Great Throughts Treasury

"Your awareness of your self-worth is not a contradiction to the obligation to be humble. Humility is not a lack of awareness of your positive accomplishments and abilities. Only a fool is not aware of what he really is an this is not humility. Humility is the internalized awareness with every fiber of your body that everything, yes everything, you have is not your own. Rather it is a gift from the Almighty who bestowed His kindness on you. The more a person actually feels that what he has is a gift the greater is his humility." - Yehuda Leib Chasman

"A person lacking internal feelings of self-worth feels a need for honor from others. The greater the lack of self-esteem, the greater the need for the validation of one’s self-worth through the approval of others." - Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler

"Religious addiction is using God, the Church, or a belief system as an escape from reality, in an attempt to find or elevate a sense of self-worth or well-being... It is the ultimate form of co-dependency - feeling worthless in and of ourselves and looking outside for something or someone to tell us we are worthwhile... Recovery means discovering divinity in one's own life." - Leo Booth

"If your self-worth is a function of your performance plus the opinions of others and neither of these are predictable, then your self-worth is up for grabs every day." - Wally Armstrong and Ken Blanchard

"An authentic sense of self-worth founded upon a true awareness of God. Know how what we do really matters is the secret to well-being, happiness, and everything good." - Ezriel Tauber

"Even while striving to improve yourself, learn to stand alone, secure in your own virtues and self-worth. If you want others to believe in you, remember, it isn’t only your words that have an effect, but what you are and what you feel within - what is in your soul." - Paramahansa Yogananda, born Mukunda Lal Ghosh

"Do not allow another person’s evaluation affect your feelings of self-esteem... Being an honored person is dependent on your behavior towards others and not on other people’s behavior towards you. Why feel any lack of self-worth just because someone acts disrespectfully to you? Keep your focus on your behavior towards others. When someone does not treat you with respect, it is his problem, not yours... Ultimately, it is your mind that decides on how you will consider yourself." - Zelig Pliskin

"Lack of self-worth is the fundamental source of all emotional pain. A feeling of insecurity, unworthiness and lack of value is the core experience of powerlessness." - Gary Zukav

"Women have entered the work force . . . partly to express their feelings of self-worth . . . partly because today many families would not survive without two incomes, partly because they are not at all sure their marriages will last. The day of the husband as permanent meal-ticket is over, a fact most women recognize, however they feel about "women's liberation."" - Robert Bellah, fully Robert Neelly Bellah

"Many of us spend our whole lives pursuing illusive things such as wealth, power, and status. These things are not bad, but if we make them the focal point of our existence, we will end up missing the greatest joys of life. When we base our sense of value and worth on our performance and the opinions of others, we live on a perpetual roller coaster. If our performance is good and people affirm us, we feel great. But, if we are struggling to meet our goals and others begin to look down on us . . . you know what happens. We begin to feel bad about who we are." - Wally Armstrong and Ken Blanchard

"Self-confident people seldom participate in the same old fights." - Wayne Dyer, fully Wayne Walter Dyer

"The greatest day in your life is when you hear the voice of God." - Vernon Howard, fully Vernon Linwood Howard