Quotes to Be Your Best Self
- Vic Bowling
- 7 days ago
- 5 min read

I haven’t always appreciated quotes. As a literature graduate, I often found them pretentious or boring. And let’s be honest — some of them truly are.
But then one day, I was in a queue to see my dentist. On the cover of a magazine in the waiting room was a quote by Chekhov:
“There is nothing more awful, insulting, and depressing than banality.”
I read it and moved on. But sitting in the dentist’s chair, I kept coming back to it — partly for distraction, partly because it struck a nerve.
Quotes are little capsules of wisdom. One or two lines can shift your whole perspective. They might encourage you, challenge you, or help you feel less alone.
How do quotes achieve this educational motivational effect?
Quotes could feel very powerful due to a 'coaching factor' - when someone or something validates us, we believe in ourselves too. And even though a written quote is not real or alive, it still carries the energy of that spoken word, the word of advice and encouragement.
Affirmations are similar to quotes and it’s another way to remind yourself about self-care, self-worth and self-love. Catherine from The Blissful Mind has a lovely and informative article on affirmations. Do check it out and apply her teachings. She is such a talented and inspirational coach.
How to use these quotes to help you to believe in yourself and be your best self
Write these quotes down on a piece of paper. Write them down on your bathroom mirror using your lipstick. Do whatever you can think of - but cherish your unique, original, adorable self.
But for the quotes on self believe that I’ve gathered here - read and enjoy. Then choose your favourite and maybe take a photo or write it down somewhere special where you can see it as often as you need to hear its message.
Bookmark this blog and come read some of them for a quick dose of inspiration. Or as a reminder that even great people might have gone through rough patches otherwise how would they come up with these wise words?
Quotes to be your best self
1. "You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one." - Henry David Thoreau
2. “Follow your inner moonlight; don’t hide the madness.”- Allen Ginsberg
3. “Break the rules, stand apart, ignore your head, and follow your heart." - Paula Abdul
4. “Be yourself there is no one better.” - Selena Gómez
5. “It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is.” - Erasmus
6. “... – you are allowed to have a voice and a vision of your own.” - Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
7. “Best be yourself, imperial, plain, and true.” - Robert Browning
8. “There is nothing more awful, insulting, and depressing than banality.” - Anton Chekhov
9. "No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you've come from, you can always change, become a better version of yourself." - Madonna
10. "Work on yourself more than you do on your job." -Jim Rohn
11. “Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” - Marilyn Monroe
12. “... she had betrayed herself and that her life would not really begin until she stopped betraying herself.” - Glennon Doyle, Untamed
13. “The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere.”–Anne Morrow Lindbergh
14. "I’m competitive with myself. I always try to push past my own borders." - Tyra Banks
15. “Do you have to do what everyone else is doing? The answer is NO! Be Different! Be Amazing! Be Yourself!” - Patricia Dsouza
16. “The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
17. "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." - Maya Angelou
18. "When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too."–Paulo Coelho
19. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” - Zig Ziglar
20. "Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think." - Benjamin Disraeli
21. "I say what I want to say and do what I want to do. There's no in between. People will either love you for it or hate you for it." - Eminem
22. "I’ve failed over and over and over again. And that is why I succeed." - Michael Jordan
23. "Always be yourself and have faith in yourself. Do not go out and look for a successful personality and try to duplicate it." - Bruce Lee
24. "It is better to wear out than to rust out." - Richard Cumberland
25. "Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself." ― Coco Chanel
26. "It's just better to be yourself than to try to be some version of what you think the other person wants." ― Matt Damon
27. "Be your own self. Love what YOU love." - Ray Bradbury
28. "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." - Oscar Wilde
29. "Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else." - Judy Garland
30. "There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self."–Aldous Huxley
31. "Where’s your will to be weird?" - Jim Morrison
32. "To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."–E.E. Cummings
33. "Be yourself. The world worships the original." - Ingrid Bergman
Final thoughts
I hope these quotes have if not inspired you then at least given you a few validating hugs - they felt like someone understands you. Quotes are tiny but they are such powerful tools in self-care and self-love. After reading one short sentence we might realise that we are not alone in this universe because someone somewhere thought something very similar. This something makes us feel better about ourselves.
I think it’s so important to always remember to be yourself. There is no one in the whole wide world as unique as you are. You are one of a kind. Just like a snowflake. So be your best self - today, tomorrow, always.