Self-care is essential, yet we often neglect it or feel we don’t have the time.

We all aspire to be healthy and live a long, joyful life, but many of us overlook the fact that the key lies within us—through self-care.

Self-care is the deliberate practice of nurturing our physical and mental health within a balanced lifestyle.

Especially in today’s stressful world, it’s crucial to focus on caring for ourselves. This involves eating well, getting enough sleep, exercising, maintaining strong social connections, and tending to our overall well-being.

While it can be challenging to prioritize ourselves amidst our responsibilities, taking time for self-care isn’t just a luxury; it’s essential for our well-being. Prioritizing your physical health, mental well-being, and overall self-care is crucial—not just to feel better, but to perform at your best and be more effective in helping others.

To sustain your journey toward your goals and dreams without giving up, I’ve compiled my best 114 self-care quotes. May they inspire you to consistently carve out time for yourself and fulfill your deepest needs.



Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.” 

Eleanor Roosevelt

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.” 

Anna Quindlen


As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.”

Maya Angelou


It is so important to take time for yourself and find clarity. The most important relationship is the one you have with yourself.”

Diane Von Furstenberg


I found in my research that the biggest reason people aren’t more self-compassionate is that they are afraid they’ll become self-indulgent. They believe self-criticism is what keeps them in line. Most people have gotten it wrong because our culture says being hard on yourself is the way to be.”

Kristen Neff


Look at yourself now. Your family, your friends, your history, and your future. Talk about what’s hard. Lean into what’s uncomfortable. Wrestle with what’s uncertain. Celebrate what is hard-fought and deserving. Mourn what has been lost. Appreciate what’s meaningful and makes life worth living for you.”

Natasha P. Trujillo



Self-care is never a selfish act—it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others.”

Parker Palmer



Self-care is a superpower.”

Vivis Cosy Corner



Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.”


Sophia Loren





You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change
the ending.”

C.S. Lewis





To be a good parent, you need to take care of yourself so that you can have the
physical and emotional energy to take care of your family.”


Michelle Obama






If you don’t love yourself, nobody will. Not only that, you won’t be good at loving
anyone else. Loving starts with the self.”

Wayne Dyer






You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of
yourself and see what happens.”

Louise L. Hay






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







Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.”

Brené Brown





Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no
greater investment.”

Stephen Covey




Self-discipline is self-caring.”

M. Scott Peck






It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”

Sir Edmund Hillary







There are days I drop words of comfort on myself like falling leaves and remember that it
is enough to be taken care of by myself.”

Brian Andreas








When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn’t healthy. This meant
people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits – anything that kept me small.  My
judgement called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving.”

Kim McMillen






The challenge is not to be perfect — it is to be whole.”

Jane Fonda




One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work
is terribly important.”

Bertrand Russell




The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep, loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” 

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross




Allow yourself to enjoy each happy moment in your life.”

Steve Maraboli






The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No
apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours –
it is an amazing journey – and you alone are responsible for the quality of it.
This is the day your life really begins.”

Bob Moawad





We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.” 

Dolly Parton






My mother always says people should be able to take care of themselves, even if they’re
rich and important.”

Frances Hodgson Burnett





If you’re facing a problem, don’t tell yourself that you can’t do it. Convince yourself
that you have the strength to deal with almost anything because of the way you
were raised. And you do! Recognizing your core strengths is an important step
toward having joie de vivre. You can
count on better days to come because of the good days that came before. And you
can find joy in the moment because you have the resiliency to overcome the
problems that may be hanging over you.”

Ruth K. Westheimer





If you want to live an authentic, meaningful life, you need to master the art of
disappointing and upsetting others, hurting feelings, and living with the
reality that some people just won’t like you. It may not be easy, but it’s
essential if you want your life to reflect your deepest desires, values, and
needs.”


Cheryl Richardson







Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.”

Christopher Germer








The most creative act you will ever undertake is the act of creating yourself.” 

Deepak Chopra





Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a
summer’s day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float
across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”

John Lubbock



You wash your hands when you shake a bunch of hands. You have to wash your energy
when you’re around people. It’s hard for me to say self-care is washing,
although I think it is. So I made music for self-care. That’s what it’s for.” 

India Arie


Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious. You get to choose how you use it. You teach people how to treat you by deciding what you will and won’t accept.”

Anna Taylor



If you feel “burnout” setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is
best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself.”

Dalai Lama




If you do not respect your own wishes, no one else will. You will simply attract people
who disrespect you as much as you do.”

Vironika Tugaleva


To accept ourselves as we are means to value our imperfections as much as our perfections.” 

Sandra Bierig


One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather thanbeing yourself.”

Shannon L. Alder



To experience peace does not mean that your life is always blissful. It means that you are capable of tapping into a blissful state of mind amidst the normal chaos of a hectic life.”

Jill Bolte Taylor




If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it.”


George Burns






Dedicating some time to meditation is a meaningful expression of caring for yourself
that can help you move through the mire of feeling unworthy of recovery. As
your mind grows quieter and more spacious, you can begin to see self-defeating
thought patterns for what they are, and open up to other, more positive
options.”

Sharon Salzberg



I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk.”

Tony Robbins



Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners.”

William Shakespeare



Self-care should include the cold shower as well as the scented tub.” 

Mary Catherine Bateson



There are thousands of causes for stress, and one antidote to stress is self-expression. That’s what happens to me every day. My thoughts get off my chest, down my sleeves and onto my pad.”

Garson Kanin





When I am constantly running there is no time for being. When there is no time for being there is no time for listening.” 

Madeleine L’Engle





Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.”

Edward Stanley





To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” 

Oscar Wilde





Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.”

Bell Hooks





Self-care is your fuel … Whatever the road ahead or the path you’ve taken, self-care is what keeps your motor running and your wheels turning.” 

Melissa Steginus





Self-care is so much more than a beauty regimen or an external thing you do. It has to
start within your heart to know what you need to navigate your life. A pedicure
doesn’t last, but meditating every day does.”

Carrie-Anne Moss





Don’t take your health for granted. Don’t take your body for granted. Do something
today that communicates to your body that you desire to care for it. Tomorrow
is not promised.”

Jada Pinkett Smith








Don’t rely on someone else for your happiness and self-worth. Only you can be
responsible for that. If you can’t love and respect yourself – no one else will
be able to make that happen. Accept who you are – completely; the good and the
bad – and make changes as YOU see fit – not because you think someone else
wants you to be different.”

Stacey Charter









Sometimes you just need to be selfish to be self-sufficient.”

Lois P. Frankel







Self-care is the non-negotiable. That’s the thing that you have to do. And beauty is the
thing that can be the benefit of the self-care. Beauty is not the point. Beauty
is just a cute side-effect from self-care.” 

Jonathan Van Ness






Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing
myself.” 

Rumi





Once you embrace your value, talents and strengths, it neutralizes when others think
less of you.”

Rob Liano



Self-love is an ocean and your heart is a vessel. Make it full, and any excess will spill
over into the lives of the people you hold dear. But you must come first.”

Beau Taplin






If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.”

Jack Kornfield










How much good inside a day? Depends how good you live ’em.”

Shel Silverstein






Rest and self-care are so important. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it
allows you to serve others from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty
vessel.”

Eleanor Brownn








Our lives are so busy, and for many of us the demands are overwhelming. Some of us focus
so much on the needs of others, we lose sight of ourselves. Stop, for one
moment. Take a deep breath. Be still. Refocus. Concentrate on improving your life.
One situation at a time. You can’t be much good to others if you’re no good to
yourself. If they love you, they’ll understand.”

Carlos Wallace






Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that
we’ll ever do.”

Brené Brown








Everyone thinks of changing the
world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” 

Leo Tolstoy






The most important thing in life is to stop
saying ‘I wish’ and start saying ‘I will.’ Consider nothing impossible, then
treat possibilities as probabilities.”

Charles Dickens






Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.”

Lao-Tzu








I had to grow to love my body. I did not have a good self-image at first. Finally it
occurred to me, I’m either going to love me or hate me. And I chose to love
myself. Then everything kind of sprung from there. Things that I thought
weren’t attractive became sexy.  Confidence makes you sexy.”

Queen Latifah






I want to feel my life while I’m in it.” 

Meryl Streep






Self-care is how you take your power back.”

Lalah Delia






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

Ralph Waldo Emerson








Our self-respect tracks our choices. Every time we act in harmony with our
authentic self and our heart, we earn our respect. It is that simple. Every
choice matters.”

Dan Coppersmith






A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.” 

Phyllis Diller






When you say ‘yes’ to others make sure you are not saying ‘no’ to yourself.” 

Paulo Coelho








I think I deserve something beautiful.”

Elizabeth Gilbert






If you aren’t good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you’ll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren’t even giving to yourself.” 

Barbara De Angelis






Women need solitude in order to find again the true essence of themselves.” 

Anne Morrow Lindbergh






Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you
will not do anything with it.”

M. Scott Peck






If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.”

Charles Bukowski








There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The
other is as though everything is a miracle.” 

Albert Einstein








Take breaks and come up for air: shut it down when you need to.” 

Ken Druck








Be who you are and say how you feel, because
those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” 

Dr Seuss








You have to believe in yourself when no one else
does—that makes you a winner right there.” 

Venus Williams










You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the
deepest level.”

Eckhart Tolle








Loving yourself isn’t vanity. It’s sanity.”

Katrina Mayer






Self-care equals success. You’re going to be more successful if you take care of yourself
and you’re healthy.” 

Beth Behrs








You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.”

Michael Jordan






This revolutionary act of treating ourselves tenderly can begin to undo the aversive messages of a lifetime.” 

Tara Brach






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

Nora Ephron






We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.” 

Dolly Parton





You are magnificent beyond measure, perfect in your imperfections, and wonderfully made.” 

Abiola Abrams






Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.” 

Coco Chanel






Honestly, self-care
is not fluffy. It’s something we should take seriously.”

Kris Carr





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

Tina Fey





The perfect man of old looked after himself first before looking to help others.”


Chuang Tzu





Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.” 


Malcolm S. Forbes









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Prioritize your well-being by embracing these self-care quotes.


Let their wisdom guide you to a healthier, more balanced life. Start your self-care journey today—because you deserve it.


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