Eating is always a decision, nobody forces your hand to pick up food and put it into your mouth.
Albert EllisRead
Attempts to help humans eliminate all self-ratings and views self-esteem as a self-defeating concept that encourages them to make conditional evaluations of self. Instead, it teaches people unconditional self-acceptance.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of unconditional self-acceptance over conditional self-esteem.
In this quote, Albert Ellis critiques the idea of self-esteem that is contingent on external evaluations or achievements. He argues that such conditional self-assessments can lead to a self-defeating mindset, suggesting that true personal growth comes from accepting oneself without conditions, fostering a healthier and more resilient self-image.
Themes
Self-AcceptanceSelf-EsteemConditionalEvaluationPersonal Growth
In practice
Example use cases
A motivational speaker might use this quote to highlight the need for self-acceptance during a workshop.
More from Albert Ellis
All quotes →Religious creeds encourage some of the craziest kinds of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors and favor severe manifestations of neurosis, borderline personality states, and sometimes even psychosis.
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I had used eclectic therapy and behavior therapy on myself at the age of 19 to get over my fear of public speaking and of approaching young women in public.
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If you would stop, really stop, damning yourself, others, and unkind conditions, you would find it almost impossible to upset yourself emotionally - about anything. Yes, anything.
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The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.
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By honestly acknowledging your past errors, but never damning yourself for them, you can learn to use your past for your own future benefit.
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A man must not always tell all, for that be folly; but what a man says should be what he thinks.
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