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.

Productive achievement is a consequence and an expression of health and self-esteem, not its cause.

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

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

We are anxious when there is a dissonance between our knowledge and the perceivable facts. Since our knowledge is not to be doubted or questioned, it is the facts that have to be altered.

Self-esteem is a powerful force within each of us... Self-esteem is the experience that we are appropriate to life and to the requirements of life.

A goal without an action plan is a daydream.

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.

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

Our motive is not to prove our self-worth, but to live up to our possibilities.

It is painful to face the self we know we have never had the integrity to honor and assert.

What is guilt? It is moral self-reproach -- I did wrong
when it was possible to have done otherwise.

As you grow in self-esteem, your face, manner, way of talking and moving will tend naturally to project the pleasure you take in being alive.

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.

To preserve an unclouded capacity for the enjoyment of life is an unusual moral and psychological achievement. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the prerogative of mindlessness, but the exact opposite: It is the reward of self-esteem.

What a great teacher, a great parent, a great psychotherapist and a great coach have in common is a deep belief in the potential of the person with whom they are concerned. They relate to the person from their vision of his or her worth and value.

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

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.

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.

Freedom is still the most radical idea of all.