Self-care is one of the most important things you can do in your daily routine to maximize your inner peace, increase your confidence and productivity, and improve your relationships. Still, as with so many aspects of life, it can be easier said than done. Using positive quotes helps you remember to make caring for yourself a priority, so you’re living the best version of yourself instead of putting yourself through the wringer to accomplish your goals.

30 Self-Care Quotes To Remind You of The Importance Of Taking Care of Yourself

1. “Exactly what are you wanting to teach your children? How to love and care for themselves, or how to neglect and abandon themselves? Self-sacrifice is NOT setting a good example.” – Miya Yamanouchi
2. “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” – Audre Lorde
3. “We must take care of our minds because we cannot benefit from beauty when our brains are missing.” – Euripides
4. “Self-care is never selfish, but it may feel that way when you live a frenzied life.” – Arthur P. Ciaramicoli
5. “Self-care is not a waste of time. Self-care makes your use of time more sustainable.” – Jackie Viramontez
6. “Doing something nice for myself is not selfish.” – Christine Morgan
7. “Do something nice for you. Because you deserve it.” – Unknown
8. “Acknowledge, accept, and honor that you deserve your own deepest compassion and love.” – Nanette Mathews
9. “When you recognize and reflect on even one good thing about yourself, you are building a bridge to a place of kindness and caring.” – Sharon Salzberg
10. “Choose, every day, to forgive yourself. You are human, flawed, and most of all worthy of love.” – Alison Malee
11. “People who love themselves come across as very loving, generous and kind; they express their self-confidence through humility, forgiveness, and inclusiveness.” – Sanaya Roman
12. “Caring for your body, mind, and spirit is your greatest and grandest responsibility. It’s about listening to the needs of your soul and then honoring them.” – Kristi Ling
13. “Learning self-care is like building your own lifeboat, plank by plank. Once you’ve got your boat, you’ll still be rocked by the waves of life, but you’ll have a feeling of safety, and stability that means you can pick other people up on your way.” – Nadia Narain
14. “I believe that self-care is a daily practice that should involve your interests, needs, and preferences. And it should have room to evolve with you over time.” – Portia Jackson-Preston
15. “No more martyring myself.” – Sharon E. Rainey
16. “Our soul is like a soft and gentle flower; it needs to be nurtured, cared for, tended to, with sufficient sunlight, fresh air, and freedom to bloom into its most precious and beautiful form. This, my friend, is self-love.” – Miya Yamanouchi
17. “Respect, Love, and Value yourself. Always remember to be good to yourself by taking care of yourself. Make yourself a priority and know that it’s okay. Don’t feel guilty for loving yourself first! You’re just as important as anybody else.” – Stephanie Lahart
18. “By taking care of myself, I have so much more to offer the world than I do when I am running on empty.” – Ali Washington
19. “Life’s too short to spend it at war with yourself.” – Unknown
20. “Harmony begins within. If we are to influence the world around us, even in minor ways, the real work begins inside and emanates outwards.” – Gudjon Bergmann
21. “If you want to help her, you need to help yourself first. No one serves their friends by grinding themselves into dust on the altar of compassion.” – Seanan McGuire
22. “For those of you who struggle with guilt regarding self-care, answer this question: What greater gift can you give to those you love than your own wholeness?” – Shannon Tanner
23. “You can’t really be present for the people in your life if you aren’t taking care of yourself.” – Kerry Washington
24. “An empty lantern provides no light. Self-care is the fuel that allows your light to shine brightly.” – Unknown
25. “Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.” – Malcolm S. Forbes
26. “I found in my research that the biggest reason people aren’t more self-compassionate is that they are afraid they’ll become self-indulgent. They believe self-criticism is what keeps them in line. Most people have gotten it wrong because our culture says being hard on yourself is the way to be.” – Kristen Neff
27. “You only have one life to live. Make sure it’s yours.” – Eleanor Brownn
28. “How we care for ourselves gives our brain messages that shape our self-worth so we must care for ourselves in every way, every day.” – Sam Owen
29. “Be kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world.” – Pema Chodron
30. “The relationship you have with yourself will determine what your relationships with others will be like.” – Akiroq Brost

–> Check out this list of Self Care Ideas for Busy Women!

30 Self-Care Quotes About Treating Yourself Respectfully

1. “The only person who can pull me down is myself, and I’m not going to let myself pull me down anymore.” – C. Joybell C.
2. “Gard the doors of your temple, do not let anyone pollute it with their mess.” – Patricio Telman Chincocolo
3. “Self-care is a deliberate choice to gift yourself with people, places, things, events, and opportunities that recharge our personal battery and promote whole health: body, mind, and spirit.” – Laurie Buchanan, PhD
4. “Bathing is a basic need, but it doesn’t have to be a forgettable moment in your routine.” – Amy Leigh Mercree
5. “I want to be as healthy as I possibly can be. I just want to make sure that I do everything to take care of myself. So I want to do the best for me. I want to pamper myself and do the best for my body.” – Kriti Kharbanda
6. “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” – Jim Rohn
7. “When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.” – Benjamin Franklin
8. “You don’t have to love yourself in muttered whispers while loving everyone else with a megaphone.” – Jasmine Farrell
9. “Self-care has become a new priority – the revelation that it’s perfectly permissible to listen to your body and do what it needs.” – Frances Ryan
10. “Our soul is like a soft and gentle flower; it needs to be nurtured, cared for, tended to, with sufficient sunlight, fresh air, and freedom to bloom into its most precious and beautiful form. This, my friend, is self-love.” – Miya Yamanouchi
11.  “Be kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world.” – Pema Chodron
12. “When the body forces you to STOP, it’s saying, hey buddy, you’ve gone too far.” – Jacqueline Escolme
13. “Self-care sometimes is doing the things that will make your next 2 hours difficult, but your next ten years easier.” – Em.x.thoughts
14. “Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.” – Edward Stanley
15. “Lighten up on yourself. No one is perfect. Gently accept your humanness.” – Deborah Day
16. “For me, recovery and self-care are inextricably connected. My recovery from abuse, addiction, and a suicide attempt required dump truck loads of self-care.” – Steve Austin
17. “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” – Maya Angelou
18. “Stopping takes courage, too.” – Emma Xu
19. “Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.” – Hermann Hesse
20. “Remember that failure is an event, not a person.” – Zig Ziglar
21. “To accept ourselves as we are means to value our imperfections as much as our perfections.” – Sandra Bierig
22. “Self-care is so much more than a beauty regimen or an external thing you do. It has to start within your heart to know what you need to navigate your life. A pedicure doesn’t last, but meditating every day does.” – Carrie-Anne Moss
23. “A person who is humble would never be abusive or selfish; so don’t abuse yourself or withhold self-love or self-care.” – Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life
24. “Setting boundaries is a way of caring for myself. It doesn’t make me mean, selfish, or uncaring because I don’t do things your way. I care about me too.” – Christine Morgan
25. “Honoring your own boundaries is the clearest message to others to honor them, too.” – Gina Greenlee, Postcards and Pearls: Life Lessons from Solo Moments on the Road
26. “Be kind to your body, gentle with your mind, and patient with your heart. Stay true to your spirit, cherish your soul and never doubt yourself. You are still becoming, my love, and there is no one more deserving of the nurturing grace of your love.” – Becca Lee
27. “Be kind. Be patient. Be generous. Be accepting. Be all of these things to yourself. That is where it begins” – Seed & Song
28. “You are worth the quiet moment. You are worth the deeper breaths, and you are worth the time it takes to slow down, be still, and rest.” – Morgan Harper Nichols
29. “It’s okay to take time for yourself. We give so much of ourselves to others, and we need to be fueled both physically and mentally. If we are in balance, it helps us in all our interactions.” – Faith Hill
30. “Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious. You get to choose how you use it. You teach people how to treat you by deciding what you will and won’t accept.” – Anna Taylor

55 Self-Care Quotes To Inspire Productivity

1. “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” – Stephen Covey
2. “Stop what you are doing. Go outside and breathe. The world will not end if you take ten minutes for yourself.” – Fawn Germer
3. “When you do something noble and beautiful and nobody notices, do not be sad. For the sun every morning is a beautiful spectacle, and yet most of the audience still sleeps.” – John Lennon
4. “Stepping out of the busyness, stopping our endless pursuit of getting somewhere else, is perhaps the most beautiful offering we can make to our spirit.” – Tara Brach
5. “It’s not knowing what to do, it’s doing what you know.” – Tony Robbins
6. “If you feel “burnout” setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself.” – Dalai Lama
7. “Good well-being leads to good working performance.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
8. “Though we all make mistakes, don’t handicap yourself in difficult tasks; self-sabotage is not a strategy. Sometimes all you need to do is protect yourself from your own self.” – Efrat Cybulkiewicz
9. “If you do not respect your own wishes, no one else will. You will simply attract people who disrespect you as much as you do.”– Vironika Tugaleva
10. “Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.” – Stephen Covey
11. “Invent your world. Surround yourself with people, color, sounds, and work that nourish you.” – Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy
12. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret to getting started is breaking your overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” – Mark Twain
13. “Focus on being productive instead of busy.” – Tim Ferriss
14. “If you don’t pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves.” – David Allen
15. “Action is the foundational key to all success.” – Pablo Picasso
16. “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” – Paul J. Meyer
17. “The best way out is always through.” – Robert Frost
18. “You don’t need a new plan for next year. You need a commitment.” – Seth Godin
19. “Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else.” – Peter Drucker
20. “If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” – Bruce Lee
21. “Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!” – Tony Robbins
22. “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” – Napoleon Hill
23.  “It is not enough to be busy…. The question is: What are we busy about?” – Henry David Thoreau
24. “There’s a tendency to mistake preparation for productivity. You can prepare all you want, but if you never roll the dice, you’ll never be successful.” – Shia LaBeouf
25. “When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that in itself is a choice.” – William James
26. “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” – Steve Jobs
27. “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy.” – Norman Vincent Peale
28. “Simplicity boils down to two steps: Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest.” – Leo Babauta
29. “If you have time to whine, then you have time to find a solution.” – Dee Dee Artner
30. “When you waste a moment, you have killed it in a sense, squandering an irreplaceable opportunity. But when you use the moment properly, filling it with purpose and productivity, it lives on forever.” – Menachem Mendel Schneerson
31. “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration. The rest of us just get up and go to work.” – Stephen King
32. “Time is not refundable; use it with intention.” – Unknown
33. “The key to productivity is to rotate your avoidance techniques.” – Shannon Wheeler
34. “Starve your distraction and feed your focus.” – Unknown
35. “Reflect on what you do in a day. You may have never realized how some simple, harmless activities rob you of precious time.” – Vivek Naik
36. “Start by doing what is necessary, then do what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” – Saint Francis of Assisi
37. “Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes in a day.” – Denis Waitley
38. “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.” – Muhammad Ali
39. “To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
40. “When we truly need to do is often what we most feel like avoiding.” – David Allen
41. “One of the great challenges of our age, in which the tools of our productivity are also the tools of our leisure, is to figure out how to make more useful those moments of procrastination when we’re idling in front of our computer screens.” – Joshua Foer
42. “You don’t have to see the whole staircase; just take the first step.” Martin Luther King
43. “You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.” – Jim Rohn
44. “Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
45. “While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior.” – Henry C. Link
46. “What looks like multitasking is really switching back and forth between multiple tasks, which reduces productivity and increases mistakes by up to 50 percent.” – Susan Cain
47. “Productivity is the deliberate, strategic investment of your time, talent, intelligence, energy, resources, and opportunities in a manner calculated to move you measurably closer to meaningful goals.” – Dan S. Kennedy
48. “The really happy people are those who have broken the chains of procrastination, those who find satisfaction in doing the job at hand. They’re full of eagerness, zest, productivity. You can be, too.” – Norman Vincent Peale
49. “The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are hard work, stick-to-itiveness, and common sense.” – Thomas Edison
50. “If you want an easy job to seem mighty hard, just keep putting it off.” – Richard Miller
51. “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.” – Calvin Coolidge
52. “Position yourself to succeed by doing the other things in your life that rejuvenate you. Exhaustion affects your quality and productivity.” – Jeff VanderMeer
53. “If you want something done, give it to a busy man.” – Preston Sturges
54. “Grab a coffee. Journal your intentions. Get to work. Create miracles.”– Elyse Santilli
55. “Without ambition, one starts nothing. Without work, one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it” – Ralph Waldo Emmerson

–> Don’t forget to check out our guide to staying motivated as a mom!

30 Self-Care Quotes To Promote Mental Health

1. “The primary thing that people are going to try to take away from you— is the purity of your happiness. Rare is it to find in someone a pure happiness. A happiness so innocent, so spontaneous, and so raw… it is the way we are born, but it is most often not the way that we die. The world comes in and tries to take that away from you. People come in and try to take that away from you. I have learned not to jump into the pigsty with them. You have to protect the purity of your happiness and the innocence of your joy. People WILL try to take it away. Don’t go there, don’t let them. Keep what is yours.” – C. JoyBell C.
2. “Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.” – Berne Brown
3. “When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.” – Jean Shinoda Bolen
4. “Rest and self-care are so important. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve others from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty vessel.” – Eleanor Brownn
5. “Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions.” – Pema Chodron
6. “Self-care is allowing yourself to appreciate the moment for what it is, instead of wishing it was something else.” – Sharon Pearson
7. “When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn’t healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs, and habits – anything that kept me small. My judgment called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving.” – Kim McMillen
8. “You are worth the quiet moment. You are worth the deeper breaths, and you are worth the time it takes to slow down, be still, and rest.” – Morgan Harper Nichols
9. “Keep taking time for yourself until you’re you again.” – Lalah Delia
10. “Saying no can be the ultimate self-care.” – Claudia Black
11. “When you say ‘yes’ to others, make sure you are not saying ‘no’ to yourself.” – Paulo Coelho
12. “Be enough for yourself first. The rest of the world can wait.” – Unknown
13. “Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.” – Etty Hillesum
14.  “Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious. You get to choose how you use it. You teach people how to treat you by deciding what you will and won’t accept.” – Anna Taylor
15. “If we truly loved ourselves, we’d never harm another. That is a truly revolutionary, celebratory mode of self-care.” – Sharon Salzberg
16. “Self-care is giving the world the best of you, instead of what’s left of you.” – Katie Reed
17. “It is not the load that breaks you down. It’s the way you carry it.” – Lena Horne
18. “Words may show a man’s wit, but actions will show his meaning.” – Benjamin Franklin
19. “Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.” – John Wayne
20. “I do not equate productivity to happiness. For most people, happiness in life is a massive amount of achievement plus a massive amount of appreciation. And you need both of those things.” – Tim Ferriss
21. “The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and deep, loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” – Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
22. “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein
23. “A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion.” – Grantland Rice
24. “Do something nice for yourself today. Find some quiet, sit in stillness, breathe. Put your problems on pause. You deserve a break.” – Akiroq Brost
25. “There is no cowardice in removing yourself from a wildly unhealthy and unwinnable situation . . . You shouldn’t feel like you have to play . . . you don’t owe anyone anything. You don’t have to be available to everyone. You can stop.” – Scaachi Koul
26. “It is only when we feel deprived that we resent giving to others. Self-care does not mean you stop caring about others; it just means you start caring more about you. Start thinking about yourself more and others less. Since you have a choice between taking care of someone else, or giving to yourself, try choosing yourself sometimes.” – Beverly Engel
27. “When we self-regulate well, we are better able to control the trajectory of our emotional lives and resulting actions based on our values and sense of purpose.” – Amy Leigh Mercree
28. “Self-care is a deliberate choice to gift yourself with people, places, things, events, and opportunities that recharge our personal battery and promote whole health- body, mind, and spirit.” – Laurie Buchanan, PhD
29. “… don’t worry too much about what someone else says you “should” do. Know what you want to do and why it’s important to you.” – Melissa Steginus
30. “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emmerson

10 Self-Care Quotes To Inspire A Positive Mindset

1. “Each positive thought, every vibrant attitude, all purposeful activities water the seeds for success along your path. You will encounter many seeds for success today. Pay attention to these and feed them appropriately. Then maintain their beautiful growth through conscious self-care.” – Rebecca Gordon
2. “The Golden Rule is a two-edged sword. If some of us treated others as we treat ourselves, we would be jailed.” – Richard Paul Evans, The Mistletoe Promise
3. “If we truly loved ourselves, we’d never harm another. That is a truly revolutionary, celebratory mode of self-care.” – Sharon Salzberg
4. “Be as kind to the person in the mirror as you are to others.” – Marilyn Suttle
5. “Don’t aim for perfection. Aim for ‘better than yesterday.'” – Izey Victoria Odiase
6. “Whatever you are, be a good one.” – Abraham Lincoln
7. “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.” – Suzy Kassem
8. “Happiness is the only thing that multiplies when you share it.” – Albert Schweitzer
9. “There is enough time for self-care. There is not enough time to make up for the life you’ll miss by not filling yourself up.” – Jennifer Williamson
10. “Be kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world.” – Pema Chodron

Applying Self Care Quotes To Your Lifestyle

Reading a self-care quote is one thing. Applying those quotes to your life takes them to a whole new level, especially during life seasons that have you feeling overwhelmed, stressed out, and anxious. To use your favorite inspirational quotes like taking mental vitamins, simply engage with them every day in various ways.

One popular way to use inspiring quotes is to journal what they mean to you. Choose one, write at the top of a new page in your journal, and write about what it means, how it applies to your life, and how it makes you feel. Another way to use your favorite quotes is to write them down on Post-It notes, and stick them around your home, office, lunch box, in your fridge, or other random places to give yourself cute little love notes to uplift your mood, self-esteem, and confidence throughout the day.

Parents and caregivers may also use quotes to teach their kids the importance of self-care and find self-care activities to do together that honor the meaning behind their selection. A less common use for your favorite positive quote is to use a dry erase marker to write it on your bathroom mirror each day or week.

However you practice them, these quotes will inspire you to take control of your self-care habits, and that will lead to a more sustainable future for you and yours.

This article originally appeared on Wealth of Geeks.