The Best Positive Quotes About Self-Care

The word “care” comes from the Old English cearu, meaning “sorrow, anxiety, grief,” also “burdens of mind; serious mental attention.” 

The meaning of “charge, oversight, attention or heed with a view to safety or protection” is from c. 1400. The meaning “object or matter of concern”, as well as the meaning of “take in hand, do,” or take care “be careful” are from the1580s.

Care is found in the dictionary as “the process of protecting someone or something and providing what that person or thing needs,” “to feel interest or concern,” “to be concerned about,” “attention accompanied by protectiveness and responsibility,” and “close attentiveness to avoiding danger.”

Synonyms for care include closeness, conscientiousness, lovingness, caution, prudence, charge (control), guidance, keeping, and protection.

Some of the words related to care are focus, attention, mindfulness, alertness, responsibility, effort, concern, considerateness, kindness, thoughtfulness, pampering, attentiveness, vigilance, foresight, and deliberateness.

Negligence and carelessness are antonyms for care.

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Although self-care has been marketed as pampering (such as getting facials, mani-pedis, or a massage), self-care is the care of self in a holistic way.

Self-care is not a luxury, but a practice to make time to relax, rest, and restore your body, mind, and spirit. This can be through sleep, relaxation, or any activity that nurtures your energy and reverses any neglect you’ve allowed.

As moms, we often spend all our time, energy, and strength caring for others and self-nurturing is at the bottom of the list.

Self-care is a mindset that prevents us from pushing ourselves to the point of exhaustion and burn out, and allows us to put the habits, rituals, and boundaries in place that can help us protect ourselves and give ourselves the attention we deserve. 

Self-care includes self-compassion: not judging yourself or taking it personal when others judge you, not blaming yourself for what is out of your control, making efforts to discover the real you and accepting yourself, forgiving yourself, loving yourself, respecting yourself, honoring yourself, and protecting yourself.

Positive Quotes About Self-Care

“The Best Health Care Plan Is A Self Care Plan” ~ Nina Leavins

“Setting boundaries is a way of caring for myself. It doesn’t make me mean, selfish, or uncaring because I don’t do things your way. I care about me too.” ~ Christine Morgan

“It is not how much you do, but how much love you put in the doing.” ~ Mother Teresa

“The best kind of self-care involves a gratitude practice, a pursuit of self-awareness, and a journey of constant self-forgiveness.” ~ Elayna Fernandez

“Taking care of yourself isn’t about trying to become perfect. It’s about realizing and honoring, in every moment, that you already are.” ~ Vironika Tugaleva

“After enlightenment, the laundry.”~ Buddha

“Self-care is the delicate balance between selfishness and self-sacrifice.” ~ Elayna Fernández

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“In dealing with those who are undergoing great suffering, if you feel ‘burnout’ setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself. The point is to have a long-term perspective.”~ Dalai Lama

“It is not the load that breaks you down. It’s the way you carry it.” ~ Lena Horne

“Much of your strength as a woman can come from the resolve to replenish and fill your own well and essence first, before taking care of others.” ~ Miranda J. Barrett

“The world will not fall apart without you” ~ Malebo Sephodi

“Rest and self-care are so important. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve others from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty vessel.” ~ Eleanor Brown

“Self-care is how you take your power back.” ~  Lalah Delia

“When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.” ~ Jean Shinoda Bolen

“Put yourself at the top of your to-do list every single day, and the rest will fall into place.”  ~  Elayna Fernández

“When you take care of yourself, you’re a better person for others. When you feel good about yourself, you treat others better.”  ~  Solange Knowles

“Every time you make a commitment to your own self-care, self-love and self-respect and then follow through, you build trust in yourself.” ~ Miranda J. Barrett

“Nourishing yourself in a way that helps you blossom in the direction you want to go is attainable, and you are worth the effort.”  ~  Deborah Day

“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.”  ~  Jim Rohn

“Self-care is so much more than a beauty regimen or an external thing you do. It has to start within your heart to know what you need to navigate your life. A pedicure doesn’t last, but meditating every day does.”~  Carrie-Anne Moss

“It’s not selfish to love yourself, take care of yourself, and to make happiness a priority. It’s necessary.” ~  Mandy Hale

“Caring for your body, mind, and spirit is your greatest and grandest responsibility. It’s about listening to the needs of your soul and then honoring them.”  ~  Kristi Ling

“I have come to believe that caring for myself is not self-indulgent. Caring for myself is an act of survival.” — Andre Lorde

“There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.”  ~  Aldous Huxley

“Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious. You get to choose how you use it. You teach people how to treat you by deciding what you will and won’t accept.”  ~  Anna Taylor

“By taking care of myself I have so much more to offer the world than I do when I am running on empty.”  ~  Ali Washington

“With every act of self-care your authentic self gets stronger, and the critical, fearful mind gets weaker. Every act of self-care is a powerful declaration: I am on my side, I am on my side, each day I am more and more on my own side.”  ~  Susan Weiss Berry

“Self-care should include the cold shower as well as the scented tub.”  ~  Mary Catherine Bateson

“There is enough time for self-care. There is not enough time to make up for the life you’ll miss by not filling yourself up.”  ~  Jennifer Williamson

“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours — it is an amazing journey — and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.”  ~  Bob Moawad

“Those who have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.”  ~  Edward Stanley

“I also learned what I and many other wives were doing wrong. We were neglecting ourselves. We were born women yet were taking care of our roles as mom, employee or wife before we took care of ourselves. But in order to adequately fulfill those roles, we have to put ourselves first.” ― Elona Washington

“There are days I drop words of comfort on myself like falling leaves and remember that it is enough to be taken care of by myself.”  ~   Brian Andreas

“Carve out and claim the time to care for yourself and kindle your own fire.”  ~  Amy Ippoliti

“Self-care is not a waste of time; self-care makes your use of time more sustainable.”  ~  Jackie Viramontez

“Be committed to the relationship you have with yourself. We get so committed to other relationships, but often sort of toss ourselves away. We get around to ourselves only now and then. So, really care for who you are. Be committed to loving yourself. Take care of your heart and soul.”  ~  Louise Hay

“There are days I drop words of comfort on myself like falling leaves and remember that it is enough to be taken care of by myself.”  ~   Brian Andreas

“It’s very important to take care of yourself. Everyone’s lives are so busy. Take at least an hour a day to recharge and do whatever makes you better.”   ~  Ana Ivanovic

“Women in particular need to keep an eye on their physical and mental health, because if we’re scurrying to and from appointments and errands, we don’t have a lot of time to take care of ourselves. We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list.”  ~  Michelle Obama

“When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.”  ~  Benjamin Franklin

“Dedicating some time to meditation is a meaningful expression of caring for yourself that can help you move through the mire of feeling unworthy of recovery. As your mind grows quieter and more spacious, you can begin to see self-defeating thought patterns for what they are, and open up to other, more positive options.”  ~  Sharon Salzberg

“When you say ‘yes’ to others make sure you are not saying ‘no’ to yourself.”  ~  Paulo Coelho

“It’s okay to take time for yourself. We give so much of ourselves to others, and we need to be fueled both physically and mentally. If we are in balance, it helps us in all our interactions.”  ~   Faith Hill

“When you feed yourself what your body needs when it needs it, that’s love. So, give your body some TLC.”  ~  Kathy Freston

“I do not want to suppress the parts of me that most want to soar for fear of what someone else may think or because it may be too much or not worthy enough or not complete or brilliant or normal enough. Self-care also means honoring the truth within us. Set yours free.”   ~  Ashley Asti

“Our bodies are our garden to which our wills are gardeners.”  ~  William Shakespeare

“A healthy self-love means we have no compulsion to justify to ourselves or others why we take vacations, why we sleep late, why we buy new shoes, why we spoil ourselves from time to time. We feel comfortable doing things which add quality and beauty to life.”  ~  Andrew Matthews

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”  ~  Anne Lamott

“Instead of indulging in ‘comfort food,’ indulge in comfort meditation, comfort journaling, comfort walking, comfort talking, comfort manicures, comfort reading, comfort yoga, comfort hugging.”   ~  Karen Salmansohn

“When we self-regulate well, we are better able to control the trajectory of our emotional lives and resulting actions based on our values and sense of purpose.”  ~  Amy Leigh Mercree

“How we care for ourselves gives our brain messages that shape our self-worth so we must care for ourselves in every way, every day.”  ~   Sam Owen

“I believe that fitness needs to come from within you. You need to respect your body. Only then will you have the zeal to maintain it.”  ~  Arjun Rampal

“Each positive thought, every vibrant attitude, all purposeful activities water the seeds for success along your path. You will encounter many seeds for success today. Pay attention to these and feed them appropriately. Then maintain their beautiful growth through conscious self-care.”  ~   Rebecca Gordon

“Rest when you are weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work.”  ~  Ralph Marston

“Be kind to your body, gentle with your mind and patient with your heart. Stay true to your spirit, cherish your soul and never doubt yourself. You are still becoming, my love, and there is no one more deserving of the nurturing grace of your love.”  ~  Becca Lee

“To me, self-care isn’t really shallow. Showing up for yourself, putting on a little moisturizer, can inspire so many different parts of your life.”  ~  Jonathan Van Ness

“Have patience with all things. But, first of all with yourself.” ~  St. Francis de Sales 

“Tell me, when do you become a respectable person in society? When you start respecting yourself. That is when you take care of yourself, that is when you comb your hair, groom yourself, and cleanse your body. You do all this because you respect yourself.”  ~  Kamal Haasan

“Self-care is taking all the pressures you are facing right now, and deciding to which you will respond, and how.”  ~  Imani Shola

“It’s up to you to protect and maintain your body’s innate capacity for health and healing by making the right choices in how you live.”  ~   Andrew Weil

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”  ~  Howard Thurman

“Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.”  ~  Eleanor Roosevelt

“It is only when we feel deprived that we resent giving to others. Self-care does not mean you stop caring about others; it just means you start caring more about you. Start thinking about yourself more and others less. Since you have a choice between taking care of someone else, or giving to yourself, try choosing yourself sometimes.”  ~  Beverly Engel

“Harmony begins within. If we are to influence the world around us, even in minor ways, the real work begins inside and emanates outwards.”  ~  Gudjon Bergmann

“In my own deepening understanding of myself I find my capacity to serve others is deepened as well. The better I am at self-care the more genuinely nurturing of others I am able to be.” ~ Mary Anne Radmacher

“Only bacteria thrive and live well in a poorly cared for body.”  ~  Nina Leavins

“Self-care is the number one solution to helping somebody else. If you are being good to yourself and your body and your psyche, that serves other people better, because you will grow strong enough to lift someone else up.” ~ Mary Lambert

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” ~ Audre Lorde

“Self-care is a deliberate choice to gift yourself with people, places, things, events, and opportunities that recharge our personal battery and promote whole health — body, mind, and spirit.” ~  Laurie Buchanan, PhD

“Self-care has become a new priority – the revelation that it’s perfectly permissible to listen to your body and do what it needs.” ~ Frances Ryan

“Nourishing yourself in a way that helps you blossom in the direction you want to go is attainable, and you are worth the effort.” ~  Deborah Day

“Self-care is never a selfish act – it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer others. Anytime we can listen to true self and give the care it requires, we do it not only for ourselves, but for the many others whose lives we touch.” 
~ Parker Palmer

“Self-sabotage is not a strategy. Sometimes all you need to do is protect yourself from your own self.”  ~  Efrat Cybulkiewicz

“How necessary Sundays have become. I reach for them like sleeping lovers on the other side of my earth or my mattress.”  ~  Darnell Lamont Walker

“When the body forces you to STOP it’s saying, hey buddy, you’ve gone too far.”   ~  Jacqueline Escolme

“A fine glass vase goes from treasure to trash, the moment it is broken. Fortunately, something else happens to you and me. Pick up your pieces. Then, help me gather mine.”  ~  Vera Nazarian

“Selfishness at the expense of others is bad. Self-care for the betterment of others is good.”  ~  Richie Norton

“Stand up for who you are. Respect your Self and ignite the divine sparks in you. Access your powers. Choose your rights and work together with others to bring blessings into the lives.”  ~  Amit Ray

“People who want the most approval get the least and the people who need approval the least get the most.”  ~   Wayne Dyer

“You keep tabs on the victories of others but failed to notice that you just crossed yet another milestone. How do you hold up the light for others but turn it out when it gets to you.”   ~  Chinonye J. Chidolue

“Do what you can, but also know your limits. Don’t forget to take care of you too.”  ~  Akiroq Brost

“As important as it is to have a plan for doing work, it is perhaps more important to have a plan for rest, relaxation, self-care, and sleep.”  ~  Akiroq Brost

“When you can’t find your purpose in a day, make it to look after yourself.”  ~  Dodie Clark

“Many of us follow the commandment ‘Love One Another.’ When it relates to caregiving, we must love one another with boundaries. We must acknowledge that we are included in the ‘Love One Another.”  ~  Peggi Speers

Self-care is everything we do to ensure our own well-being, so we can be and do what we want to be and do for others and serve them from choice and from a state of abundance, rather than from obligation and a state of depletion.

What is your favorite positive quote about self-care? Tell us which of these positive quotes can help you remember self-care. Share in the comments below which self-care quotes resonated with you most!

Elayna is a single mom of 4, award-winning Storyteller, Story Strategist, and Student of Pain. She’s a bestselling author, internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, and 4x TEDx speaker. Founder of the Positive MOM® and creator of the S.T.O.R.Y. System: a blueprint to craft and share powerful stories that will transform your results, so you can have the wealth, opportunities, and freedom you deserve. Connect with Elayna Fernández at thepositivemom.com/keynote-speaker and follow @thepositivemom. To receive a gift from Elayna, click HERE.

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