100 Inspiring Quotes That Will Increase Your Confidence

Confidence. We all know we need it, but it’s not always easy to come by. How do you build belief in yourself?

There’s not an easy answer, but one thing is certainly true: it has to come from inside. One way to instill the right mindset for building self-assurance and confidence is to spend time with thoughts that motivate and inspire us.

Here are 100 inspiring quotes hand-picked for increasing your confidence.

1. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

2. “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” ­­-­ Maya Angelou

3. “Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.” – Laozi

4. “With realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world.” – The Dalai Lama

5. “If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life. With confidence, you have won even before you have started.” – Cicero

6. “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden

7. “People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.” – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

8. “We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face … we must do that which we think we cannot.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

9. “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” ­– Marie Curie

10. “You’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re never as bad as they say when you lose.” – Lou Holtz

11. “Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what? Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident, and more and more successful.” ­– Mark Victor Hansen

12. “Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.” ­- George Washington

13. “If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” – Vincent Van Gogh

14. “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” – Mark Twain

15. “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” ­­– Bernard Baruch

16. “It is best to act with confidence, no matter how little right you have to it.” ­­-Lillian Hellman

17. “Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can.” ­– Paul Tournier

18. “Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.” –Paulo Coelho

19. “Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” – Mahatama Gandhi

20. “Trust yourself–you know more than you think you do.” – Benjamin Spock

21. “Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

22. “Accept who you are; and revel in it.” – Mitch Albom

23. “You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

24. “Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.” – Helen Keller

25. “I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.” – Louise May Alcott

26. “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” – Helen Keller

27. “Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember–the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.” – Zig Ziglar

28. “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” – Norman Vincent Peale

29. “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” – Dale Carnegie

30. “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.” – David Brinkley

31. “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” – Anais Nin

32. “You’ve got to take the initiative and play your game. In a decisive set, confidence is the difference.” – Chris Evert

33. “Always be yourself–express yourself, have faith in yourself. Do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.” – Bruce Lee

34. “Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.” – Rumi

35. “Self-confidence can be learned, practiced, and mastered–just like any other skill. Once you master it, everything in your life will change for the better.” -Barrie Davenport

36. “Success is most often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” -Coco Chanel

37. “One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.” -Arthur Ashe

38. “Don’t waste your energy trying to change opinions … Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it.” -Tina Fey

39. “Successful people have fear, successful people have doubts, and successful people have worries. They just don’t let these feelings stop them.” -T. Harv Eker

40. “You can have anything you want if you are willing to give up the belief that you can’t have it.” ­-Robert Anthony

41. “Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” ­-Christopher Robin

42. “It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else’s eyes.” –Sally Field

43. “The confidence which we have in ourselves give birth to much of that which we have in others.” -Francois de la Rochefoucauld

44. “Confidence doesn’t come out of nowhere. It’s a result of something … hours and days and weeks and years of constant work and dedication.” -Roger Staubach

45. “If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” -Thomas Edison

46. “I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence but it comes from within. It is there all the time.” -Anne Freud

47. “You have no control over other people’s taste, so focus on staying true to your own.” ­-Tim Gunn

48. “With confidence, you have won before you have started.” -Marcus Garvey

49. “When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things.” -Joe Namath

50. “I think that the power is the principle. The principle of moving forward, as though you have the confidence to move forward, eventually gives you confidence when you look back and see what you’ve done.” -Robert Downey Jr.

51. “Your success will be determined by your own confidence and fortitude.” -Michelle Obama

52. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

53. “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” -Oscar Wilde

54. “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” -Buddha

55. “Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all.” -Norman Vincent Peale

56. “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

57. “When you’re different, sometimes you don’t see the millions of people who accept you for what you are. All you notice is the person who doesn’t.” -Jodi Picoult

58. “As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

59. “Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” –e. e. cummings

60. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.” -Dr. Seuss

61. “I laugh at myself. I don’t take myself completely seriously. I think that’s another quality that people have to hold on to … you have to laugh, especially at yourself.” ―Madonna

62. “Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory.” -Diane Arbus

63. “Learning too soon our limitations, we never learn our powers.” -Mignon McLaughlin

64. “People who ask confidently get more than those who are hesitant and uncertain. When you’ve figured out what you want to ask for, do it with certainty, boldness and confidence.” -Jack Canfield

65. “It is not so much our friends’ help that helps us, as the confidence of their help.” -Epicurus

66. “Skill and confidence are an unconquered army.” -George Herbert

67. “Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they’re yours.” -Richard Bach

68. “Of all our infirmities, the most savage is to despise our being. -Michel de Montaigne

69. “If I have lost confidence in myself, I have the universe against me.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

70. “Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstance.” -Bruce Barton

71. “Once you become self-conscious, there is no end to it; once you start to doubt, there is no room for anything else.” -Mignon McLaughlin

72. “Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot.” -Truman Capote

73. “Kindness in words creates confidence.” -Laozi

74. “Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.” -Samuel Johnson

75. “As is our confidence, so is our capacity.”-William Hazlitt

76. “Never dull your shine for somebody else.” -Tyra Banks

77. “Control your own destiny or someone else will.” -Jack Welch

78. “Confidence is that feeling by which the mind embarks in great and honorable courses with a sure hope and trust in itself. .” -Cicero

79. “Confidence is the most important single factor in this game, and no matter how great your natural talent, there is only one way to obtain and sustain it: work.” -Jack Nicklaus

80. “If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem.” -Abraham Lincoln

81. “Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.” -Vince Lombardi

82. “The greatest mistake you can make in life is continually fearing that you’ll make one.” -Elbert Hubbard

83. “I quit being afraid when my first venture failed and the sky didn’t fall down.” -Al Neuharth

84. “It generally happens that assurance keeps an even pace with ability.” -Samuel Johnson

85. “Only the person who has faith in himself is able to be faithful to others.” -Erich Fromm

86. “One’s self-image is very important because if that’s in good shape, then you can do anything, or practically anything.” -John Gielgud

87. “Humor comes from self-confidence.” -Rita Mae Brown

88. “The more validation I need, the less discernment I have.” -Kurt Hanks

89. “We all have our limitations, but when we listen to our critics, we also have theirs.” -Robert Breault

90. “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” -Edmund Hillary

91.”The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you.” -William Jennings Bryan

92. “Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.” -Benjamin Disraeli

93. “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” -Lucille Ball

94. “Confidence is directness and courage in meeting the facts of life.” -John Dewey

95. “If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.” -Nora Roberts

96. “First thing every morning before you arise say out loud, I believe.” -Norman Vincent Peale

97. “Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. ” – M. Scott Peck

98. “Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.” – Harvey Fierstein
– Harvey Fierstein

99. “The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.” ― Michel de Montaigne

100. “The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.” ― C.G. Jung

N A T I O N A L   B E S T S E L L E R
The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness

After decades of coaching powerful executives around the world, Lolly Daskal has observed that leaders rise to their positions relying on a specific set of values and traits. But in time, every executive reaches a point when their performance suffers and failure persists. Very few understand why or how to prevent it.

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