Article image

12 Quotes Every People-Pleaser Should Read

People-pleasing is a habit that can sneak up on us. We may start out with good intentions, pitching in when someone needs help or trying to mediate an argument. But when we find ourselves feeling unable to say “no” or suppressing our gut feelings to keep the peace, we’ve crossed over into the type of people-pleasing that can prevent us from living authentically.

It’s perfectly normal to want the approval of the people around us. And if we’ve become accustomed to yielding to others’ expectations, it can feel impossible to start unraveling that pattern. Building a foundation of self-confidence is a crucial first step; this is what will allow us to live according to our own beliefs, even when those around us want us to do otherwise.

If you’ve found yourself feeling more doormat-esque than you’d prefer, here are 12 quotes to help you start seeking more approval from the most important source: yourself.

Do your thing and don’t care if they like it.
Tina Fey

Share Quote

You will never gain anyone's approval by begging for it. When you stand confident in your own worth, respect follows.
Mandy Hale

Share Quote

If you try to please all, you please none.
Aesop

Share Quote

I surrendered myself to the cages of others' expectations, cultural mandates, and institutional allegiances … I buried who I was in order to become what I should be. I lost myself when I learned how to please.
Glennon Doyle

Share Quote

If I approve of myself, that’s all I need. That confidence really reverberates.
JoJo

Share Quote

Listen to your instincts. Don't be a people-pleaser.
Drew Barrymore

Share Quote

If you do not take control over your time and your life, other people will gobble it up. If you don’t prioritize yourself, you constantly start falling lower and lower on your list.
Michelle Obama

Share Quote

Confidence is not “They will like me.” Confidence instead is “I’ll be fine if they don’t.”
Christina Grimmie

Share Quote

I'm done living for other people. I'm done being a people-pleaser. I'm done thinking about what people think about me.
Shailene Woodley

Share Quote

Each time you set a healthy boundary, you say yes to more freedom.
Nancy Levin

Share Quote

Power for me is “no.” No is very powerful. Because if you’re always available — and this goes for relationships, too — just keep saying no. That’s when you know your worth, when you know your value.
Taraji P. Henson

Share Quote

We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves.
Malcolm X

Share Quote

Featured image credit: YURI GRIPAS/ AFP via Getty Images

Author image
About the Author
Paola Bennet
Paola Bennet is a writer based in Brooklyn, NY. She writes a fortnightly newsletter that treasures the mundane, called Small Histories. Find her on Instagram @paolafbennet.
Play more header background
Play more icon
Daily Question
Fill in the blank: "___ is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect." - Steve Jobs

More Inspiration

happiness theme icon

Run to the rescue with love and peace will follow.

separator icon
River Phoenix
motivation theme icon

I found my place when I stopped looking for it.

separator icon
Mahershala Ali
hope theme icon

One shouldn't just hope to be treated well: one must insist on it.

separator icon
Abraham Verghese
love theme icon

Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.

separator icon
Lucy Maud Montgomery
wisdom theme icon

The heart is not like a box that gets filled up; it expands in size the more you love.

separator icon
Spike Jonze
happiness theme icon

I would rather walk with a friend in the dark than walk alone in the light.

separator icon
Helen Keller
motivation theme icon

Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

separator icon
Martin Luther King Jr.
hope theme icon

Art is about finding creativity in the gutter next to you.

separator icon
Olafur Eliasson
love theme icon

My turn shall also come: I sense the spreading of a wing.

separator icon
Osip Mandelstam
wisdom theme icon

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.

separator icon
Sharon Begley
happiness theme icon

Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.

separator icon
Michelangelo