100 Be Yourself Quotes to Unlock Your Authentic Self

If you feel like you aren’t on earth simply to be what others would like you to be, then read on. This fabulous list of inspirational be yourself quotes will help you to unlock your true and authentic self. And be sure to also have a look at our most powerful strategies on how to be yourself.

Mark Twain once said that the day of your birth and the day you discover why you were born are the two most important days in your life. Perhaps, there is even a third day one could add to this list. That’s the day you realize that you haven’t been born to become the person other people would like you to be.

“One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.”
Shannon L. Alder

From the day you are born, countless parts of society try to change you. From the educational system and media to your employer and colleagues, everywhere you look there is a system trying to mold you into a specific shape.

Inspirational be yourself quotes like this help you to find the courage to live life authentically

Often times, the pressure to conform and to compromise on your ideals is enormous. Not to mention that being what others want you to be and saying what others want to hear can become extraordinarily painful. Being yourself and living authentically may not always be easy but it will give you strength, confidence, and inner calmness. That’s where the following be yourself quotes come in quite handy. We have collected this list of inspirational quotes to help you live an authentic life so that you can reach your full potential.

100 Be Yourself Quotes to Unlock Your Authentic Self

The wonderful aspect of the following quotes is that they all origin made from authors who themselves had issues with being who they truly are. When you read through their thoughts you will quickly realize that you are definitely not the only one struggling. But what is even more important is that you can find in the following be yourself quotes a lot of practical tips on living authentically. And to help you even more we’ve also added a couple of quotes about being happy with yourself and be true to yourself quotes.

Enjoy reading this selection of be yourself quotes

1.

“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.”
Bruce Lee

2.

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

3.

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else.”
Judy Garland

4.

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.”
Martha Graham

5.

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.”
Harvey Fierstein

6.

“The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don’t let them put you in that position.”
Leo Buscaglia

7.

“We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.”
May Sarton

8.

“As long as you look for someone else to validate who you are by seeking their approval, you are setting yourself up for disaster. You have to be whole and complete in yourself. No one can give you that. You have to know who you are – what others say is irrelevant.”
Nic Sheff

9.

“The courage to be yourself in a world constantly trying to shape you is my personal definition of power.”
Kristin Michelle Elizabeth

10.

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”
Bernard M. Baruch

Can’t get enough of be yourself quotes? Keep on reading…

11.

“Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.”
Marcus Aurelius

12.

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

13.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
Aristotle

14.

“Never apologize for burning too brightly or collapsing into yourself every night. That is how galaxies are made.”
Tyler Kent White

15.

“The longer you live a comfortable lie, the farther you drift from your purpose, and the harder will be to gather the courage to go back to your heart.”
Dragos Bratasanu

16.

“As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

17.

“You don’t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!”
John Lennon

18.

“If you believe in peace, act peacefully; if you believe in love, acting lovingly; if you believe every which way, then act every which way, that’s perfectly valid – but don’t go out trying to sell your beliefs to the system. You end up contradicting what you profess to believe in, and you set a bum example. If you want to change the world, change yourself.”
Tom Robbins

19.

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
Oscar Wilde

20.

“It takes courage to be yourself, but courage only exists when you fear. Once you are yourself, there is no more fear, no need for courage.”
Jenna Ware

21.

“Never complain, never explain. Resist the temptation to defend yourself or make excuses.”
Brian Tracy

22.

“Amid a world of noisy, shallow actors it is noble to stand aside and say, ‘I will simply be.”
Henry David Thoreau

23.

“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.”
Abraham Lincoln

24.

“Tis a miserable thing to turn a soul into something it is not. Perhaps it is one of life’s greatest misfortunes.”
Ella Rose Carlos

25.

“A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself-and especially to feel, or not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at any moment is fine with them. That’s what real love amounts to – letting a person be what he really is.”
Jim Morrison

26.

“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”
George R.R. Martin

27.

“Risk anything! Care no more for the opinion of others … Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth.”
Katherine Mansfield

28.

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

29.

“Why should I care what other people think of me? I am who I am. And who I wanna be.”
Avril Lavigne

30.

“I’m sorry I’m not your cup of tea,” said no espresso ever.”
Chess Desalls

Be yourself quotes like this motivate you to live authentically

31.

“To be one’s self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity.”
Irving Wallace

32.

“We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create.”
John Lennon

33.

“Your need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world. Don’t let anything stand in the way of the light that shines through this form. Risk being seen in all of your glory.”
Jim Carrey

34.

“Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Be yourself.”
Max Ehrmann

35.

“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”
Rum

36.

“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”
Ralph Waldo Emmerson

37.

“Don’t waste your energy trying to change opinions … Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it.”
Tina Fey

38.

“Practicing self-love means learning how to trust ourselves, to treat ourselves with respect, and to be kind and affectionate toward ourselves. This is a tall order to give how hard most of us are on ourselves.”
Brené Brown

39.

“I need to be startlingly clear. This thing of finding your authentic voice, expressing your blessed weirdness and revealing your soul isn’t an elegant process. You don’t do it to be cool. You don’t do it to get laid or get rich. It’s only real when it is ruthless, relentless and inevitable. But it is also a matter of personal and collective survival. Yes, it’s that important. You are that critical.”
Jacob Nordby

40.

“I would rather be damned by my honesty, than caged by my lies.”
Omega Maverick

41.

“When you’re different, sometimes you don’t see the millions of people who accept you for what you are. All you notice is the person who doesn’t.”
Jodi Picoult

42.

“That’s being yourself. Chasing wherever inspiration goes, even if it’s radically different from the thing that people know you as.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda

43.

“Clearly recognizing what is happening inside us, and regarding what we see with an open, kind and loving heart, is what I call Radical Acceptance. If we are holding back from any part of our experience, if our heart shuts out any part of who we are and what we feel, we are fueling the fears and feelings of separation that sustain the trance of unworthiness.”
Tara Brach

44.

“Don’t compromise yourself – you’re all you have.”
John Grisham

45.

“Just be yourself, there is no one better.”
Taylor Swift

46.

“I never said to be like me, I say be yourself and make a difference.”
Marilyn Manson

47.

“Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.”
John Jakes

48.

“Follow your inner moonlight; don’t hide the madness.”
Allen Ginsberg

49.

“Just remember to always be yourself and don’t be afraid to speak your mind or to dream out loud”
J.A. Redmerski

50.

“How many more of us are faking the facade? How many more of us are pretending to be something we’re not? Even better, how many of us will have the courage to be ourselves regardless of what others think?”
Katie McGarry

51.

“Humans punish themselves endlessly for not being what they believe they should be. They become very self-abusive, and they use other people to abuse themselves as well.”
Miguel Ruiz

52.

“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit”
E.E. Cummings

53.

“The moment you become friends with your inner self, you realize that the failures or hindrances that you met earlier were caused more by your disconnected status with your inner being.”
Stephen Richards

54.

“You probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do.”
Olin Miller

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.

“Being yourself is all it takes. If you want to impress someone don’t be someone else just be yourself.”
Selena Gomez

57.

“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”
Coco Chanel

58.

“Getting into the habit of changing who you are to please others, is setting a lifetime marathon of running away from yourself.”
Dr. Jacinta Mpalyenkana

59.

“Accept who you are; and revel in it.”
Mitch Albom

60.

“Before you can be anything, you have to be yourself. That’s the hardest thing to find.”
E.L. Konigsburg

Here are even more be yourself quotes

61.

“Let others determine your worth and you’re already lost, because no one wants people worth more than themselves.”
Peter V. Brett

62.

“Do you have to do what everyone else is doing? The answer is no! Be different! Be amazing! Be yourself!”
Patricia Dsouza

63.

“Believe in yourself up here and it will make you stronger than you could ever imagine.”
Sarah Dessen

64.

“I find the best way to love someone is not to change them, but instead, help them reveal the greatest version of themselves.”
Steve Maraboli

65.

“Be yourself. Don’t worry about what other people are thinking of you.”
Phil Lester

66.

“Very few people do this any more. It’s too risky. First of all, it’s a hell of a responsibility to be yourself. It’s much easier to be somebody else or nobody at all.”
Sylvia Plath

67.

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
Dr. Seuss

68.

“There’s nothing new. The novelty lies in being yourself.”
Haresh Sippy

69.

“When you haven’t figured out who you are and what you offer the world, it’s awfully easy to get hoodwinked into thinking you’re not as good as everyone else. It’s even easier to start taking on the arts and pretensions of someone you’re not. Don’t bother. There’s nothing fabulous about a generic. We always pay more for the original.”
Ellen Lubin-Sherman

70.

“The really important thing to be was yourself, just as hard as you could.”
Neil Gaiman

71.

“I do not care so much what I am to others as I care what I am to myself.”
Michel de Montaigne

72.

“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”
Nora Ephron

73.

“Only someone wishing to disappear would ever strive to ‘fit in’.”
Shaun Hick

74.

“Don’t wish to be normal. Wish to be yourself. To the hilt. Find out what you’re best at, and develop it, and hopscotch your weaknesses. Wish to be great at whatever you are.”
Lois McMaster Bujold

75.

“Never allow anyone to define you! Just be you!”
Chrys Phillips

76.

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
Charlotte Brontë

77.

“Shine bright, be yourself.”
Stephen Richards

78.

“If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.”
Gordon A. Eadie

79.

“The destination is fulfilling when the path is authentically your own; find the courage and forge your own path; your essence is at stake”
Jesslyn Wolff

80.

“Modern man has too many masks to wear. We must unmask and be ourselves, sincerely, earnestly and live truly as we are,”
Gyomay M. Kubose

81.

“You’re the only you. So if you want to be original, just be yourself.”
Marty Rubin

82.

“I think Dostoevsky was right, that every human being must have a point at which he stands against the culture, where he says, this is me and the damned world can go to hell.”
Rollo May

83.

“Why would you pretend to not be you, when you are created as you?”
Nathan Hong

84.

“Just be you. I’ll be me. And we’ll meet somewhere in the middle.”
Claire Cullen

85.

“Are you a stupid sheep in the flock or a free eagle in the sky? Look at the mirror, what are you? Are you some dullish cattle in the herd or a wise owl in the forest? Look at the mirror, what are you?”
Mehmet Murat ildan

86.

“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.”
Marcus Aurelius

87.

“Humility is the courage to be honest with yourself and those around you.”
Ken Poirot

88.

“If you can BE your way through it, you can find your way to it.”
Suzette Vearnon

Quotes about being happy with yourself

89.

“Never dull your shine for somebody else.”
Tyra Banks

90.

“The more you try to crush your true nature, the more it will control you. Be what you are. No one who really loves you will stop.”
Cassandra Clar

91.

“Don’t compromise yourself. You’re all you’ve got.”
Janis Joplin

92.

“You are you. Now, isn’t that pleasant?”
Dr. Seuss

93.

“It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is.”
Erasmus

94.

“Every morning when I wake up, I experience an exquisite joy —the joy of being Salvador Dalí— and I ask myself in rapture: What wonderful things is this Salvador Dalí going to accomplish today?”
Salvador Dalí

95.

“Best be yourself, imperial, plain, and true.”
Robert Browning

96.

“The more you try to please people, the more they get control of you and you’ll end up hurting yourself.”
Chanda Kaushik

97.

“Instead of going out and looking for someone successful who could serve as a role model and guide your path to success, be yourself and inspire yourself to achieve that which you always wanted to achieve.”
Dr Prem Jagyasi

98.

“A flower doesn’t expect love. She is happy with herself. If she gets love, she celebrates.”
Debasish Mridha

100.

“Be happy about your own life and you’ll be amazed at just how much more beautiful you’ll find it to be.”
Temitope Ibrahim

101.

“If there is a reason to be sorrowful, then there is a reason to be happy. You have only one lifetime, don’t live your life in sorrow! Be happy! Be happy no matter what, and only mind the lessons life teaches each day!”
Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

102.

“If life is a stage and you are your own agent, then don’t hesitate to play the character you wish to play.”
Richelle E. Goodrich

Be true to yourself quotes

103.

“There are some values that you should never compromise on to stay true to yourself; you should be brave to stand up for what you truly believe in even if you stand alone.”
Roy T. Bennett

104.

“Be yourself. Be true to that, to your heart. Patience. See what happens if you step back instead of bounding forward.”
Nora Roberts

105.

“Stay true to yourself. An original is worth more than a copy.”
Suzy Kassem

106.

“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”
Frederick Douglass

107.

“Shine with all you have. When someone tries to blow you out, just take their oxygen and burn brighter.”
Katelyn S. Irons

108.

“Surrendering to who you really are and why you are here may very well change the world.”
Maria Flynn

109.

“If we are unfaithful to true self, we will extract a price from others. We will make promises we cannot keep, build houses from flimsy stuff, conjure dreams that devolve into nightmares, and other people will suffer – if we are unfaithful to true self.”
Parker Palmer

110.

“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

111.

“The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself.”
Lao Tzu

112.

“We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.”
Virginia Satir

113.

“Do your own thing on your own terms and get what you came here for.”
Oliver James

114.

“To shine your brightest light is to be who you truly are.”
Roy T. Bennett

115.

“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”
Dolly Parton

I hope you enjoyed this collection of be yourself quotes. Do you sometimes struggle with being authentic to yourself and what do you do against it?

Stay victorious!