Self-love Quotes | Inspiration & Examples

Self-love quotes can be any lines of writing or sayings that encourage positive self regard. You can save them and use them as daily affirmations or share them with those you care about.

Add your favorite self-love quotes and affirmations to a customized graphic using QuillBot’s image generator.

What are self-love quotes?

Self-love quotes are excerpts from books, lyrics, poems, interviews, or films that affirm a positive and compassionate relationship with yourself.

If you’re looking to cultivate more self-love in your life, get inspired with this curated list of self-love quotes.

Quotes about self-love

The following quotes about self-love invite you to reflect on the importance of self-love as the foundation for all other relationships.

They are sourced from philosophers, poets, religious figures, and activists whose reflections on self-love have withstood the test of time.

1. “You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere.“ —Buddha, religious leader

2. “be softer with you. / you are a breathing thing. a memory to someone. / a home to a life.” —Nayyirah Waheed, poet

3. “If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive.” ―audre lorde, writer and professor

4. “Self-love is the foundation of our loving practice. Without it our other efforts to love fail. Giving ourselves love we provide our inner being with the opportunity to have the unconditional love we may have always longed to receive from someone else.” —bell hooks, author

5. “This self-love is the instrument of our preservation; it resembles the provision for the perpetuity of mankind: it is necessary, it is dear to us, it gives us pleasure, and we must conceal it.” —Voltaire, philosopher

6. “If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life. With confidence, you have won even before you have started.” —Marcus Garvey, activist

7. “To love yourself right now, just as you are, is to give yourself heaven. Don’t wait until you die. If you wait, you die now. If you love, you live now.” —Alan Cohen, author

8. “So then, the relationship of self to other is the complete realization that loving yourself is impossible without loving everything defined as other than yourself.” —Alan Watts, writer and speaker

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

10. “Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you. Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion. Set your life on fire.” —Rumi, poet

Self-love quotes for women

Self-love quotes for women speak to the specific challenges and struggles women face when it comes to empowerment, self esteem, and honoring our full selves.

Below are examples of self-love quotes for women from renowned female athletes, academics, actresses, and activists.

1. “You have to believe in yourself when no one else does—that makes you a winner right here.” —Venus Williams, tennis champion

2. “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” —audre lorde, writer and professor

3. “To tell the truth is to become beautiful, to begin to love yourself, value yourself. And that’s political, in its most profound way.” —June Jordan, poet and essayist

4. If you do not love yourself, well, you cannot do anything well, that’s my philosophy. —Nawal El Saadawi, writer and activist

5. “For me, I try and be authentic in my choices and follow my instincts, and I think it’s a valuable message for women in today’s society to learn to love yourself.” —Gugu Mbatha Raw, actress

6. “It’s all about falling in love with yourself and sharing that love with someone who appreciates you, rather than looking for love to compensate for a self-love deficit.” —Eartha Kitt, singer and songwriter

7. “I learned a long time ago that the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me.” —Maya Angelou, memoirist and essayist

8. “My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to find peace with exactly who and what I am. To take pride in my thoughts, my appearance, my talents, my flaws, and to stop this incessant worrying that I can’t be loved as I am.” ―Anaïs Nin, essayist

9. “Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.” —Sophia Loren, actress

10. “It took me a long long time to realize we’re not meant to be perfect, we’re meant to be whole.” —Jane Fonda, actress and activist

Short positive self-love quotes

Sometimes the best self-love quotes are short and sweet. Download and save these short positive self-love quotes to use as daily affirmations. You can also send these short quotes as words of encouragement to someone you care about.

Frequently asked questions about self-love quotes

What are examples of quotes about happiness and self-love?

Examples of quotes about happiness and self-love include:

• “To fall in love with yourself is the first secret to happiness.” —Robert Morley, actor
• “To love yourself right now, just as you are, is to give yourself heaven.” —Alan Cohen, author

Add these quotes to a personalized graphic using QuillBot’s Image Generator.

How can I use self-love quotes for Instagram captions?

It’s a great idea to use self-love quotes for Instagram captions.

Choose your favorite self-love quote, such as:

•  “be softer with you. / you are a breathing thing. a memory to someone. / a home to a life.” —Nayyirah Waheed, poet
• “You have to believe in yourself when no one else does—that makes you a winner right here.” —Venus Williams, tennis champion

Then add hashtags like #selflove or #loveyourself, and cute emojis that fit the theme. These can be heart emojis (💕🫶), or emojis that signal strength and empowerment (💪).

If you’re feeling stuck on what else to write, enlist the help of QuillBot’s free Caption Generator.

What are some self love emojis?

Self-love emojis include:

• 💖 Sparkling Heart
• 🤍 White Heart
• 💗 Growing Heart
• 🥰 Smiling Face with Hearts
• 🧘 Person in Lotus Position (mindfulness/self-care)
• 🌸 Cherry Blossom (self-love and growth)
• 💆 Person Getting Massage (self-care)
• ✨ Sparkles (positivity/self-appreciation)

Contrast these self-love emojis with more classic I love you emojis like the red heart emoji ❤️ or the smiling face with heart-eyes emoji 😍.

Find all of these emojis and more in QuillBot’s emoji bank.