Top 180 Nathaniel Branden Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “No one is coming to save you...”

— Nathaniel Branden

2. “A goal without an action plan is a daydream.”

— Nathaniel Branden

3. “The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.”

— Nathaniel Branden

4. “No one is coming to save me; no one is coming to make life right for me; no one is coming to solve my problems. If I don’t do something, nothing is going to get better.”

— Nathaniel Branden

5. “A commitment to lifelong learning is a natural expression of the practice of living consciously.”

— Nathaniel Branden

6. “Sometimes the subconscious mind manifests a wisdom several steps or even years ahead of the conscious mind, and has its own way of leading us toward our destiny.”

— Nathaniel Branden

7. “If my aim is to prove I am ‘enough,’ the project goes on to infinity-because the battle was already lost on the day I conceded the issue was debatable.”

— Nathaniel Branden

8. “The feeling that “I am enough” does not mean that I have nothing to learn, nothing further to achieve, and nowhere to grow to. It means that I accept myself, that I am not on trial in my own eyes, that I value and respect myself. This is not an act of indulgence but of courage.”

— Nathaniel Branden

9. “We must become what we wish to teach.”

— Nathaniel Branden

10. “Feel deeply to think clearly.”

— Nathaniel Branden

11. “Every day, it’s important to ask and answer these questions: “What’s good in my life?” and “What needs to be done?””

— Nathaniel Branden

12. “The world belongs to those who persevere.”

— Nathaniel Branden

13. “Persons of high self-esteem are not driven to make themselves superior to others; they do not seek to prove their value by measuring themselves against a comparative standard. Their joy is being who they are, not in being better than someone else.”

— Nathaniel Branden

14. “Integrity means congruence. Words and behavior match.”

— Nathaniel Branden

15. “The reputation you have with yourself – your self-esteem – is the single most important factor for a fulfilling life.”

— Nathaniel Branden

16. “Of all the judgments we pass in life, none is more important than the judgment we pass on ourselves.”

— Nathaniel Branden

17. “If you feel inadequate to face challenges, unworthy of love or respect, untitled to happiness, and fear assertive thought, wants, or needs- if you lack basic self trust, self-respect, and self-confidence- your self-esteem deficiency will limit you, no matter what other assets you possess.”

— Nathaniel Branden

18. “One of the hardest expressions of self-assertiveness is challenging your limiting beliefs.”

— Nathaniel Branden

19. “If you face life without confidence in your own powers, you succumb too easily to setbacks and adversity; you lack the will to persevere.”

— Nathaniel Branden

20. “Romantic love is a passionate spiritual-emotional-sexual attachment between a man and a woman that reflects a high regard for the value of each other’s person.”

— Nathaniel Branden

21. “Doing more of what doesn’t work doesn’t work.”

— Nathaniel Branden

22. “Integrity is congruence between what you know, what you profess, and what you do.”

— Nathaniel Branden

23. “Where we see self esteem, we see self acceptance. High self esteem individual tend to avoid falling into an adversarial relationship with themselves.”

— Nathaniel Branden

24. “Self-acceptance is my refusal to be in an adversarial relationship to myself.”

— Nathaniel Branden

25. “There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will be to treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity.”

— Nathaniel Branden

26. “Your life is important. Fight for it. Honour your highest potentials.”

— Nathaniel Branden

27. “Respect starts with ourselves.”

— Nathaniel Branden

28. “To trust one’s mind and to know that one is worthy of happiness is the essence of self-esteem.”

— Nathaniel Branden

29. “Freedom is still the most radical idea of all.”

— Nathaniel Branden

30. “The higher our self-esteem, the stronger the drive to express ourselves, reflecting the sense of richness within. The lower our self-esteem, the more urgent the need to “prove” ourselves or to forget ourselves by living mechanically and unconsciously.”

— Nathaniel Branden

31. “The stability we cannot find in the world, we must create within our own persons.”

— Nathaniel Branden

32. “There is no value-judgment more important to a man – no factor more decisive in his psychological development and motivation – than the estimate he passes on himself.”

— Nathaniel Branden

33. “Suffering is just about the easiest of all human activities; being happy is just about the hardest. And happiness requires, not surrender to guilt, but emancipation from guilt.”

— Nathaniel Branden

34. “Accepting does not necessarily mean liking, enjoying, condoning. I can accept what is-and be determined to evolve from there. It is not acceptance but denial that leaves me stuck.”

— Nathaniel Branden

35. “The greater a child’s terror, and the earlier it is experienced, the harder it becomes to develop a strong and healthy sense of self.”

— Nathaniel Branden

Featured in: Strong Quotes

36. “Of all the judgments you make in life, none is as important as the one you make about yourself. The difference between low self-esteem and high self-esteem is the difference between passivity and action, between failure and success.”

— Nathaniel Branden

37. “The greatest barrier to achievement and success is not lack of talent or ability but rather the feeling that achievement and success, above a certain level, are outside our self-concept-our image of who we are and what is appropriate to us.”

— Nathaniel Branden

38. “In a world in which the total of human knowledge is doubling about every ten years, our security can rest only on our ability to learn.”

— Nathaniel Branden

39. “It is naive to think that self-assertiveness is easy. To live self-assertively – which means to live authentically – is an act of high courage. That is why so many people spend the better part of their lives in hiding – from others and also from themselves.”

— Nathaniel Branden

40. “Everyone who has any familiarity with psychology knows about the danger of disowning the murderer within. Far fewer people understand the tragedy of disowning the hero within.”

— Nathaniel Branden

41. “Anyone who really loves you wants you to be authentic. And anyone who doesn’t want you to be authentic doesn’t really love you.”

— Nathaniel Branden

42. “Some people stand and move as if they have no right to the space they occupy. They wonder why others often fail to treat them with respect-not realizing that they have signaled others that it is not necessary to treat them with respect.”

— Nathaniel Branden

43. “Your choices have psychological consequences. The way you choose to deal with reality, truth, facts – your choice to honor or dishonor your own perceptions – registers in your mind, for good or for bad, and either confirms and strengthens your self-esteem or undermines and weakens it.”

— Nathaniel Branden

44. “To live consciously means to seek to be aware of everything that bears on our actions, purposes, values, and goals – to the best of our ability, whatever that ability may be – and to behave in accordance with that which we see and know.”

— Nathaniel Branden

45. “How do we keep our inner fire alive? Two things, at minimum, are needed: an ability to appreciate the positives in our life – and a commitment to action. Every day, it’s important to ask and answer these questions: ‘What’s good in my life?’ and ‘What needs to be done?”

— Nathaniel Branden

46. “Integrity is the integration of ideals, convictions, standards, beliefs-and behavior. When our behavior is congruent with our professed values, when ideals and practice match up, we have integrity.”

— Nathaniel Branden

47. “A productive purpose to which you give yourself fully and joyfully is one of the great adventures of life. It is a uniquely human source of happiness.”

— Nathaniel Branden

48. “Self-esteem is not a luxury; it is a profound spiritual need.”

— Nathaniel Branden

49. “If we attach more importance to what other people believe than to what we know to be true – if we value belonging over being – we will not attain authenticity.”

— Nathaniel Branden

50. “To exist without purpose is to be at the mercy of the chance encounter, the chance invitation, the chance phone call, the chance event- always being controlled by forces external to oneself.”

— Nathaniel Branden