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It would be hard to name a more certain sign of poor self-esteem than the need to perceive some other group as inferior.

— Nathaniel Branden The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem (1994)

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More quotes by Nathaniel Branden

I regard the judgment of people as a waste of time. I regard the judgment of behavior as imperative.

Pride is the emotional reward of achievement. It is not a vice to be overcome but a virtue to be attained.

The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem (1994)

Rand always says, “Never pass up an opportunity to pass moral judgment.” Well I say: “Look for an opportunity to do something more useful instead.” Nobody was led to virtue by being told he was a scoundrel.

Man's need of self-esteem entails the need for a sense of control over reality – but no control is possible in a universe which, by one's own concession, contains the supernatural, the miraculous and the causeless, a universe in which one is at the mercy of ghosts and demons, in which one must deal, not with the unknown, but with the unknowable; no control is possible if man proposes, but a ghost disposes; no control is possible if the universe is a haunted house.

Mental Health versus Mysticism and Self-Sacrifice (1963)

The policy of seeking values from human beings by means of force, when practiced by an individual, is called crime. When practiced by a government, it is called statism—or totalitarianism or collectivism or communism or socialism or nazism or fascism or the welfare state.

All Nathaniel Branden quotes →

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The wise treat self-respect as non-negotiable, and will not trade it for health or wealth or anything else.

Thomas Szasz The Second Sin (1973)

Self-respect is the cornerstone of all virtue.

John Herschel A Toolbox for Humanity : More Than 9000 Years of Thought (2004)

Nothing is better for self-esteem than survival.

Martha Gellhorn Travels with Myself and Another: A Memoir (1978)

If you want to be respected by others the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky The Insulted and the Injured (1861)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Nathaniel Branden (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.