence is the mark of a hopeful disposition.'" -Jon Meacham, The Soul of America
"What you feel doesn't matter in the end; it's what you do that makes you brave." -Andre Agassi, Open
"Brave doesn't mean you're not scared. It means you go on even though you're scared." -Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give
"Avoidance will make you feel less vulnerable in the short run, but it will never make you less afraid." -Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart
"What did it matter if something scared you, when it simply had to be done?" -Kate Quinn, The Alice Network
"I knew that I would have to be brave ... really genuinely brave. Brave enough to be quiet when quiet was called for, brave enough to observe before flinging myself into something, brave enough to not abandon my true self when someone else wanted to seduce or force me in a direction I didn't want to go, brave enough to stand my ground quietly." -Piper Kerman, Orange Is the New Black
"Annabel nodded at her, turning to climb into her own seat, fastening her own harness with the self-assurance of a test pilot on his fiftieth run, rather than someone with no front teeth and a Dora barrette in her hair." -Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings
"No one should deter you from being you. You have to be you. And you can never be afraid to be you." -Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me
"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship." -Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
On confidence in your ability to succeed
"Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, really believe, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way to solution." -David Schwartz, The Magic of Thinking Big
"Realistic thinking is based on what others think is possible, but they are not you and have no way of knowing your potential and purposes." -Grant Cardone, The 10X Rule
"Average people have wishes and hopes. Confident people have goals and plans." -Brian Tracy, The Power of Self-Confidence
"'I never seek to defeat the man I am fighting,' he explained. 'I seek to defeat his confidence. A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory. Two men are equals—true equals—only when they both have equal confidence.'" -Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha
"Stay true to your own nature. If you like to do things in a slow and steady way, don't let others make you feel as if you have to race. If you enjoy depth, don't force yourself to seek breadth. If you prefer single-tasking to multi-tasking, stick to your guns. Being relatively unmoved by rewards gives you the incalculable power to go your own way." -Susan Cain, Quiet
"Your mind is designed to help you achieve your dreams. Your job is to believe it is possible and encourage yourself to keep walking toward it." -Mel Robbins, The High 5 Habit
"And not knowing something doesn’t make a person stupid, Wyn.' 'Oh,' he says, amused. 'Then what does?' After a moment’s thought, I say, 'An unwillingness to learn.'" -Emily Henry, Happy Place
"What matters in life is not whether we receive a round of applause; what matters is whether we have the courage to venture forth despite the uncertainty of acclaim." -Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow
"When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things." -Joe Namath, All the Way
"Their dark skin, their gender, their economic status—none of those were acceptable excuses for not giving the fullest rein to their imaginations and ambitions." -Margot Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures
"No more holding yourself back. No more subscribing to others' opinions of what you can and cannot achieve. And no more allowing anyone to pigeonhole you into useless categories of sex, race, economic status, and religion. Do not allow your talents to lie dormant, ladies. Design your own future." -Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry
"You are remembered for the rules you break." -Phil Knight, Shoe Dog
"A bold act requires a high degree of confidence." -Robert Greene, The 50th Law
"Don’t be surprised by your greatness. Be surprised that no one expected it." -Rebecca Maizel, Infinite Days
On confidence in your own worth
"Let others determine your worth and you're already lost, because no one wants people worth more than themselves." -Peter V. Brett, The Warded Man
"When we are able to recognize our own light, we become empowered to use it." -Michelle Obama, The Light We Carry
"Stop comparing yourself with others. If they are good at something, you too are good at something else. Self-confidence is not measured by your own capabilities versus that of others, but by your own needs." -Stephen Richards, Develop Jedi Self-Confidence
"The more we define ourselves in relation to the people around us, the more lost we are." -Jay Shetty, Think Like a Monk
"If you don't get out there and define yourself, you'll be quickly and inaccurately defined by others." -Michelle Obama, Becoming
"I'd rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I'm not." -Charlamagne Tha God, Black Privilege
"I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others." -Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
"To admit uncertainty is to admit to weakness, to powerlessness, and to believe in yourself despite both. It is a frailty, but in this frailty there is a strength: the conviction to live in your own mind, and not in someone else's." -Tara Westover, Educated
"Nothing gives you confidence like being a member of a small, weirdly specific, hard-to-find demographic." -Mindy Kaling, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)
"Without feeling blazing rage or fear or sadness, I had asked for what I wanted. Getting it seemed secondary." -Sally Field, In Pieces
"Your voice is a weapon. Never forget that." -TJ Klune, The House in the Cerulean Sea
"Saying 'yes' doesn't mean I don't know how to say no, and saying 'please' doesn't mean I am waiting for permission. 'Yes please' sounds powerful and concise. It's a response and a request. It is not about being a good girl; it is about being a real woman." -Amy Poehler, Yes Please
"I remember being twenty-one and thinking that my personality was a solid thing, that me was set in stone, that I would always feel what I felt and believe what I believed. But now I know that me is fluid and shape-changing." -Lisa Jewell, Then She Was Gone
"Become who you are by learning who you are." -Robert Greene, Mastery
"I'm not perfect. I'll never be perfect. I don't expect anything to be perfect. But things don't have to be perfect to be strong." -Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daisy Jones & The Six
"Do your thing and don't care if they like it." -Tina Fey, Bossypants
"What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?" -Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give
"As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same." -Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
On celebrating feeling confident
"Confidence is the purity of action produced by a mind free of doubt." -Katty Kay, The Confidence Code
"She dressed in bohemian clothes, penned novels, panted, and yearned to roam forgotten corners of the world. She was habitually defiant and fearless, and when she felt controlled, as she often did, she could be irresistibly willful." -Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken
"He made her more confident, funnier, smarter. He brought out all the things that were there already and let her be fully herself, so she seemed to shine with this inner light." -Liane Moriarty, What Alice Forgot
"They loved her because she was an independent spirit, unafraid to speak her mind, passionate, impetuous, and brave." -Kate Mulgrew, Born with Teeth
"Know that you have the right to have your preferences, your borders, your boundaries." -Luvvie Ajayi Jones, Professional Troublemaker
"Self-possession, that's what it was. This was someone who knew her own mind, her own worth." -Kate Morton, The Clockmaker's Daughter
"And yet she was wholly herself: a rarity." -Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch
"And though she be but little, she is fierce." -William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream
"When a woman finally learns that pleasing the world is impossible, she becomes free to learn how to please herself." -Glennon Doyle, Untamed
"I actively cultivate the best version of myself." -Nedra Glover Tawwab, Set Boundaries, Find Peace
"A queen—a queen who bowed to no one, a queen who had faced them all down and triumphed. A queen who owned her body, her life, her destiny, and never apologized for it." -Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury
"A lion doesn't concern itself with the opinion of sheep." -George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
"An empress does not concern herself with the antics of fools." -Gabrielle Union, We're Going to Need More Wine
"If I only had a little humility, I would be perfect." -Ted Turner, Call Me Ted
