Life can be too much. Some days, it feels like the entire world is shouting at you, demanding your time, energy, and sanity. And guess what? You don’t have to deal with it all the time.
Sometimes, the best thing you can do for yourself is throw your hands up and say, “Nope, I’m out.” You’ve earned the right to prioritize you. And nothing says self-care like a well-timed reminder from some of the smartest and sassiest people to ever walk this earth.
So, if you’ve had it up to here and need an excuse to tell the world to take a hike, these 59 quotes have got your back. Consider this your verbal bubble bath.
Setting Boundaries
- “You teach people how to treat you by what you allow, what you stop, and what you reinforce.” — Tony Gaskins
- “Don’t sacrifice yourself too much, because if you sacrifice too much there’s nothing else you can give, and nobody will care for you.” — Karl Lagerfeld
- “Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others.” — Brené Brown
- “The only people who get upset about you setting boundaries are the ones who benefited from you having none.” — Unknown
- “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax.” — Mark Black
- “Compassionate people ask for what they need. They say no when they need to, and when they say yes, they mean it.” — Brené Brown
- “Saying no can be the ultimate self-care.” — Claudia Black
- “Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious.” — Anna Taylor
- “You are not required to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.” — Penny Reid
- “If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.” — Charles Bukowski
- “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” — Audre Lorde
- “You don’t always have to be available. Being unavailable is sometimes the best self-care.” — Nikki Rowe
- “Boundaries are the distance at which I can love you and me simultaneously.” — Prentis Hemphill
- “Givers have to set limits because takers rarely do.” — Irma Kurtz
Letting Go
- “The greatest step towards a life of simplicity is to learn to let go.” — Steve Maraboli
- “Let go of who you think you’re supposed to be; embrace who you are.” — Brené Brown
- “Sometimes you have to let go to see if there was anything worth holding onto.” — Socrates
- “Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.” — Hermann Hesse
- “Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness.” — Thich Nhat Hanh
- “Anything I cannot transform into something marvelous, I let go.” — Anaïs Nin
- “You don’t need strength to let go of something. What you really need is understanding.” — Guy Finley
- “Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.” — Roy T. Bennett
- “You can’t change how people feel about you, so don’t try. Just live your life and be happy.” — Unknown
- “Letting go doesn’t mean that you don’t care about someone anymore. It’s just realizing that the only person you really have control over is yourself.” — Deborah Reber
- “Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.” — Eckhart Tolle
- “Let go of the people who dull your shine, poison your spirit, and bring you drama. Cancel your subscription to their issues.” — Steve Maraboli
- “Letting go is hard, but being free is beautiful.” — Wilder Poetry
- “It’s not about getting over it, it’s about learning to live with it.” — Unknown
- “Forgive yourself for not knowing what you didn’t know before you learned it.” — Maya Angelou
Prioritizing Yourself
- “You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” — Louise Hay
- “The better you feel about yourself, the less you feel the need to show off.” — Robert Hand
- “To fall in love with yourself is the first secret to happiness.” — Robert Morley
- “Self-care is how you take your power back.” — Lalah Delia
- “Do something every day that is loving toward your body and gives you the opportunity to enjoy the sensations of your body.” — Golda Poretsky
- “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” — Anne Lamott
- “Self-care means giving yourself permission to pause.” — Cecilia Tran
- “Don’t waste your energy trying to change opinions. Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it.” — Tina Fey
- “You can’t pour from an empty cup. Take care of yourself first.” — Unknown
- “Be kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world.” — Pema Chodron
- “When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.” — Jean Shinoda Bolen
- “Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” — Ovid
- “Put yourself at the top of your to-do list every single day and the rest will fall into place.” — Unknown
- “The most important relationship is the one you have with yourself.” — Diane Von Furstenberg
- “Nourishing yourself in a way that helps you blossom in the direction you want to go is attainable, and you are worth the effort.” — Deborah Day
Resilience and Growth
- “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” — Margaret Thatcher
- “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.” — Dan Millman
- “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” — Robert H. Schuller
- “Growth is painful. Change is painful. But nothing is as painful as staying stuck somewhere you don’t belong.” — Mandy Hale
- “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.” — Maya Angelou
- “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” — Confucius
- “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” — Dolly Parton
- “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” — Kahlil Gibran
- “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” — Alan Watts
- “Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” — Nelson Mandela
- “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” — Winston Churchill
- “When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what the storm is all about.” — Haruki Murakami
- “Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.” — Rikki Rogers
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