Nathaniel Branden quotes

Self esteem is the reputation we acquire with ourselves. (Nathaniel Branden)

The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.

Nathaniel Branden

There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will be to treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity.

Nathaniel Branden

Of all the judgments we pass in life, none is more important than the judgment we pass on ourselves.

Nathaniel Branden

It would be hard to name a more certain sign of poor self-esteem than the need to perceive some other group as inferior.

Nathaniel Branden

Self-acceptance is my refusal to be in an adversarial relationship to myself.

Nathaniel Branden

I cannot remember a time when the question of why people behave as they do was not intensely interesting to me. The desire to understand was very important. When I was young, I was aware of the fact that much of the time, the reasons a person gave for his actions were not the actual reasons.

Nathaniel Branden

I regard the judgment of people as a waste of time. I regard the judgment of behavior as imperative.

Nathaniel Branden

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

Nathaniel Branden

Ideas do matter and do have consequences.

Nathaniel Branden

Rand always says, "Never pass up an opportunity to pass moral judgment.” Well I say: "Look for an opportunity to do something more useful instead.” Nobody was led to virtue by being told he was a scoundrel. (Nathaniel Branden)

Pride is the emotional reward of achievement. It is not a vice to be overcome but a virtue to be attained.

Nathaniel Branden

Man's need of self-esteem entails the need for a sense of control over reality – but no control is possible in a universe which, by one's own concession, contains the supernatural, the miraculous and the causeless, a universe in which one is at the mercy of ghosts and demons, in which one must deal, not with the unknown, but with the unknowable; no control is possible if man proposes, but a ghost disposes; no control is possible if the universe is a haunted house.

Nathaniel Branden

Live with integrity, respect the rights of other people, and follow your own bliss.

Nathaniel Branden

Self-esteem is a powerful force within each of us... Self-esteem is the experience that we are appropriate to life and to the requirements of life.

Nathaniel Branden

A woman in love will do almost anything for a man, except give up the desire to improve him.

Nathaniel Branden

If we are happy within ourselves, we don't accept or demand that our partner should fulfill every need. We need to be comfortable with our own company.

Nathaniel Branden

Productive achievement is a consequence and an expression of health and self-esteem, not its cause.

Nathaniel Branden

Anyone who engages in the practice of psychotherapy confronts every day the devastation wrought by the teachings of religion.

Nathaniel Branden

Romantic love can be terrifying. We experience another human being as enormously important to us. So there is surrender -not a surrender to the other person so much as to our feeling for the other person. What is the obstacle? The possibility of loss.

Nathaniel Branden

Romantic love is a passionate spiritual-emotional-sexual attachment between a man and a woman that reflects a high regard for the value of each other's person. (Nathaniel Branden)

Integrity means congruence. Words and behavior match.

Nathaniel Branden

In a world in which the total of human knowledge is doubling about every ten years, our security can rest only on our ability to learn.

Nathaniel Branden

One of the mistakes that Rand makes is that after she condemns a belief or an action, she goes on to tell you the psychology of the person who did it, as if she knows. I focus my judgment on the action and not on the person. My primary interest is: do I admire or dislike this behavior? And there, judgment is important for me. People often attribute all kinds of things to another person, without ever knowing where that person's coming from. Most of the time, I regard the judgment of people as a waste of time. I regard the judgment of behavior as imperative.

Nathaniel Branden