Body Image Quotes – How to Embrace Body Positivity for Higher Self-Esteem

… ‘I hate my nose.’

… ‘My eyes are too close together.’

… ‘My legs are too short/my body is too long.’

… ‘I feel really fat. I daren’t get on the scales.’  

Do any of these strike a chord with you? 

If so, you’re not alone.

We beat ourselves up on a daily basis because we don’t have the ‘perfect’ body. Both mainstream and online media (including your favourite social platforms) literally bombard us with images that make us feel inadequate on our deepest level, sending us subliminal messages to lust after the ideal lifestyle that these pictures portray. 

In times like these, we need a tonic – a solution to help us be happy in our own skin and celebrate what we already have. So if you’re here, and you’re searching for some quotes to pick you up and help you embrace your own uniqueness, I’ve put together some inspiring and motivational body positivity quotes to help you do just that.

Scroll down to go straight to the quotes. But if you want to chat about this thing called body positivity, let’s look at what it is, why it matters, and what you can do to feel better about yourself. 

What is Body Positivity? 

Body positivity is the idea that everyone deserves to love and accept themselves exactly as they are – regardless of their size, shape, and appearance.

But body positivity can mean different things to different people. For some, it means feeling confident and having a healthy level of self-esteem without worrying about what they look like. For others, it can mean loving their body despite their flaws. Or, rather, choosing to embrace them. Some people may view body positivity as appreciating your body – marks and all – after changes such as pregnancy, surgical procedures, or lifestyle choices. It’s about feeling comfortable in your own skin.

Ultimately, the main message is one of encouragement: to love and appreciate our unique human qualities. 

What is Body Dysmorphia?

Body dysmorphia is a mental health condition where you might see your body differently to how others do. For example, you might see yourself as hugely overweight, with a ‘shelfie’ tummy after pregnancy, or a middle so bloated you feel like a round balloon. What you see is exaggerated to the point where you will take measures to disguise your figure, whereas to someone else, you just look normal. They don’t see what you see, and yet your mind is freaking out that everyone is judging you for how you look.  

You might spend hours constantly checking your image in the mirror, or avoid your reflection altogether because you don’t want to look at yourself. You also might frequently compare your body and your looks to everyone else, feeling that you’ll never measure up to the perfection of others. 

The Body Positivity Movement

You may have heard of the body positivity movement, where the main focus is on promoting body-acceptance and acceptance of the self as a whole. The key message here is that we are all different; whether curvy, slim, tall, short, round, apple- or pear-shaped.

The movement has actually evolved from celebrating larger bodies to now celebrating bodily features of all shapes and sizes, but the message remains the same. We are all unique, and there is (or should be) no such thing as the perfect body. 

Why Body Positivity is so Important

Ultimately, we all just want to be loved. But so many of us look for external validation and acceptance, and with so much focus on what we ‘should’ be aiming for, it’s so easy to feel pressured. We constantly compare ourselves to others – examining our hair, our body image, or whether our eyebrows are right. But here’s the thing – there’s no such thing as a perfect body.

Take the time to consider what perfection means to you, and then think about someone else’s idea of perfection. The chances are your ideas will be quite different, and it’s all a matter of perception.

Embracing body positivity and self-acceptance can help boost your self-esteem, improve your wellbeing, and help you to love yourself for who you are. 

50 Inspiring Body Positivity Quotes

As promised, I’ve collated the following quotes to help give you a boost, but if you’d like some further support on this, check out this post on Letting Go of Body Control: 

Unveiling the Illusion of Control: Letting Go of Body Control

10 QUOTES FOR SELF-ACCEPTANCE

1. “Each individual woman’s body demands to be accepted on its own terms.” — Gloria Steinem
2. “It’s really an awakening — when you get pregnant and have a child — that the female body is the most amazing machine imaginable.” — Alyssa Milano
3. “Being a healthy woman isn’t about getting on a scale or measuring your waistline. We need to start focusing on what matters — on how we feel, and how we feel about ourselves.”— Michelle Obama
4. “I’m constantly reminding myself it’s not about my thighs: It’s about my commitment and my happiness level.” — Kristin Bell
5. “All I have to say is ‘I’m healthy.’ In that statement, I express gratitude. I am grateful for my strength and things I can do with my body. I am saying I’m healthy and I accept the way my body is today without changing anything.” — Demi Lovato
6. “No amount of self-improvement can make up for any lack of self-acceptance.” — Robert Holden
7. “I think your whole life shows in your face, and you should be proud of that.” — Lauren Bacall
8. “The human body is the best picture of the human soul.” — Ludwig Wittgenstein
9. “Back when I was modeling, the first time I went to Italy I was having cappuccinos every day, and I gained 15 pounds. And I felt gorgeous! I would take my clothes off in front of the mirror and be like, Oh, I look like a woman. And I felt beautiful, and I never tried to lose it, ’cause I loved it.” — Christina Hendricks
10. “Be happy in your own skin. If you are unhealthy, start by making small changes to become healthier. You are unique, beautiful and worthy.” — Octavia Spencer

10 QUOTES FOR SELF-LOVE

11. “You have been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” – Louise Hay
12. “Say goodbye to your inner critic, and take this pledge to be kinder to yourself and others.” – Oprah
13. “I’ve made peace with the fact that the things that I thought were weaknesses or flaws were just me. I like them.” — Sandra Bullock
14. “Your words have so much power. Every day, if you tell yourself, ‘I love you,’ if you give yourself one word of validation, it will change your mind.” — Ashley Graham
15. “Someone’s always going to have a critique … All that matters is what I think of it. And I had to go so deep inside myself and look in the mirror. Looking in the mirror and accepting what’s in the mirror is very, very difficult. And right now, I love it every time I look in the mirror.” — Lizzo
16. “Knowing that I feel good because I am being diligent about taking care of myself mentally, physically, and emotionally creates self-esteem.” — Chrissy Metz
17. “You can’t hate yourself happy. You can’t criticize yourself thin. You can’t shame yourself worthy. Real change begins with self-love and self-care.” — Jessica Ortner
18. “​I have a belly. And I have cellulite. And I still deserve love.” — Amy Schumer
19. “I love every cell of my body.” — Louise L. Hay
20. “Most important, in order to find real happiness, you must learn to love yourself for the totality of who you are and not just what you look like.” — Portia de Rossi

10 QUOTES FOR BODY APPRECIATION

21. “This body had carried me through a hard life. It looked exactly the way it was supposed to.” – Veronica Roth
22. “Love your body because you only have one.” – Anon
23. “Your weight does not define your worth.” – Anon
24. “Stop trying to fix your body. It was never broken.” – Eve Ensler
25. “If we make self-love or body acceptance conditional, the truth is, we will never be happy with ourselves. The reality is that our bodies are constantly changing, and they will never remain exactly the same. If we base our self-worth on something as ever-changing as our bodies, we will forever be on the emotional roller coaster of body obsession and shame.” — Chrissy King
26. “I’ve never had a flat stomach. It just doesn’t happen, it’s just not going to happen, and it’s my little warm roll, and I like it, and I’m not a failure for not having a flat stomach,” — Jameela Jamil
27. “You all can judge my body all you want, but at the end of the day it’s MY body. I love it and I’m comfortable in my own skin.” — Simone Biles
28. “It’s beautiful to feel positive about your body, but it’s also fine that you don’t look like everybody else…or you have a different shape of this, or your legs are thicker, or your breasts are larger, or your breasts are smaller, or whatever the thing might be.” — Alicia Keys 
29. “Hating our bodies is something that we learn, and it sure as hell is something that we can unlearn.” — Megan Jayne Crabbe
30. “My limbs work, so I’m not going to complain about how my body is shaped.” — Drew Barrymore

10 QUOTES FOR INNER BEAUTY

31. “You define beauty yourself. Society doesn’t define your beauty.” – Lady Gaga
32. “I realize everybody wants what they don’t have. But at the end of the day, what you have inside is much more beautiful than what’s on the outside.” — Selena Gomez
33. “People often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder.” — Salma Hayak
34. “How I feel about myself is more important than how I look. Feeling confident, being comfortable in your skin — that’s what really makes you beautiful.” — Bobbi Brown
35. “Feeling beautiful has nothing to do with what you look like.” — Emma Watson
36. “I can’t think of any better representation of beauty than someone who is unafraid to be herself.” — Emma Stone
37. “One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl. I wear colors that I really like, I wear makeup that makes me feel pretty, and it really helps. It doesn’t have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matters is what you see.” — Gabourey Sidibe
38. “The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode, but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years.” — Audrey Hepburn
39. “Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.” — Khalil Gibran
40. “A woman whose smile is open and whose expression is glad has a kind of beauty no matter what she wears.” — Anne Roiphe

10 QUOTES FOR DIVERSITY

41. “We are all different, which is great because we are all unique. Without diversity, life would be very boring.” — Catherine Pulsifer
42. “Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.” — Mahatma Gandhi
43. “The color of your soul is more important than the color of your skin.” — Matshona Dhliwayo
44. “Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.” — Stephen R. Covey
45. “Diversity in all its forms is the path to greatness.” — James D Wilson
46. “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” — Audre Lorde
47. “To me, beauty is inclusion — every size, every color — that’s the world I live in.” — Prabal Gurung, fashion designer
48. “Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common. Celebrate it every day.” — Winston Churchill
49. “A garden’s beauty never lies in one flower.” — Matshona Dhliwayo
50. “True belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world. Our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.” — Brene Brown, “The Gifts of Imperfection”

Further Support

I hope you’ve found these quotes helpful and that you feel more inspired to love all the parts of yourself. 

I know myself how difficult it can be to embrace body acceptance, which is part of why I do what I do. If you feel like you might need support in this area, I’d love to help you on a one-to-one basis. There’s no obligation, and you can book a free introductory chat here. 

Alternatively, if you feel like you might prefer some group support in the first instance, come and join my free, private Facebook group, The Self-Esteem Society. 

It’s filled with women who are all working towards greater self-esteem and self-acceptance, and is a safe, inclusive space. Click the button below to join.