88 Self-Doubt Quotes To Help You Be More Confident

There’s nothing like a collection of self-doubt quotes to help you get out of a funk, especially if you’re struggling with being confident in yourself and your abilities.

It’s normal to find it hard to have faith in a positive outcome – there’s a lot of negativity on social media that makes us feel stupid for even trying and everywhere you turn there seems to be a person ready to tell you to give up.

Learning how to ignore the voice of self-doubt in your head is key to avoiding self-sabotage and fulfilling your goals. And these self-doubt quotes will help you do just that!

Self-Doubt Quotes

1. “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” – Sylvia Plath

2. “Willpower is the key to success. Successful people strive no matter what they feel by applying their will to overcome apathy, doubt or fear.” – Dan Millman

3. “Erase self-doubt by working to build your strengths instead of focusing on your weaknesses.” – Rodolfo Costa

4. “If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.” – Vincent Van Gogh

5. “Many children, however, are in some or many important respects unable to fulfill the expectations of their parents, and carry around with them, so to speak, raw, painful areas of disconfirmation which leave them exposed to sudden attacks of self-doubt and uncertainty, sudden ebbings of self-confidence which may well be experienced as symptoms of anxiety or depression.” – David Smail

6. “Don’t let others tell you what you can’t do. Don’t let the limitations of others limit your vision. If you can remove your self-doubt and believe in yourself, you can achieve what you never thought possible.” – Roy T. Bennett

7. “The reason why you doubt yourself so much is that you have never seen yourself in action. You have never seen yourself breaking limits. You have never seen yourself standing in the spotlight and getting cheered by the audience.” – Michael Bassey Johnson

8. “I seek strength, not to be greater than other, but to fight my greatest enemy, the doubts within myself.” – P.C. Cast

9. “You don’t need to doubt yourself – plenty of people will do that for free!” – Francis Shenstone

10. “Criticism is just someone else’s opinion. Even people who are experts in their fields are sometimes wrong. It is up to you to choose whether to believe some of it, none of it, or all of it. What you think is what counts.” – Rodolfo Costa

11. “Self-doubt can create fatigue in your mind, whereas focused action can create achievement in your life.” – Jackie Cantoni

12. “I don’t believe anyone ever suspects how completely unsure I am of my work and myself and what tortures of self-doubting the doubt of others has always given me.” – Tennessee Williams

13. “You are so much stronger than you realize. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you’re not. Not even you.” – J.W. Lynne

14. “You do not need to pay attention to those voices within you that create pain, or make you feel less competent, smart or able.” – Sanaya Roman

15. “The world around you may ask you to stop Dreaming Big, as it could create insecurity in their lives. Dream Big anyway, dance to your own music and let them dance to theirs.” – Mridula Singh

16. “Every woman knows what I’m talking about. It’s the presumption that makes it hard, at times, for any woman in any field; that keeps women from speaking up and from being heard when they dare; that crushes young women into silence by indicating, the way harassment on the street does, that this is not their world. It trains us in self-doubt and self-limitation just as it exercises men’s unsupported overconfidence.” – Rebecca Solnit

17. “The worst enemy of our humanity is our self-doubt.” – Lolly Daskal

18. “Always have faith in yourself and the universe, for one will not get you anywhere without the other. Both must be equally strong to reach your desires, for they are the wings that will lift you to your dreams.” – Suzy Kassem

19. “In a period of extended waiting in life, it is all too easy to assume that something is wrong. We assume that ‘something’ is us.” – Tanya Marlow

20. “Technology has solved old economic problems by giving us new psychological problems. The internet has not just open-sourced information, it has also open-sourced insecurity, self-doubt, and shame.” – Mark Manson

Quotes About Self-Doubt

1. “Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.” – Christine Bovee

2. “It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.” – Hanoch McCarty

3. “You can either waltz boldly onto the stage of life and live the way you know your spirit is nudging you to, or you can sit quietly by the wall, receding into the shadows of fear and self-doubt.” – Oprah Winfrey

4. “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” – William Shakespeare

5. “If you don’t have some self-doubts and fears when you pursue a dream, then you haven’t dreamed big enough.” – Joe Vitale

6. “Once you become self-conscious, there is no end to it; once you start to doubt, there is no room for anything else.” – Mignon McLaughlin

7. “I can’t think of anyone I admire who isn’t fueled by self-doubt. It’s an essential ingredient. It’s the grit in the oyster.” – Richard Eyre

8. “If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.” – Francis Bacon

9. “He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

10. “We spend so much time defending our choice to do this that it becomes hard to show any vulnerability at all. There’s only so many times you can handle someone asking about your fall back for when things don’t work before you start thinking that maybe the fall back should just be your plan.” – Cora Carmack

11. “Self-doubt is real. Everyone has it. Having confidence and losing confidence is real, too, and everyone has been in that position.” – Venus Williams

12. “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” – Dale Carnegie

13. “I have self-doubt. I have insecurity. I have fear of failure. I have nights when I show up at the arena and I’m like, ‘My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knees hurt. I don’t have it. I just want to chill.’ We all have self-doubt. You don’t deny it, but you also don’t capitulate to it. You embrace it.” – Kobe Bryant

14. “Friends ask you questions; enemies question you.” – Criss Jami

15. “I believe every day your life speaks to you – through every experience, through the people you meet, and even through pain, fear and self-doubt.” – Oprah Winfrey

16. “Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn’t know that so it goes on flying anyway.” – Mary Kay Ash

17. “Even a wise man knows doubt from time to time, it is the fool who allows it to rule his judgment.” – Jennifer Hudock

18. “Don’t regret the past or fear the future. Both bring misery through self-doubt.” – Deepak Chopra

19. “When you doubt your power, you give power to your doubt.” – Honore de Balzac

20. “Don’t waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour’s duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Doubting Yourself Quotes

1. “Doubt is a virus that attacks our self-esteem, productivity and confidence. Faith that you and your life are perfectly unfolding is the strongest vaccine.” – Sean Stephenson

2. “Faith doesn’t mean that you never doubt. It only means that you never act upon your doubts.” – Orson Scott Card

3. “Acting as if you were what you want to become and know you can become is the way to remove self-doubt and enter your real-magic kingdom.” – Wayne Dyer

4. “Self-doubt is the greatest enemy of any new good habit.” – Victoria Moran

5. “Doubts in your mind are a much greater roadblock to success than obstacles on the journey.” – Orrin Woodward

6. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

7. “The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.” – J.M. Barrie

8. “So often we quit on the first failure. We must persist long enough to achieve success.” – Lailah Gifty Akita

9. “Because of self-doubt, the fear of failure, or laziness, most people usually bite off way less than they can chew.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana

10. “A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it.” – Ambrose Bierce

11. “One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.” – Henry Ford

12. “Don’t let rejection create self-doubt. The founder of Starbucks was turned down by 217 of the 242 investors he initially spoke with.” – Elizabeth Galbut

13. “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” – Michael Jordan

Motivational Stop Doubting Yourself Quotes

1. “If doubt is challenging you and you do not act, doubts will grow. Challenge the doubts with action and you will grow. Doubt and action are incompatible.” – John Kanary

2. “Belief in oneself is incredibly infectious. It generates momentum, the collective force of which far outweighs any kernel of self-doubt that may creep in.” – Aimee Mullins

3. “Doubt is a killer. You just have to know who you are and what you stand for.” – Jennifer Lopez

4. “A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory.” – Arthur Golden

5. “Self-doubt inflicts the deepest wounds.” – Marty Rubin

6. “For so many years I lived in constant terror of myself. Doubt had married my fear and moved into my mind, where it built castles and ruled kingdoms and reigned over me, bowing my will to its whispers until I was little more than an acquiescing peon, too terrified to disobey, too terrified to disagree. I had been shackled, a prisoner in my own mind. But finally, finally, I have learned to break free.” – Tahereh Mafi

7. “Self-doubt imprisons those that never overcome it.” – Obiora Embry

8. “A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making the first effort.” – Sydney Smith

9. “The difference in winning and losing is most often… not quitting.” – Walt Disney

10. “A person’s greatest limitations are not genetic, but imposed by self-doubt, insecurities, indecision, and timidity.” – Kilroy J. Oldster

11. “One percent doubt is zero percent faith.” – Oprah Winfrey

12. “You think you are a loser just because you haven’t yet won. When you start winning, you will realize that your insinuations were just a figment of your imagination.” – Michael Bassey Johnson

13. “It is amazing how your life changes when you embrace the reality that you’re better than the life you’ve settled for.” – Steve Maraboli

14. “The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.” – Robert Hughes

15. “A little self-doubt will do no harm and may do a great deal of good: we will be more open to learn and correct our mistakes. But too much will shackle and stifle us with deep insecurities and make us so much aware of methods that we may overlook truth itself.” – D.A. Carson

16. “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.” – Suzy Kassem

17. “Through training your mind to pay more attention to nourishing thoughts and beliefs than ‘junk’ ones, you can start rewiring your brain. You can strengthen the neural networks of any positive trait you want to cultivate – such as more confidence or courage – while weakening the neural networks of self-doubt and fear.” – Simona Ondrejkova

18. “Believe in your infinite potential. Your only limitations are those you set upon yourself. Believe in yourself, your abilities, and your own potential. Never let self-doubt hold you captive. You are worthy of all that you dream of and hope for.” – Roy T. Bennett

19. “As soon as you begin to love yourself, the war within will end.” – Laura Chouette

20. “It doesn’t matter if I’m off the beat. It doesn’t matter if I’m snapping to the rhythm. It doesn’t matter if I look like a complete goon when I dance. It is my dance. It is my moment. It is mine. And dance I will. Try and stop me. You’ll probably get kicked in the face.” – Dan Pearce

Overcoming Self-Doubt Quotes

1. “The relationship between commitment and doubt is by no means an antagonistic one. Commitment is healthiest when it is not without doubt, but in spite of doubt.” – Rollo May

2. “I’ve learned that the mastery of self-doubt is the key to success.” – Will Smith

3. “The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t, life controls you.” – Tony Robbins

4. “I have days of self-doubt, but I think the kindest thing I can do to myself is accept where my body is at.” – Geri Halliwell

5. “Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.” – Frederick Buechner

6. “A hero is someone who, in spite of weakness, doubt or not always knowing the answers, goes ahead and overcomes anyway.” – Christopher Reeve

7. “It’s very difficult to judge yourself. Extreme self-doubt is only attractive when it’s fictionalized. Which is why people love the movies. They are so reassuring.” – Claire Danes

8. “Progress is born of doubt and inquiry.” – Robert G. Ingersoll

9. “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” – Frank Herbert

10. “Let all your moments of self-doubt, fear or disappointment fuel your drive to be great. Because it will be in those moments of fear that we have to realize we must redefine success and what it means to us.” – Jason McCourty

11. “Doubt is a question mark; faith is an exclamation point. The most compelling, believable, realistic stories have included them both.” – Criss Jami

12. “What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” – Vincent Van Gogh

13. “I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.” – Louisa May Alcott

14. “Successful people have fear, successful people have doubts, and successful people have worries. They just don’t let these feelings stop them.” – T. Harv Eker

15. “Doubt is useful, it keeps faith a living thing. After all, you cannot know the strength of your faith until it has been tested.” – David Magee

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