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Insecurities rarely do you any good but they have the power to ruin your life. They make you think you aren’t good enough, which leads to self-sabotaging actions that stop you from living your dreams. Here are 82 positive quotes about being insecure that will empower you to eliminate self-doubt and embrace your beautiful self.
Why do people become insecure?
Most insecurities come from external opinions in the early stages of life. Whether it’s excessive criticism from your parents, peer bullying, or your teacher’s demeaning behavior, you impress it into your subconscious and accept that you aren’t good enough. Later in life, seeing everyone’s perfect lives on social media makes you reaffirm these beliefs and feel unworthy.
Every day you scroll your phone’s feed and everyone seems so confident, effortlessly being their best selves. And here you are, trying to navigate life’s challenges and stay afloat one day at a time.
How do they all do it, and why can’t you manage to be more like them?..
You might feel totally alone in this, but in reality, most people think like that.
Everyone has their insecurities. Some people are just better at hiding them or are putting in enough work to get rid of them over time.
Which is what you also can do through positive self-talk, mindfulness activities, journaling, and therapy.
Obviously, you can’t get rid of all insecurities overnight if you’ve been reaffirming them daily for decades. But you absolutely can do it over time if you decide to be happy no matter what and start questioning the things you believe to be true about yourself.
Now, if you are feeling insecure about your body, relationship, or abilities, these positive quotes will support you and gently try to change your perspective.
Top 10 positive quotes about insecurity
Living under the pressure of insecurities and not facing them can easily ruin your happiness. Here are a few positive quotes about feeling insecure that will help you overcome them and feel wonderful just as you are.
1. I don’t let anyone’s insecurities, emotions, or opinions bother me. I know that if I am happy, that’s all that matters to me. – Demi Lovato
2. Comparison is the thief of joy. – Theodore Roosevelt
3. One of the greatest journeys in life is overcoming insecurity and learning to truly not give a shit. – J. A. Konrath
4. You are not a mistake. You are not a problem to be solved. But you won’t discover this until you are willing to stop banging your head against the wall of shaming and caging and fearing yourself. – Geneen Roth
5. A person’s greatest limitations are not genetic, but imposed by self-doubt, insecurities, indecision, and timidity. – Kilroy J. Oldster
6. The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel. – Steve Furtick
7. Feeling beautiful has nothing to do with what you look like. – Emma Watson
8. Why escape your intended purpose by copying and trying to be someone else? You will discover who you were meant to be only after you have shown confidence being yourself. – Suzy Kassem
9. The only comparison for you to make is with yourself. You are the only person you should outperform. – Cristina Imre
10. When I feel threatened, vulnerable, or insecure, whether it from simply walking into a room of unknown people, meeting someone for the first time, an unexpected or expected confrontation, or doing something new, I affirm in my mind (over and over): There is no danger, there is no threat. From there, the discomfort lessens and I become open for discovery and adventure. – Charles F. Glassman
Inspirational quotes about being insecure
Nothing about you is wrong, you are a wonderful human being, so start seeing youself as such. I hope these positive insecurity quotes from famous people inspire you to be more comfortable in your own skin!
11. Don’t let the insecurities of others dull your sparkle. Shine like the star you are born to be. – Karen Civil
12. I’m actively working hard on learning to appreciate myself no matter what. If what someone else says can easily derail you, it means your sense of self isn’t that firmly established in the first place. It’s an inside job. You’re beautiful and worthy and totally unique. People insult each other based on their own insecurities – even though it may feel personal, it really never is. – Emma Stone
13. If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is, too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think. – Timothy Ferriss
14. How I feel about myself is more important than how I look. Feeling confident, being comfortable in your skin – that’s what really makes you beautiful. – Bobbi Brown
15. Be careful not to mistake insecurity and inadequacy for humility! Humility has nothing to do with the insecure and inadequate! Just like arrogance has nothing to do with greatness! – C. JoyBell C.
16. To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
17. Happiness is only available with total acceptance of who you are, including all your fears, worries, and anxiety. It will be there for you when you can see your own inner beauty. You cannot achieve happiness without using your past, your flaws, insecurities, and imperfections in a positive way. It is about letting go and detaching from unhealthy people, ideas, and lifestyle choices, and replacing them with interdependent, proactive ways of thinking and responding. – Lucinda Bassett
18. I have self-doubt. I have insecurity. I have fear of failure. I have nights when I show up at the arena and I’m like, ‘My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knees hurt. I don’t have it. I just want to chill.’ We all have self-doubt. You don’t deny it, but you also don’t capitulate to it. You embrace it. – Kobe Bryant
Short quotes for an insecure girl
I feel like women face more insecurities than men because there is so much social pressure for us to look a certain way. While most men can get away with waking up, putting a fresh shirt on, and getting out of the door, we girls are expected to make more effort to look acceptable.
Here are a bunch of short motivational quotes for an insecure girl to make you care a little less and simply enjoy life.
19. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. – Marianne Williamson
20. 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
21. I have insecurities of course, but I don’t hang out with anyone who points them out to me. – Adele
22. The greatest mistake you can make in life is continually fearing that you’ll make one. – Elbert Hubbard
23. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. – Buddha
24. Nothing is as irritating to a shy man as a confident girl. – Mokokoma Mokhonoana
25. In life, there is always someone out there, who won’t like you, for whatever reason, don’t let the insecurities in their lives affect yours. – Rashida Rowe
26. If only you could see the greatness in yourself, you wouldn’t envy the greatness in others. – Suzy Kassem
Quotes about being insecure in a relationship
A little bit of feeling insecure might even be a good thing in a relationship. It makes you a better partner by being more attentive, caring, and loyal. But when it grows into a suffocating fear of losing your loved one, it creates sabotaging behaviors that can silently lead to killing your relationship in one way or another.
Here are the best insecurity quotes about relationships:
27. Relationships fail when people take their own insecurities and project them as their partner’s flaws. – Steve Maraboli
28. I was feeling insecure you might not love me anymore. – John Lennon
29. Love should not cause suffocation and death if it is truly love. Don’t bundle someone into an uncomfortable cage just because you want to ensure their safety in your life. The bird knows where it belongs, and will never fly to a wrong nest. – Michael Bassey Johnson
30. Insecurity refers to a profound sense of self-doubt-a deep feeling of uncertainty about our basic worth and our place in the world. Insecurity is associated with chronic self-consciousness, along with a chronic lack of confidence in ourselves and anxiety about our relationships. The insecure man or woman lives in constant fear of rejection and deep uncertainty about whether his or her own feelings and desires are legitimate. – Beth Moore
31. The problem with human attraction is not knowing if it will be returned.
Becca Fitzpatrick
32. Just because you’re insecure, doesn’t mean every man you meet is an assaulter. – Sarvesh Jain
33. When you are really in love, you become vulnerable, and insecurities come out of nowhere. – Laz Alonso
34. Insecurity is the worst sense that lovers feel: sometimes the most humdrum desireless marriage seems better. Insecurity twists meanings and poisons trust. – Graham Greene
Sad quotes about being insecure
Here are some relatable quotes about being insecure to show you that you are not alone in this feeling.
35. I’d learned to avoid mirrors. They never seemed to show me what I wanted to see. – Leigh Bardugo
36. Every woman knows that, regardless of all her other achievements, she is a failure if she is not beautiful. – Germaine Greer
37. Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will. – Suzy Kassem
38. Insecure people put others down to raise themselves up. – Habeeb Akande
39. Inside it drives me crazy, my insecurities could eat me alive. – Eminem
40. Insecure people have a special sensitivity for anything that finally confirms their own low opinion of themselves. – Sue Grafton
41. Sometimes our thoughts are backed with so much insecurity that they create lies we believe. – Unknown
42. Insecure people seek answers in all the wrong places. – Robert Black
Empowering quotes about NOT being insecure
If you ever need some positive empowerment, read these quotes: they can destroy your insecurities and completely change your mindset.
43. You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens. – Louise L. Hay
44. Never be afraid of failure or disappointment, because those are just temporary experiences on the path to your dreams coming true. – Doreen Virtue
45. Don’t let fear stop you. Don’t give up because you are paralyzed by insecurity or overwhelmed by the odds, because in giving up, you give up hope. Understand that failure is a process in life, that only in trying can you enrich yourself and have the possibility of moving forward. The greatest obstacle in life is fear and giving up because of it. – Sonia Sotomayor
46. Suddenly I’ve had enough of all this. I’ve had enough of being made to feel insecure and paranoid and wondering what’s going on. – Sophie Kinsella
47. Do not beat up on yourself. Even if you think you know your flaws, there is no need to advertise them. Most people won’t have noticed. – Philip Toshio Sudo
48. Don’t let fear or insecurity stop you from trying new things. Believe in yourself. Do what you love. And most importantly, be kind to others, even if you don’t like them. – Stacy London
49. Life is very short. Insecurity is a waste of time. – Diane Von Furstenburg
50. Sometimes the hardest battle only exists within yourself, our mind fighting amongst the demons of thought within your own head. – Brandon Garic Notch
Quotes about being insecure with your looks
Humans are social beings by nature and we always cared what other people think of us. Even in ancient times, you needed to look a certain way and act a certain way to fit in and be included in a social group.
Thankfully, we’ve gone a long way since then and can think for ourselves now. We can accept what others think of us and still be who we are. We value our own opinion of ourselves more than someone else’s (or at least we should). Here are some quotes for insecure women who are always concerned about their looks:
51. What gets scary is when your self-worth is tied up in what strangers think of you. – Emma Watson
52. Ladies, most of you have no idea how beautiful you are. Don’t let mean words from an insecure soul blind you from the truth of your beauty. You are beautiful by design… just the way you are. – Steve Maraboli
53. Even the models we see in magazines wish they could look like their own images. – Cheri K. Erdman
54. Along with the idea of romantic love, she was introduced to another – physical beauty. Probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought. Both originated in envy, thrived in insecurity, and ended in disillusion. – Toni Morrison
55. There is nothing more rare, nor more beautiful, than a woman being unapologetically herself; comfortable in her perfect imperfection. To me, that is the true essence of beauty. – Steve Maraboli
56. No one is perfect. Even the most confident people have insecurities. At some point in of our lives, we may feel we lack something. That is reality. We must try to live as per our capability. – Anil Sinha
57. People spend money they don’t have on clothes and accessories they don’t need to fill a void. No matter how much they invest in their own physical reconstruction (or in some cases deconstruction), they are still unhappy with who they see in the mirror. Don’t get me wrong. We all do things to enhance our personal appearance, some more than others. But changing what’s on the outside will not resolve deep-rooted issues. – Carlos Wallace
58. Beauty shouldn’t be about changing yourself to achieve an ideal or be more socially acceptable. Real beauty, the interesting, truly pleasing kind, is about honoring the beauty within you and without you. It’s about knowing that someone else’s definition of pretty has no hold over you. – Golda Poretsky
Quotes about being insecure about your body
If there is one kind of insecurity that every woman faces at some point in her life, it’s surely linked to body image. Social norms change over time and different things become the standard of beauty, but we keep trying to conform and adjust our bodies in new ways, thinking there is something wrong with us if we are in any way different.
These positive quotes will inspire you if you are feeling insecure about your body:
59. You are imperfect, permanently and inevitably flawed. And you are beautiful. – Amy Bloom
60. Most of us know that the media tell us our bodies are imperfect – too fat, too smelly, too wrinkled, or too soft. And, even though we may know it’s horseshit, these messages still seep into our brains and mess with our self-esteem. In a media-saturated country where most images of women and men have been photoshopped to perfection, it’s hard to find a living supermodel (much less a computer programmer), who doesn’t wish she had sexier earlobes or a tighter ass. So, buck up, even the prettiest bombshell has body insecurities. You can spend your life thinking your butt’s too big or feeling sexy as hell. Make the choice to appreciate your body as it is. – Victoria Vantoch
61. To lose confidence in one’s body is to lose confidence in oneself. – Simone de Beauvoir
62. She was a mousy woman, uncomfortable in her own body. Laverne detested women who filled the air with their discomfort, their body apologizing for their very existence. They tried so hard to take such little space that they ended up filling every room. – Richard Fifield
63. Healthy emotions come in all sizes. Healthy minds come in all sizes. And healthy bodies come in all sizes. – Cheri K. Erdman
64. It’s never been true, not anywhere at any time, that the value of a soul, of a human spirit, is dependent on a number on a scale. We are unrepeatable beings of light and space and water who need these physical vehicles to get around. When we start defining ourselves by that which can be measured or weighed, something deep within us rebels. – Geneen Roth
65. The task we must set for ourselves is not to feel secure, but to be able to tolerate insecurity. – Erich Fromm
66. How beautiful would it be if we could just see souls instead of bodies? To see love and compassion instead of curves. – Karen Quan
Quotes about insecurity and low self-esteem
Insecurities are usually fueled by repeating thoughts of self-doubt and affirming not being good enough. These positive quotes about being insecure will help you stop doubting yourself and start growing your self-worth.
67. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. – Sylvia Plath
68. The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize. – Robert Hughes
69. Change is always tough. Even for those who see themselves as agents of change, the process of starting a new thing can cause times of disorientation, uncertainty and insecurity. – Joyce Meyer
70. Perhaps we just need little reminders from time to time that we are already dignified, deserving, worthy. Sometimes we don’t feel that way because of the wounds and the scars we carry from the past or because of the uncertainty of the future. It is doubtful that we came to feel undeserving on our own. We were helped to feel unworthy. We were taught it in a thousand ways when we were little, and we learned our lessons well. – Jon Kabat-Zinn
71. A woman will always be insecure if she attaches her identity and sense of worth to the amount of male attention she gets. – Anupama Garg
72. Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security. – John Allen Paulos
73. Parents can be very influential in designing those little creepy-crawlers that jump around in your mind for the rest of your life. It’s the fear of not being good enough. – Kim Basinger
74. Don’t let others tell you what you can’t do. Don’t let the limitations of others limit your vision. If you can remove your self-doubt and believe in yourself, you can achieve what you never thought possible. – Roy T. Bennett
Quotes about being insecure and jealous
Insecure people often feel threatened by other people. They get jealous of their friend’s success instead of being happy for them because they secretly don’t believe they deserve the same, or can ever get it. These quotes all talk about jealousy as a result of being insecure:
75. Jealousy takes root in the soil of insecurity. – Beth Moore
76. Insecure people only eclipse your sun because they’re jealous of your daylight and tired of their dark, starless nights. – Shannon L. Alder
77. Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy. – François de La Rochefoucauld
78. If anyone tries to pull us down, it goes to show that we’re on top of them, so cheer up! Hilarious but true, insecurity reigns in an ugly heart of an empty brain. – Unknown
79. Most of the position holders possess a very cheap mindset about skilled community because of insecurities and jealousy. In reality, though they succeed to hold up their position, they don’t realize that they can’t hold in the skills. They have to be open-hearted by behavior and free from a small mindset. – Sonal Takalkar
80. Often those that criticize others reveal what he himself lacks. – Shannon L. Alder
81. A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity. – Robert A. Heinlein
82. Isn’t it kind of silly to think that tearing someone else down builds you up? – Sean Covey
Final thoughts on being insecure
That’s it! That was my list of 82 positive quotes about insecurities. I hope you found some encouragement and realized that you are more awesome than you think!
Don’t let your fears and insecurities define who you are, be your best self despite them, and work on your self-esteem in the meantime.
Here is more positive empowerment for you: