Best Self Quotes

Wait a minute, baby...stay with me awhile...said you'd show me light, but you never told me 'bout the fire

Steve didn't really find her voice until after she and Lindsay joined Fleetwood Mac. And that's the thing: you can't be your best self until you find your tribe. I'm still lookin' for mine. ~ Ryan Murphy

I came to the realization that I needed to become my best self in order to attract the kind of guy I would want to marry. If I wanted someone truly fabulous, I had better become truly fabulous first. ~ Ian Kerner

At midlife, you're pregnant with the best self you can be - someone who has learned enough from both successes and failures to add up to a fine human being. ~ Marianne Williamson

Of course you're afraid of being judged and condemned. Some people will judge and condemn you, but most won't. Our minds are small, but our hearts are big. Just about every one of us has fucked up at one point or another. You're in a pickle. You did things you didn't hope to do. You have not always been your best self. This means that you're like the rest of us. ~ Anonymous

Everybody wears an unseen sign that reads: Inspire me. Remind me that my life matters; call me to be my best self; appeal to whatever in me is most noble and honorable. Don't let me go down the path of least resistance. Challenge me to make my life about something more than the acquisition of money or success ~ John Ortberg

With honesty and a little digging, we have the opportunity to identify our gifts and harness them in the service of our best self - our own unique noble purpose. ~ Tom Hayes

Don't dim your light because others think it's too bright. ~ Jackie Cantoni

In pain there is as much wisdom as in pleasure: like the latter it is one of the best self preservatives of a species. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Our task is to become our best selves. One of God's greatest gifts to us is the joy of trying again, for no failure ever need be final. ~ Thomas S. Monson

In our darkest hours in when we must look up to our Highest Almighty God. He is calling for you to be your best self now. Nothing is holding you back. Go for it! ~ Theresa Sky

When I write a poem, I go into a state of self-forgetfulness, and something higher takes over; I like to call it my best self. ~ Ben Okri

It's not enough to just be yourself. You must be your best self ~ Neil Strauss

On some level, I think we want our reading self to represent our best self. ~ Gabrielle Zevin

Don't be afraid of being unique. It's like being afraid of your best self. ~ Donald Trump

You have to be true to yourself, but you have to be true to your best self, not to the self that secretly thinks you are better than other people. ~ Stephen Gaskin

I think perhaps a better thing to want is fulfillment. A deeper state, one that comes from within, from being your best self. From living life the way you really wish to live it. Then, happiness emanates from within as a byproduct. Naturally. ~ Kamal Ravikant

There are so many voices on YouTube, and there are incredible creators that are popular for a reason. And although it's great to be inspired by them, nobody is going to subscribe to a second-rate version of them. It's really important to put your best foot forward and be your best self because you will always be the number one version of you. ~ Tyler Oakley

The only way you can be the best at something is to be the best you can be. ~ Susan Beth Pfeffer

Who would I be without Amy to react to? Because she was right: As a man, I had been my most impressive when I loved her -- and I was my next best self when I hated her. ~ Gillian Flynn

Being with him made me want to make my own dreams, discover my own path. I was my best self when I was with him. ~ Heather Anastasiu

There isn't an end point to excellence where you have it and you can stop. Being your best self means keeping on trying. ~ Jo Walton

I am my best self when I have super-short hair. That's when I feel most like me and most confident. ~ Halle Berry

You can only be your best self. When I initially got on the air, I would look around me and watch people that I thought were really good and try to be like they were. And I got to a point where I realized, "I can't be them." I can only be the best that Abby can be. And as long as I'm myself and I'm genuine and I'm real, then I think that's all you can do. ~ Abby Huntsman

There is no perfect love. There is only a right kind of love. This kind of love cares for your well-being, gives you the freedom to live your life, and stretches you to become your best self. ~ Janet Ong Zimmerman

My best male friend is my best friend until he crosses me. We're all protective of the self. ~ Neil LaBute

Sometimes people ask what it was like when I got to meet Mick Jagger, and I must admit that you just try and chill out and be your best self around anyone that you meet. ~ Meshell Ndegeocello

The best way to forget ones self is to look at the world with attention and love. ~ Red Auerbach

There are certain bad habits we've groomed our whole life
from personality flaws to fashion faux pas. And it has been the role of parents and friends, outside of some minor tweaking, to reinforce the belief that we're okay just as we are. But it's not enough to just be yourself. You have to be your best self. And that's a tall order if you haven't found your best self yet. ~ Neil Strauss

What do you do when you don't know what to do about something?
I talk to Mr. Sugar and my friends. I make lists. I attempt to analyze the situation from the perspective of my "best self" - the one that's generous, reasonable, forgiving, loving, bighearted, and grateful. I think really hard about what I'll wish I did a year from now. I map out the consequences of the various actions I could take. I ask what my motivations are, what my desires are, what my fears are, what I have to lose, and what I have to gain. I move toward the light, even if it's a hard direction in which to move. I trust myself. I keep the faith. I mess up sometimes. ~ Cheryl Strayed

That is what you love a friend for: the ability to change your angle of vision, bring back your best self when you feel worst. And speak the truth
but without malice. Loving candour is the secret of friendship. ~ Erica Jong

Despite the obvious fault in the universe, it cannot be used as an excuse for not trying to be your best self. Instead, use unfairness as a starting point to be sure that your actions are the best you can muster, and find peace in navigating your time here with grace and humor whenever possible. ~ Valerie Plame

We all have these weird rules about what we SHOULD love and what SHOULD make us happy and how things SHOULD work. SHOULD is a warning sign, frankly. When you're using the word SHOULD more and more often, it's a sign that you're living further and further from your truest, best self, that you're living for some other set of parameters or affirmations that you think will bring you happiness. SHOULD never brings happiness. ~ Shauna Niequist

Because connection with others and our "best self" is the most primal need we have, shame feels absolutely awful. ~ Christiane Northrup

Gratitude is a key that unlocks the door to a joyful spirit. When days go by without gratefulness, the door can feel stuck, causing an emptiness inside. The door becomes un-wedged and reopens once you re-focus on what you are grateful for. If you have draining days, reach deep within your heart and reintroduce gratitude to refill your spirit with joy. ~ Jackie Cantoni

The best you that you can be is the one that you dream of being every day. You can't be the best if you are living as someone else's dream. To be the best you, live as your best self. ~ Avina Celeste

This culture [Microsoft's culture] needs to be a microcosm of the world we hope to create outside the company. One where builders, makers, and creators achieve great things. But, equally important, one where every individual can be their best self, where diversity of skin color, gender, religion, and sexual orientation is understood and celebrated. ~ Satya Nadella

An important part of becoming your best self is being very careful about your self-talk and self-stories. ~ Bryant McGill

Had our hearts really become so numb that we needed dead bodies in order to feel the beat of compassion in our chests? Who am I if I need to be shocked back into my best self? ~ Jason Reynolds

There is nothing better for us to do than to take ourselves as we find ourselves and make the best of ourselves. If I find myself, as I did, the daughter of an artist who has left me with broadmindedness and a conveniently strong character to resist temptation, I take myself from there and accomplish what I can… I do not even deserve praise for doing my best, for that is my duty and I deserve to be blamed for not doing my best. ~ Wanda Gág

Your actions are viewed by observers through prisms shaped by their own interpretations, and sometimes misinterpretations. All you can do is strive to be your best self. Let the chips fall where they may. ~ Cathryn Louis

don't work yourself to the point of a mental breakdown. give priority to your mental health. you are only a few steps away from completely losing your balance and breaking your mind. take one step back every time you take two steps forward. breathe. be mindful. see through life as it transpires moment by moment. learn when to rest. sleep is important. eating healthily is important. everything you do for the sake of your sanity is important. being kind to your mind is the best self-care there is. if there's anything that's lovely about you, it is your mind. ~ Juansen Dizon

When you write, you write out of your best self. Everything else drops away. ~ Salman Rushdie

Maybe, the only thing that has to make sense
about being somebody's friend
is that you help them to be their best self
on any given day. That you give them a home
when they don't want to be in their own.
-Xiomara ~ Elizabeth Acevedo

The best self is a good being. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

People are responsible for themselves. All you can do is try to inspire each person to be his best self. ~ Gennifer Choldenko

The best advice is to be yourself, but to be your best self. ~ Thomas E. Sanders

Nobody really enjoys having to pacify their feelings. It's too much like failure; it reminds you of weakness. but feelings don't want to be pacified, either. They want to be fulfilled. You fulfill your positive feelings (love, hope, optimism, appreciation, approval) by connecting with other people, expressing your best self. You fulfill your negative feelings by releasing them. Your whole system recognizes negative feelings as toxic. It's futile to bottle them up, divert them, ignore them, or try to rise above them. Either negativity is leaving or it's hanging on - it has no other alternative.
As you fulfill emotions, your brain will change and form new patterns, which is the whole goal. ~ Deepak Chopra

A healthy relationship isn't about completing each other. You are already complete. It is about encouraging each other to show up as your best self. ~ Carol 'CC' Miller

Believe in yourself, work hard, work smart and passionately present your best self to the world. ~ Hill Harper

Sometimes the hardest decisions are only meant to be made because a better purpose is waiting. Closing one door to walk through another doesn't mean goodbye. It means believing in yourself and intuition to create your best self in the unknown. ~ Brittany Burgunder

... Even the idea of a city never entered his mind. It was as if he had walked under the millimeter of haze just above the inked fibers of a map, that pure zone between land and chart, between distances and legends, between nature and storyteller. The place they had chosen to come to, to be their best selves, to be unconscious of ancestry. Here, apart from the sun compass and the odometer mileage, and the book, he was alone, his own invention. He knew during these times how the mirage worked, the fata morgana, for he was within it. ~ Michael Ondaatje

Charm might be described as enlightened self-interest, a development of one's best self ... In the simplest possible terms, I think genuine charm is an unmotivated interest in others. ~ Arlene Francis

I remember her smile and her laugh when I was my best self and she looked at me like I could do no wrong and was whole. I remember how she looked at me the same way even when I wasn't. ~ Jennifer Niven

Firms that draw commitment from customers and staff give them a way to sign up for something that can allow them to be their best self. ~ John Jantsch

Generous listening is powered by curiosity, a virtue we can invite and nurture in ourselves to render it instinctive. It involves a kind of vulnerability - a willingness to be surprised, to let go of assumptions and take in ambiguity. The listener wants to understand the humanity behind the words of the other, and patiently summons one's own best self and one's own best words and questions. ~ Krista Tippett

(...) I'm my very best self when I'm with him, but every day, I want him more than I need him. He taught me that love is patient, love is kind, love is calm and quiet. It's not a music video of big hair, big tears and erotic, electrical storms. It's two people pottering about a small flat making each other coffee. It's waking up every morning and feeling quietly delighted as you smell the sleep on his skin and observe the the way his tufty hair is framed by the pillow. It's sly hands sneaking up jumpers to stroke the silky skin underneath and wanting to share all your big news, bad news and pictures of especially adorable dogs. It's knowing that there's nothing that can't be talked over and solved by a walk to the park or a trip to the pub. ~ Daisy Buchanan

When I am wrong, I will learn the lesson and move on to face other challenges. For me, that's what creating your own life is. Doing your best work while being your best self. ~ Jennifer Lopez

You Are Not Your Career.
Your ability to follow instructions is not the secret to your success.
You are hiding your best work, your best insight, and your best self from us every day.
We know how much you care, and it's a shame that the system works overtime to push you away from the people and the projects you care about.
The world does not owe you a living, but just when you needed it, it has opened the door
for you to make a difference.
It's too bad that so much time has been wasted, but it would be unforgivable to wait any longer.
You have the ability to contribute so much. We need you, now. ~ Seth Godin

There are these rare moments when musicians together touch something sweeter than they've ever found before in rehearsals or performance, beyond the merely collaborative or technically proficient, when their expression becomes as easy and graceful as friendship or love. This is when they give us a glimpse of what we might be, of our best selves, and of an impossible world in which you give everything to others, but lose nothing of yourself. ~ Ian McEwan

But I guess you have to get cracked wide open and exposed raw to become your best self. Nothing is transformed that is not discovered or exposed. And we are all constant imperfection in a state of evolution until we leave this place. It seems important to acknowledge that none of us, not even the greatest gurus of our time, are completely transformed. It's a great unraveling across a lifetime that is only accessed by the cracks in our ever-present false selves. ~ Jennifer DeLucy

...maybe just once in this life someone loves us for the us we don't even know how to be yet. And if we lose him too early--in the name of all the promises in the world: a new job, a new city, an old love offering us happily ever after--we may just lose that chance to be our best self. ~ Laura Dave

Dare to be what your best self knows you ought to be; dare to be a bigger human being than you have ever been. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Success is about being your best self, not about being better than others; failure is an opportunity, not a condemnation; effort is the key to success. ~ Carol S. Dweck

Freedom and happiness come from understanding - and working with - our limits. Begin at once a program of self-mastery. Stick with your purpose. Do not seek external approval. Do not worry about anything outside of your control. The only things you command are your thoughts and actions. We choose our response. Stop aspiring to be anyone other than your own best self: for that does fall within your control. ~ Epictetus

Your ultimate goal in life is to become your best self. Your immediate goal is to get on the path that will lead you there. ~ David Viscott

Just as Amy took the credit for making me my best self, I had to take the blame for bringing the madness to bloom in Amy. There were a million men who would have loved, honored, and obeyed Amy and considered themselves lucky to do so. Confident, self-assured, real men who wouldn't have forced her to pretend to be anything but her own perfect, rigid, demanding, brilliant, creative, fascinating, rapacious, megalomaniac self. ~ Gillian Flynn

We need heroes who'll inspire us so that maybe next time we'll dig a little deeper and find our best self. ~ Madam Secretary

Deep down you know you can be remarkable. You shouldn't settle for anything less than your best self, reaching ever closer to your potential
whether as a leader or in any other part of your life. ~ Kevin Eikenberry

My mission is to give girls the tools to be able to blossom into their best selves. ~ Elizabeth Berkley

It was easy to love your idea of someone - to fall hard for their very best self. The question was whether, once you had to spend some time living with their worst self, you could bear to be with them anymore. ~ Ruthie Knox

You can be your best self wherever you are. ~ Jennifer Richard Jacobson

Go ahead: Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for? ~ Oprah Winfrey

Be your best self and do not imitate anyone else. Find your strengths. They are your talents. They will make you smile and cause you to real joy on the inside.
Don't listen to those who ridicule the choices you make or the dreams you share. Let no one despise your youth. As Og Mandino explained in The Greatest Salesman in the World, "Experience is overrated, usually by old men who nod wisely and speak stupidly." Create your own experiences. And know that you are creating memories for a lifetime.
Life is not about finding yourself; it is about creating yourself.
You have to take chances to make your dreams reality. Face your fears head-on and move rapidly. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. Make lots of them! Your odds for success will increase with the number of decisions you make.
Have patience with your dreams and the expectations you have for others. Be impatient with yourself daily. Live as if this is your last day. Say "I love you" to all those who matter. Know that everyone matters.
You must play full-out right now. Sit up, hold your head high. Breathe deeply. Lift your chest up. Stand up straight and with confidence. Dust yourself off. Stop being a party pooper in your own life. Smile. A bigger noticeable smile. Start acting happy. Yes, you act first. I promise the feeling of happiness will soon follow. ~ Robert Smith

I think the overriding message would be that love is serious business. True, down-to-the-crap love is not for the shallow or faint of heart. People are messy. Marriage is messy. You have to bring your best self to the game despite your limitations. ~ Ka Hancock

when we choose the roles we want to play we want to portray our best self. PREPARE FOR THE ROLE YOU WANT, NOT THE ROLE YOU HAVE. ~ Sally Bennett

The best self help book I've ever read was, The little Engine that Could. ~ Stanley Victor Paskavich

Today, I hold firm to my ability to say "no" to everything that doesn't fall under the umbrella of my ultimate gifts. If it doesn't allow me to offer my best self to the world, it's a graceful "no. ~ Heidi Tankersley

If indeed this is the work of God ... then it's a crisis that calls for the church to be its very best self, and not worry about risking itself for the right thing. ~ Gene Robinson

I think 60 is when many people hit their prime. We elect many of our presidents in their 60s. At that age, people are full of ideas and their best self. I wanted to dig into my potential and bring out my best self. ~ Diana Nyad

The best self promotion is your next book. And the book after that and after that ... ~ Bella Andre

All you can do is be your best self. I'm representing more than just me. I think everyone should be like that. ~ Misty Copeland

I want to inspire people to become their higher selves, their best selves. ~ Princess Superstar

Instead of blaming yourself for what others think, you should focus on what truly matters to you and how minding your own business helps you create your best self. ~ Prem Jagyasi

Because you aren't just someone I loved back then. You were my best friend, my best self, and I can't imagine giving that up again." He hesitated searching for the right words. "You might not understand, but I gave you the best of me, and after you left, nothing was ever the same. ~ Nicholas Sparks

I guess you understand what I mean, Kitsy.
It's okay to just be your best self though. Change doesn't always mean growth. ~ Gwendolyn Heasley

I don't have the best self esteem; mine wavers month to month, but I know how to pick myself up. ~ Tyra Banks

You are your best self when you give yourself away. ~ Karen Armstrong

Down on the ground, we seem to do anything but make lengthy, robust monologues. We can communicate in an instant almost anywhere. Gone is the slow old letter - itself a monologue, a sort of considered performance of best self - and in its place is the e-mail, the text, the SMS, the tweet. ~ Samantha Harvey

When you smile at someone, if they don't smile back, then they needed your smile more than you. ~ Jackie Cantoni

Live your best life, be your best self, give what you wish to receive. ~ Mattie Stepanek

3,2,1 ... Launch! A lot of preparation goes into launching a rocket ship. No short cuts or cheating will get that rocket to its destination. A lot of hard work and dedication goes into every launch. What are you doing to launch? Are you doing the proper work needed? Are you dedicated? ~ Robert D. Kintigh

Give it all you can. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

Today will be different. Today I will be present. Today, anyone I speak to, I will look them in the eye and listen deeply. Today I'll play a board game with Timby. I'll initiate sex with Joe. Today I will take pride in my appearance. I'll shower, get dressed in proper clothes, and change into yoga clothes only for yoga, which today I will actually attend. Today I won't swear. I won't talk about money. Today there will be an ease about me. My face will be relaxed, its resting place a smile. Today I will radiate calm. Kindness and self-control will abound. Today I will buy local. Today I will be my best self, the person I'm capable of being. Today will be different. ~ Maria Semple

Often I choose characters who express not my best self, but the sides of me I haven't developed or haven't expressed. ~ Kate Christensen

My deep belief is that all of us have the same lifelong work: to learn honesty, courage, and love. To learn, in other words, how to be our best selves. ~ Martha Beck

Don't waste time worrying about work/life balance, or looking for your best self, sham "secrets" or any other snake oil being pushed by sloppy hippies who have never built a business, let alone a bankroll, or you will wake up 20 years from now poor, pissed off and primed for a midlife crisis. ~ Ari Gold

When you write you in a way write out of what you think of as your best self, the part of you that is lacking in foibles and weaknesses and egotism and vanities and so on. You're just trying to really say something as truthful as you can out of the best that you have in you. ~ Salman Rushdie

Reading is the gateway to so many things that helps makes it possible for seven billion people to live together on one planet. Literature is the great extra-somatic keeper of our knowledge of what it is to be human. Reading elevates us. We read to be our best selves. ~ Nicola Griffith

You are the most important project in your life. Spend time, work carefully, and act with positive intent as you work to create your best self. This life is your masterpiece. You are a masterpiece. ~ Avina Celeste

Depth is a big goal for all believers, because life as we know it makes no sense without it. Without it we're all lost souls, left to wander as we wonder if that's all there is. While with insight we find out very best self, with depth we find our very best God. Eventually wisdom comes, embraces us, and shows us both are really one and the same. ~ Karol Jackowski