Quotes from Nathaniel Branden

The tragedy of many people's lives is that, given a choice between being "right" and having an opportunity to be happy, they invariably choose being "right." That is the one ultimate satisfaction they allow themselves.

A mind that distrusts itself cannot inspire the best in the minds of others. Neither can leaders inspire the best in others if their primary need, arising from their insecurities, is to prove themselves right and others wrong.

Observing certain types of behavior which they believed to be characteristic of the human species, instinct theorists decided that the causes of such behavior are innate, unchosen, and unlearned tendencies which drive man to act as he does.

In attempting to counterfeit a self-esteem he does not possess, he makes his perception of reality conditional; he establishes, as a principle of his mind's functioning, that certain considerations supersede reality, facts, and truth in their importance to him.

To find it humiliating to admit an error is a certain sign of flawed self-esteem.

The policies that demean self-esteem are the policies that sooner or later cause a company to lose money—simply because, when you treat people badly and disrespectfully, you cannot possibly hope to get their best.

Those who believe they have "thought enough" and "learned enough" are on a downward trajectory of increasing unconsciousness.

The wreckage of their personal life is a monument to the magnitude of their unconsciousness concerning the internal world of the self.

The greater a child's terror, and the earlier it is experienced, the harder the task of building a strong and healthy sense of self.

Para el hombre racional, psicológicamente sano, el deseo de obtener placer es el deseo de celebrar su control sobre la realidad. Para el neurótico, el deseo de placer es el deseo de huir de la realidad".

Each person has a unique mixture of intelligences, or ways of understanding the world—linguistic, logical, mathematical, spatial, musical, physical

Self-respect is the conviction of our own value. It is not the delusion that we are "perfect" or superior to everyone else. It is not comparative or competitive at all.

If I enjoy a fundamental sense of efficacy and worth, and experience myself as lovable, then I have a foundation for appreciating and loving others.

Also, each person has a different learning style. Some may respond best to visual information, others to language (lectures, reading), others must touch or engage the physical world for things to make sense.

Love is not felt to be real when it is always tied to performance, tied to living up to Mother's or Father's expectations

At best, the responsible student may learn a new concept of human relationships that rejects the propriety of practicing human sacrifice.

When a client in therapy says, "I don't feel entitled to be happy or successful," the meaning is, "I don't feel worthy as a human being.

When our behavior is congruent with our professed values, when ideals and practice match, we have integrity.

The obedient student was taught not to challenge authority. The responsible student is prepared to question—and if need be, to challenge—anything.

If differences are accepted, self-esteem can grow.

We do not serve a child's development by making self-repudiation the price of our love.

This is one of the reasons why attempts at relationships so often fail—not because the vision of passionate or romantic love is intrinsically irrational, but because the self-esteem needed to support it is absent.

If I do not feel lovable, it is very difficult to believe that anyone else loves me. If I do not accept myself, how can I accept your love for me? Your warmth and devotion are confusing: it confounds my self-concept, since I "know" I am not lovable.

We recognize that families in which reality is often denied and consciousness often punished place devastating obstacles to self-esteem; they create a nightmare world in which the child may feel that thinking is not only futile but dangerous.