Eating is always a decision, nobody forces your hand to pick up food and put it into your mouth.
Albert EllisRead
Self-esteem is the greatest sickness known to man or woman because it's conditional.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Self-esteem based on conditions can lead to unhappiness and instability.
In this quote, Albert Ellis argues that self-esteem, when contingent upon external factors or conditions, becomes a detrimental force in a person's life. It suggests that individuals may feel inadequate or unworthy when these conditions are not met, leading to emotional and psychological suffering. Emphasizing unconditional self-acceptance might lead to a healthier sense of self-worth.
Themes
Self-EsteemConditionalSicknessWorthAcceptance
In practice
Example use cases
During a seminar on personal growth, you could quote Ellis to emphasize the importance of unconditional self-acceptance.
More from Albert Ellis
All quotes βReligious 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.
Albert EllisRead
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.
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.
Albert EllisRead
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