Sometimes we all need a little encouragement and these quotes about being yourself are the perfect place to start
35 Be Yourself Quotes to Embrace Who You Are
Updated on Dec. 17, 2024
As Mister Rodgers told his television audience at the end of each episode, there is no one in the whole world like you. And there’s a reason why the beloved host repeatedly delivered that message to children: it’s important to keep in mind not just growing up, but as adults as well. Unfortunately, things don’t always turn out as we planned, and your life might not look like what you had envisioned for yourself. You may even feel dull and like there’s nothing special about you. Well, if that’s the case, sit tight: we’ve rounded up some be yourself quotes that will inspire you to truly embrace the beauty that is you. Read on to find the perfect positive affirmation that will remind you to love who you are.
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Quotes about being yourself
1. “You are you. Now, isn’t that pleasant?” —Dr. Seuss
2. “Be the person your dog thinks you are.” —Ricky Gervais
3. “You are who you are when nobody’s watching.” —Stephen Fry
4. “It’s hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world.” —Dolly Parton
5. “The worst thing that can happen to a man is to become civilized.” —David Goggins
6. “The most important consequence of self-sufficiency is freedom.” —Epicurus
7. “The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.” —Coco Chanel
8. “I would rather die having spoken in my manner, than speak in your manner and live.” —Socrates
9. “It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.” —André Gide
10. “The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself.” —Rita Mae Brown
Be yourself quotes
11. “I think I’ll always be neurotic enough to do something weird.” —Kurt Cobain
12. “I pay no attention whatever to anybody’s praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.” —Mozart
13. “The tighter you cling to your current identity, the harder it becomes to grow beyond it.” —James Clear
14. “Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else.” —Judy Garland
15. “Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.” —Bertrand Russell
16. “So whatever you want to do, just do it…Making a damn fool of yourself is absolutely essential.” —Gloria Steinem
17. “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
18. “Your harshest critic is always going to be yourself. Don’t ignore that critic but don’t give it more attention than it deserves.” —Michael Ian Black
19. “One could come from less humble beginnings, to become a winner from within.” —Dave Pelzer
20. “There’s a point, around the age of 20… when you have to choose whether to be like everybody else the rest of your life, or to make a virtue of your peculiarities.” —Ursula K. Le Guin
21. “When I was a child my mother said to me, ‘If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general. If you become a monk, you’ll be the pope.’ Instead I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.” —Picasso
Quotes on being you
22. “Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.” —Alan Watts
23. “God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.” —William Shakespeare
24. “Find your place on the planet. Dig in and take responsibility from there.” —Gary Snyder
25. “Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?” —Charles Bukowski
26. “If you desire to make a difference in the world, you must be different from the world.” —Elaine S. Dalton
27. “Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” —Marilyn Monroe
28. “There is nothing cooler than your authentic truth… Everyone wants to feel connected, and when you are your authentic self, you offer them that opportunity.” —Gabby Bernstein
29. “Be nobody’s darling; Be an outcast. Take the contradictions of your life and wrap around you like a shawl, to parry stones, to keep you warm.” —Alice Walker
30. “Always be yourself. At the end of the day, that’s all you’ve really got; when you strip everything down, that’s all you’ve got, so always be yourself.” —Al Roker
31. “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” —Oscar Wilde
32. “Accept yourself, your strengths, your weaknesses, your truths, and know what tools you have to fulfill your purpose.” —Steve Maraboli
33. “How many more of us are faking the facade? How many more of us are pretending to be something we’re not? Even better, how many of us will have the courage to be ourselves regardless of what others think?” —Katie McGarry
34. “The truth is that we don’t need everyone to like us; we need a few people to love us. Because what’s better than being roundly liked is being fully known – an impossibility both professionally and personally if you’re so busy being likable that you forget to be yourself.” —Jessica Valenti
35. “To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.” —Bindi Irwin
Why trust us
At Reader’s Digest, we’ve been sharing our favorite quotes for over 100 years. The sayings and quips that appear in the magazine’s “Quotable Quotes” (formerly “Remarkable Remarks”) are curated from interviews and essays originally published in the magazine, reprints from trusted titles and other verified sources. For this piece, Emma Taubenfeld tapped her experiences as a lifestyle editor for Reader’s Digest to ensure that all information is accurate. We’ve gone the extra step and had Marcy Lovitch, a fact-checker with 20-plus years of experience researching for national publications including Marie Claire, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, Glamour, Seventeen, Real Simple, Forbes and InStyle magazines, verify that all quotes are attributed correctly and have credible sourcing. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
