Of all the traps and pitfalls in life, self-disesteem is the deadliest, and the hardest to overcome: for it is a pit designed and dug by our own hands, summed up in the phrase, 'It's no use - I can't do it.'
Maxwell MaltzRead
Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your hand-brake on.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Low self-esteem hinders personal progress and enjoyment in life.
This quote by Maxwell Maltz illustrates that low self-esteem acts as a barrier, much like a hand-brake in a car, preventing individuals from fully engaging in life's experiences and reaching their potential. It suggests that without addressing self-esteem issues, one can navigate life but with significant limitations, leading to a lack of fulfillment and achievement.
Themes
Self-EsteemPotentialGrowthPersonal DevelopmentLife
In practice
Example use cases
In a workshop on self-improvement, this quote could inspire attendees to work on their self-esteem.
More from Maxwell Maltz
All quotes →Your nervous system cannot tell the difference between an imagined experience and a 'real' experience. In either case, it reacts automatically to information which you give to it from your forebrain. Your nervous system reacts appropriately to what you THINK or IMAGINE to be 'true.
Maxwell MaltzRead
The 'self-image' is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self image and you change the personality and the behavior.
Maxwell MaltzRead
Our self image, strongly held, essentially determines what we become.
Maxwell MaltzRead
Within you right now is the power to do things you never dreamed possible.
Maxwell MaltzRead
What is opportunity, and when does it knock? It never knocks. You can wait a whole lifetime, listening, hoping, and you will hear no knocking. None at all. You are opportunity, and you must knock on the door leading to your destiny. You prepare yourself to recognize opportunity, to pursue and seize opportunity as you develop the strength of your personality, and build a self-image with which you are able to live - with your self-respect alive and growing.
Maxwell MaltzRead
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