269 Quotes by Nathaniel Branden

The willingness to experience and accept our feelings carries no implication that emotions are to have the last word on what we do. I may not be in the mood to work today; I can acknowledge my feelings, experience them, accept them – and then go to work. I will work with a clearer mind because I have not begun the day with self-deception.

To live consciously means to seek to be aware of everything that bears on our actions, purposes, values, and goals – to the best of our ability, whatever that ability may be – and to behave in accordance with that which we see and know.

Poor self-esteem not only inhibits thought, it tends to distort it.

Living consciously implies that my first loyalty is to truth, not to making myself right.

All positive interactions with other human beings involve, to some degree, the experience of visibility – that is, the experience of being seen and understood.

It’s not that achievements prove our worth but rather that the process of achieving is the means by which we develop our effectiveness, our competence at living.

Your choices have psychological consequences. The way you choose to deal with reality, truth, facts – your choice to honor or dishonor your own perceptions – registers in your mind, for good or for bad, and either confirms and strengthens your self-esteem or undermines and weakens it.

The opposite of self-assertiveness is self-abnegation – abandoning or submerging your personal values, judgment, and interests. Some people tell themselves this is a virtue. It is a “virtue” that corrodes self-esteem.

The higher our self-esteem, the stronger the drive to express ourselves, reflecting the sense of richness within. The lower our self-esteem, the more urgent the need to “prove” ourselves or to forget ourselves by living mechanically and unconsciously.