269 Quotes by Nathaniel Branden

Sometimes self-assertiveness is manifested through volunteering an idea or paying a compliment; sometimes through a polite silence that signals nonagreement; sometimes by refusing to smile at a tasteless joke.

Set goals that don’t feel all that easy, that challenge you, stimulate you, and give you a chance to stretch and push yourself. That is where the power of growth lies.

When your principles seem to be demanding suicide, clearly it’s time to check your premises.

While healthy self-assertiveness requires the ability to say no, it is ultimately tested not by what we are against but by what we are for.

When we learn how to be in an intimate relationship without abandoning our sense of self, when we learn how to be kind without being self-sacrificing, when we learn how to cooperate with others without betraying our standards and convictions, we are practicing self-assertiveness.

Doing more of what doesn’t work doesn’t work.

How do we keep our inner fire alive? Two things, at minimum, are needed: an ability to appreciate the positives in our life – and a commitment to action. Every day, it’s important to ask and answer these questions: ‘What’s good in my life?’ and ‘What needs to be done?

Innovators and creators are persons who can to a higher degree than average accept the condition of aloneness – that is, the absence of supportive feedback from their social environment.

The challenge for people today – and it is not and easy one – is to maintain high personal standards even while feeling that one is living in a moral sewer.