Be Yourself: Inspirational Recovery Quotes

To thine own self be true.
Shakespeare

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself.
Alan Alda

The hardest challenge is to be yourself in a world where everyone is trying to make you be somebody else.
E. E. Cummings

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.
Judy Garland

You must have control of the authorship of your own destiny. The pen that writes your life story must be held in your own hand.
Irene C. Kassorla

I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.
Mahatma Gandhi

The boughs of no two trees ever have the same arrangement. Nature always produces individuals; She never produces classes.
Lydia Maria Child

There is just one life for each of us: our own.
Euripides

Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.
Unknown

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
Henry David Thoreau

Is life not a hundred times too short for us to stifle ourselves.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Why are you trying so hard to fit in, when you’re born to stand out?
Oliver James

The hardest battle you're ever going to fight is the battle to be just you.
Leo Buscaglia

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
Dr. Seuss

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.
William Shakespeare

Like the sky opens after a rainy day we must open to ourselves.... Learn to love yourself for who you are and open so the world can see you shine.
James Poland

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

When one is pretending the entire body revolts.
Anaïs Nin

A wise man never loses anything if he has himself.
Michel de Montaigne

The strongest force in the universe is a human being living consistently with his identity.
Tony Robbins

Ride the energy of your own unique spirit.
Gabrielle Roth

Your reputation is in the hands of others. That's what a reputation is. You can't control that. The only thing you can control is your character.
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.
Samuel Johnson

All the mistakes I make arise from forsaking my own station and trying to see the object from another person's point of view.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

At bottom every man knows well enough that he is a unique being, only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever be put together a second time.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey Fierstein

How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.
Coco Chanel

Do you want to be a power in the world? Then be yourself.
Fortune Cookie

All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Johann von Goethe

About all you can do in life is be who you are. Some people will love you for you.
Most will love you for what you can do for them, and some won’t like you at all.
Rita Mae Brown

We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.
François Duc de La Rochefoucauld

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.
E. E. Cummings

I think of life itself now as a wonderful play that I've written for myself, and so my purpose is to have the utmost fun playing my part.
Shirley MacLaine

All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions, which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: that I am nobody but myself.
Ralph Ellison

Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.
Margaret Young

Don’t you ever let a soul in the world tell you that you cant be exactly who you are.
Lady Gaga

Know thyself.
Thales

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
E. E. Cummings

If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.
Audre Lorde

Your time is limited so don't waste it living someone else's life.
Steve Jobs

Learn to... be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not.
Henri Frederic Amiel

Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.
Buddha

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.
William Shakespeare
It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds.
Aesop

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
Oscar Wilde

Every time you don't follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness.
Shakti Gawain

No creature is fully itself till it is, like the dandelion, opened in the bloom of pure relationship to the sun, the entire living cosmos.
D.H. Lawrence

The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh

He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away.
Raymond Hull

Once conform, once do what others do because they do it, and a kind of lethargy steals over all the finer senses of the soul.
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be, because sooner or later, if you are posing, you will forget the pose, and then where are you?
Fanny Brice

Live your life as an exclamation, not an explanation.
Unknown

Nothing great has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe something inside them was superior to circumstances.
Bruce Barton

We are betrayed by what is false within.
George Meredith

The great majority of us are required to live a life of constant duplicity. Your health is bound to be affected if, day after day, you say the opposite of what you feel, if you grovel before what you dislike, and rejoice at what brings you nothing but misfortune.
Boris Pasternak

One must know oneself. If this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life and there is nothing better.
Blaise Pascal

Is it sufficient that you have learned to drive the car, or shall you look and see what is under the hood? Most people go through life without ever knowing.
June Singer

If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.
Johann von Goethe

You were born an original. Don't die a copy.
John Mason

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not. Andre Gide

Live the life you have imagined.
Henry David Thoreau


.

Inspirational Recovery Quotes: Self-Empowerment

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
Mahatma Gandhi

Taking back our power means deciding who we are, and who we wish to be. This is only possible when we no longer make our past or other people’s opinions “about us.”
Melanie Tonia Evans

You can change your world by changing your words... Remember, death and life are in the power of the tongue.
Joel Osteen

Whenever a negative thought concerning your personal power comes to mind, deliberately voice a positive thought to cancel it out.
Norman Vincent Peale

Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair,but manifestations of strength and resolutions.
Kahlil Gibran

Remove those 'I want you to like me' stickers from your forehead and, instead, place them where they truly will do the most good --on your mirror!
Susan Jeffers

You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn't worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.
Louise L. Hay

It is not what we get. But who we become, what we contribute... that gives meaning to our lives.
Tony Robbins

Your own words are the bricks and mortar of the dreams you want to realize. Your words are the greatest power you have.The words you choose and their use establish the life you experience.
Sonia Croquette

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles.Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you,not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
Buddha

Don't let the negativity given to you by the world dis-empower you. Instead give to yourself that which empowers you.
Les Brown

When you face your fear, most of the time you will discover that it was not really such a big threat after all. We all need some form of deeply rooted, powerful motivation / it empowers us to overcome obstacles so we can live our dreams.
Les Brown

If we say it long enough eventually we're going to reap a harvest. We're going to get exactly what we're saying.
Joel Osteen

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in that gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.
Alice Walker

If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can't, you're right.
Mary Kay Ash

If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we are not really living. Growth demands a temporary surrender of security.
Gail Sheehy

When I'm trusting and being myself as fully as possible, everything in my life reflects this by falling into place easily… often miraculously.
Shakti Gawain

Life is not what it’s supposed to be. Its what it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.
Virginia Satir

All personal breakthroughs begin with a change in beliefs. So how do we change? The most effective way is to get your brain to associate massive pain to the old belief. You must feel deep in your gut that not only has this belief cost you pain in the past, but it's costing you in the present and, ultimately, can only bring you pain in the future. Then you must associate tremendous pleasure to the idea of adopting a new, empowering belief.
Anthony Robbins

To be a warrior is not a simple matter of wishing to be one. It is rather an endless struggle that will go on to the very last moment of our lives. Nobody is born a warrior, in exactly the same way that nobody is born an average man. We make ourselves into one or the other.
Carlos Castaneda

Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.
Desiderius Erasmus

When you replace Rejection of Self for Acceptance and Fascination of Self you've turned a very big corner.
Melanie Tonia Evans

Dreams are journeys that take one far from familiar shores, strengthening the heart, empowering the soul.
Unknown

A woman is the full circle.Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.
Diane Mariechild

You can change your beliefs so they empower your dreams and desires. Create a strong belief in yourself and what you want.
Marcia Wieder

We search for perfection because we believe we are entitled to the best — even if perfection is an illusion foisted on us by an abundance of possibilities.
Hara Estroff Marano

The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.
Gloria Steinem

Be of service. Whether you make yourself available to a friend or co-worker, or you make time every month to do volunteer work, there is nothing that harvests more of a feeling of empowerment than being of service to someone in need.
Gillian Anderson

First master the fundamentals.
Larry Bird

Courage is like a muscle. We strengthen it with use.
Ruth Gordon

We must become the change we want to see.
Mahatma Gandhi

You take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.
Erica Jong

When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.
Lao-Tzu

All problems become smaller if you don’t dodge them, but confront them. Touch a thistle timidly, and it pricks you; grasp it boldly, and its spines crumble.
William S. Halsey

When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.
Audre Lorde

Whatever you are, be a good one.
Abraham Lincoln

Within each of us is a hidden store of energy. Energy we can release to compete in the marathon of life. Within each of us is a hidden store of courage, courage to give us the strength to face any challenge. Within each of us is a hidden store of determination…determination to keep us in the race when all seems lost.
Roger Dawson

Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
Harold Thurman Whitman

Everything you are against weakens you. Everything you are for empowers you.
Wayne Dyer

You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose.
Indira Ghandi

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.
Beverly Sills

Each choice we make causes a ripple effect in our lives. When things happen to us, it is the reaction we choose that can create the difference between the sorrows of our past and the joy in our future.
Chelle Thompson

Our deepest wishes are whispers of our authentic selves.We must learn to respect them. We must learn to listen.
Sarah Ban Breathnach

You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result.
Mahatma Gandhi

Authentic empowerment is the knowing that you are on purpose, doing God's work, peacefully and harmoniously.
Wayne Dyer

Bitterness imprisons life; love releases it. Bitterness paralyzes life; love empowers it. Bitterness sours life; love sweetens it. Bitterness sickens life; love heals it. Bitterness blinds life; love anoints its eyes.
Harry Emerson Fosdick

When you become detached mentally from yourself and concentrate on helping other people with their difficulties, you will be able to cope with your own more effectively. Somehow, the act of self-giving is a personal power-releasing factor.
Norman Vincent Peale

Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.
Pamela Vaull Starr

The beauty of empowering others is that your own power is not diminished in the process.
Barbara Colorose



*See sidebar menus for more Inspirational Recover Quotes and Quotes of the Week




picture source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21560098@N06/4183424771/

Eating Disorders Inspirational Recovery Quotes: Our Bodies

Each individual woman's body demands to be accepted on its own terms.
Gloria Steinem~

It is the confidence in our bodies, minds, and spirits that allows us to keep looking for new adventures, new directions to grow in, and new lessons to learn ... which is what life is all about.
Oprah Winfrey~

Intelligence is present everywhere in our bodies . . . our own inner intelligence is far superior to any we can try to substitute from the outside.
Deepak Chopra~

Some patients I see are actually draining into their bodies the diseased thoughts of their minds.
Zacharty Bercovitz~

To keep the body in good health is a duty... otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.
Buddha~

There is deep wisdom within our very flesh, if we can only come to our senses and feel it.
Elizabeth A. BehnkeAnne Sexton~

Our own physical body possesses a wisdom which we who inhabit the body lack. We give it orders which make no sense.
Henry Miller~

I love the body. Flesh is so honest, and organs do not lie.
Candea Core-Starke~

Emotion always has its roots in the unconscious and manifests itself in the body.
Irene Claremont de Castillejo~

I finally realized that being grateful to my body was key to giving more love to myself.
Oprah Winfrey~

All we actually have is our body and its muscles that allow us to be under our own power.
Allegra Ken~

Safeguard the health both of body and soul.
Cleobulus~

We don't stop at our skin.
Dolores Krieger~

The body is a multilingual being. It speaks through its color and its temperature, the flush of recognition, the glow of love, the ash of pain, the heat of arousal, the coldness of non-conviction . . . It speaks through the leaping of the heart, the falling of the spirits, the pit at the center, and rising hope.
Clarissa Pinkola Estés~

Why do we alienate ourselves so much from our bodies? It's that big piece of machinery attached to your head.
Carrie Latet~

If the body be feeble, the mind will not be strong.
Thomas Jefferson~

I stand in awe of my body.
Henry David Thoreau~

Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe~

It is amazing how many hints and guides and intuitions for living come to the sensitive person who has ears to hear what his body is saying.
Rollo May~

Each body has its art...
Gwendolyn Brooks~

Every man is the builder of a temple called his body.
Henry David Thoreau~

You should pray for a sound mind in a sound body.
Juvenal~

If the mind, that rules the body, ever so far forgets itself as to trample on its slave, the slave is never generous enough to forgive the injury, but will rise and smite the oppressor.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow~

The body is a sacred garment.
Martha Graham~

The best and most efficient pharmacy is within your own system.
Robert C. Peale~

It's also helpful to realize that this very body that we have, that's sitting right here right now... with its aches and it pleasures... is exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, fully alive.
Pema Chodron~

Sometimes your body is smarter than you are.
Unknown~

If your inner energy is misdirected, so will your whole life be.
C. Astrid Weber~

Our body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.
Buddha~

Our bodies are our gardens to which our wills are gardeners.
Shakespeare~

Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live.
Jim Rohn~

The goal in life is living in agreement with nature.
Zeno~

In our bodies, in this moment, there live the seed impulses of the change and spiritual growth we seek, and to awaken them we must bring our awareness into the body, into the here and now.
Pat Ogden~

No matter who you are, no matter what you do, you absolutely, positively do have the power to change.
Bill Phillips~

Wisdom is to the soul what health is to the body.
DeSaint-Real~

Begin to see yourself as a soul with a body rather than a body with a soul.
Wayne Dyer~

Here in this body are the sacred rivers: here are the sun and moon as well as all the pilgrimage places ... I have not encountered another temple as blissful as my own body.
Saraha~

As is the gardener, so is the garden.
Proverb~

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, nor to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.
Buddha~

*Please see sidebar menus for more recovery quotes and quotes of the week.