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Find out what self care is and why it’s so important. Read 100+ self care quotes that inspire you in all 8 areas of the self care wheel. Plus, you’ll get ideas and tips for self care along the way.
Whatever inspiration you need today, you can find it here.
I need to start with a brief explanation of what self care really is and the self care wheel. If these don’t interest you, you’re welcome to skip it by clicking to the area you need in the table of contents below.
What is self care?
Self care isn’t a quick task to tick off your to-do list. Get it right and life will be an adventure. Get it wrong and you’ll be burning the candle at both ends, frazzled and demotivated.
Self care is a daily practice. It’s about asking yourself what you need every day, then giving it to yourself. At first this might seem strange and unclear. You won’t understand what your body and heart are trying to tell you.
Here’s a quote that sums it up:
How do you define ‘taking care of yourself’? Create a new self-care practice today. Observe your comfort level when it comes to being good to yourself. Discomfort is a wise teacher. – Circles of Belief: The World’s Spiritual Traditions and Beyond by Caroline Myss and Peter Occhiogrosso
This will get easier with time and patience. The quotes on this page will provide a better understanding of all the areas you could work on in your self care routine based on the self care wheel.
I suggest picking one area, then lovingly working on that part of your life until you feel comfortable and ready to move on to the next.
So, what are the 8 areas of the self care wheel to thrive?
The self care wheel explained
Laurie Buchanan gives us the following definition for self care:
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. – Note to Self: A Seven-Step Path to Gratitude and Growth by Laurie Buchanan, PhD
The self care wheel is the battery that is maintained and recharged. It separates elements of your life into important areas that need time and attention. If one is neglected or out of balance, the wheel will not roll well.
Here are the 8 areas of the self care wheel:
- The body
- The mind
- Emotional well-being
- Spirituality / Faith
- Home / Safe space
- Financial Well-being
- A Strong Personal / Social Foundation
- Being Happy in the Workplace
The self care quotes on this page are broken down into each area of this self care wheel. There are also some funny self care quotes at the end, to make you laugh.
Enjoy them!
Get the resources mentioned in this post
-> Get 10% off your first order at The Detox Market for all natural beauty products, from your hair to your toes, and some divine detox teas. Free shipping in the US.
-> Guided meditations in emotional intelligence – MP3 or CD available (along with many other great meditations for self care & personal development).
Inspirational self care quotes for a good life
- The most powerful relationship you will ever have is the relationship with yourself. – Steve Maraboli
2. How do you define ‘taking care of yourself’? Create a new self-care practice today. Observe your comfort level when it comes to being good to yourself. Discomfort is a wise teacher. – Caroline Myss and Peter Occhiogrosso
3. Self care is how you take your power back. – Lalah Delia
4. Self care is taking all the pressures you are facing right now, and deciding to which you will respond, and how. ― Imani Shola
5. When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn’t healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits – anything that kept me small. My judgment called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving. – Kim McMilllen
6. We need to replace your vicious stress cycle with a vicious cycle of self-care. – Sara Gottfried
7. Accept yourself. Love yourself as you are. Your finest work, your best movements, your joy, peace and healing come when you love yourself. You give a great gift to the world when you do that. You give others permission to do the same: to love themselves. Revel in self-love. Roll in it. Bask in it as you would sunshine. – Melody Beattie
8. 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
9. Put yourself at the top of your to-do list every single day, and the rest will fall into place. – Unknown
Self care quotes about taking care of your body
Your body is your temple and one of the self care cogs in the self care wheel. One of my favorite sayings about health is that being healthy is not just about not being ill, it’s about thriving and feeling great physically. That’s why I’ve included self care quotes to inspire you to take care of your precious body and health.
I believe that self care for your body includes movement, healthy eating, deep sleep, relaxation, and using beauty products that are good for you. What you put on your skin (your body’s largest organ), gets drawn into your body and bloodstream.
As I get older, I’m moving away from cheap beauty products that are full of chemicals and using natural products that are good for me, for animals (noooo testing) and for the environment. A great resource for such natural beauty products (from your hair to your toes), is The Detox Market. (Click this link to get 10% off your first order and free shipping in the US.)
10. Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live. – Jim Rohn
11. Everybody is different, and every body is different. – Beverly Diehl
12. Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes … even you. – Anne Lamott
13. When the body forces you to STOP, it’s saying, ‘Hey buddy, you’ve gone too far’. ― Jacqueline Escolme
14. Do something every day that is loving toward your body and gives you the opportunity to enjoy the sensations of your body. – Golda Poretsky
15. Only bacteria thrive and live in a poorly cared for body. – Nina Leavins
16. If all else fails, take a nap. – Unknown
17. Carve out and claim the time to care for yourself and kindle your own fire. – Amy Ippoliti
18. Your breathing is your greatest friend. Return to it in all your troubles and you’ll find comfort and guidance. – Unknown
19. Maybe if we love ourselves healthy we will all heal. – Nikki Rowe
20. The only bad workout is the one that didn’t happen. – Unknown
21. 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
22. 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 Brow
23. You can’t buy happiness. But you can buy yoga classes and that’s kind of the same thing. – Unknown
24. Beauty is how you feel inside and it reflects in your eyes. It’s not something physical. – Sophia Loren
25. Learning to love yourself is like learning to walk: essential, life-changing, and the only way to stand tall. – Vironika Tugaleva
Self care quotes about taking care of your mind
26. 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
27. Your subconscious mind is paying attention to how you treat yourself. ― Sam Owen
28. Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer. – William S Burroughs
29. My brain and my heart are really important to me, I don’t know why I wouldn’t seek help to have those things be as healthy as my teeth. I go to the dentist, so why wouldn’t I go to a shrink? – Kerry Washington
30. 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
31. The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself. – Maya Angelou
32. 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
33. Starting today, forget what’s gone, appreciate what remains, and look forward to what’s coming next. – Unknown
34. Don’t look back – you’re not going that way. – Unknown
35. Fear isn’t real. It’s a product of the thoughts you create. Don’t misunderstand me: Danger is very real, but fear is a choice. – Will Smith
Self care quotes about taking care of your emotions
Your emotions play an important role in how you feel every day and how you interact with others.
Emotional intelligence has five key characteristics:
- Being self-aware of what you are feeling
- Being able to regulate or keep your emotions under control
- Having empathy for other living beings
- Being motivated to achieve your goals in life and
- Having social skills to interact well with others.
Emotional intelligence is a skill that can be learnt through good resources, such as these guided meditations, and practice. There is always an opportunity to grow your emotional intelligence to become happier and more at peace in your relationships and within yourself.
Emotional intelligence is an integral part of self care. If you are struggling emotionally or you are in introvert, it’s best to start with private and easy guided meditations, then to take what you learn and apply it in safe social situations (with your friends and family members who know and understand you).
Keep working on it until you feel more confident and it becomes easier for you, then start practicing what you have learnt with others that you work with or someone who is not good for you.
Below are some powerful self care quotes to inspire you on your emotional intelligence journey…
36. 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
37. Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. – Gandhi
38. Self care is never selfish, but it may feel that way when you live a frenzied life. – Arthur P Ciaramicoli
39. Talk to yourself as you would to someone you love. – Brené Brown
40. Self care is giving the world the best of you instead of what’s left of you. – Katie Reed
41. I gave myself care when it wanted destruction and that is when my healing began. – Juansen Dizon
42. Never feel guilty for doing what’s best for you. – Tiara Tribe
43. If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete. – Jack Kornfield
44. Be you, love you. All ways, always. ― Alexandra Elle
45. Being extremely honest with oneself is a good exercise. – Freud
Self care quotes about taking care of your spirituality and faith
46. If you feel burnout setting in, and If you feel demoralized and exhausted, it’s best for the sake of everyone to withdraw and restore yourself. The point is to have a long-term perspective. – Dalai Lama
47. Find what makes your heart sing and create your own music. – Mac Anderson
48. Our soul is like a soft and gentle flower. It needs to be nurtured, cared for and tended to with sufficient sunlight, fresh air and freedom to bloom into its most precious and beautiful form. This, my friend, is self-love. – Miya Yamanouchi
49. Whatever is good for your soul: do that. – Unknown
50. It’s never too late to be what you might have been. – Jane Travis
51. To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. – Oscar Wilde
52. The thing that is really hard and really amazing is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself. – Anna Quindlen
53. When you are compassionate with yourself, you trust in your soul, which you let guide your life. Your soul knows the geography of your destiny better than you do. – John O’Donohue
54. Don’t sacrifice yourself too much because if you sacrifice too much there’s nothing else you can give, and nobody will care for you. – Karl Lagerfeld
55. Whatever you are, be a good one. – Unknown
56. I have come to believe that caring for myself is not self-indulgent. Caring for myself is an act of survival. – Audre Lorde
57. The only person who can pull me down is myself, and I’m not going to let myself pull me down – C Joybell C
Self care quotes about taking care of your home
58. Home is where your story begins. – Unknown
59. 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
60. Make a beautiful home for yourself. Make this the space where you feel safe, loved, and free to explore. – Tiara Tribe
61. Progress is when we forgive ourselves for taking so long to treat our bodies like a home. – Yung Pueblo
62. It’s the thoughtful little details that make it feel like home. – Tiara Tribe
63. I always give myself Sundays as a spiritual base of renewal – a day when I do absolutely nothing. I sit in my jammies or take a walk, and I allow myself time to BE – capital B-E – with myself. – Oprah Winfrey
Self care quotes about taking care of your finances
64. Never spend your money before you’ve earned it. – Thomas Jefferson
65. Don’t think money does everything or you’re going to end up doing everything for money. – Voltaire
66. Don’t tell me what your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I’ll tell you what they are. – James W Frick
67. An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. – Benjamin Franklin
68. My mother always says people should be able to take care of themselves, even if they’re rich and important. – Frances Hodgson Burnett
69. You are the only person who can truly change your life. – Dave Ramsey
70. Self-discipline is self-caring. – M Scott Peck
71. Don’t save what’s left after spending but spend what’s left after saving. – Warren Buffet
72. A lot of people go into debt just to keep up with those who are already in debt. – Unknown
73. When the well is dry we know the value of water. – Benjamin Franklin
74. Somewhere along the way we’ve gotten the message that the more we struggle and the more we suffer, the more valuable we will become and the more successful we’ll eventually be. And so we overwork ourselves, overschedule ourselves, and become “busier than thou” because we think there’s some sort of prize on the other side of the pain we cause ourselves. And you know what? There’s no prize. All you get from suffering is more suffering. – Kate Northrup
75. As you take your eyes off the false prize (of more, better, and different stuff), you put them on the real prizes: friends, family, sharing, caring, learning, meeting challenges, intimacy, rest, and being present, connected, and respected. In other words, those best things in life that are free. Like all things natural, building this wealth takes time, attention, patience, and reciprocity (that volleying of giving and receiving that builds relationships). – Vicki Robin
Self care quotes about taking care of your social world
76. Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape. – Bell Hooks
77. I love you but I got to love me more. – Peggi Speers
78. People who love themselves come across as very loving, generous, and kind; they express their self-confidence through humility, forgiveness, and inclusiveness. – Sanaya Roman
79. Every one of us needs to show how much we care for each other and, in the process, care for ourselves. – Princess Diana
80. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others. – Maya Angelou
81. The people who think they’re crazy enough to change the world are the ones that do. – Steve Jobs
82. The love and attention you always thought you wanted from someone else is the love and attention you first need to give to yourself. – Bryant McGill
83. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou
84. Any time 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 J Palmer
85 Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. – Leo Tolstoy
86. If you judge people, you’ll have no time to love them. – Mother Theresa
87. Compassion is essential, but it’s not a substitute for self-expression, or self-respect, or self-compassion. Emotional self-care is also essential, but gently soothing our wounds does not replace communicating about them. – Vironika Tugaleva
Self care quotes about taking care of your work
88. Invent your world. Surround yourself with people, color, sounds, and work that nourish you. – Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy
89. People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day. – AA Milne
90. Put yourself at the top of your to-do list every day and the rest will fall into place. – Unknown
91. Successful people aren’t afraid to say ‘No’. – Unknown
92. If you’re not in the arena also getting your butt kicked, I’m not interested in your feedback. – Brené Brown
93. Do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do. – Oprah Winfrey
94. Clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not. – Cal Newport
95. It’s surprisingly simple to establish respect, yet in our rush to achieve, we end up alienating others – often unintentionally. – Melanie Katzman
96. I learned that if you work hard and creatively, you can have just about anything you want, but not everything you want. Maturity is the ability to reject good alternatives in order to pursue even better ones. – Ray Dalio
97. Work expands to whatever time you give it. – Mel Robbins
Funny self care quotes
98. Some things are just better not spread too thin: yourself and peanut butter. – Unknown
99. Cancelling plans is okay. Staying home to cook is okay. Disappearing for a bit to get your life together is okay. Resurfacing 10 years later in a foreign country with a new name is okay. We call it ‘self care’. – Unknown
100. Life is harder. It’s even harder if you’re stupid. – John Wayne
101. Be bold or italic, but never regular. – Unknown
102. Some days I amaze myself. Other days I put my car keys in the fridge. – Unknown
103. When something goes wrong in your life, yell ‘Plot twist!’ and move on. – Unknown
104. If at first you don’t succeed then skydiving isn’t for you. – Unknown
105. If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito flying around. – Unknown
106. There are no traffic jams in the extra mile. – Unknown
107. History will be kind to you if you write your own. – Unknown
108. Money won’t make you happy but everyone wants to find that out for themselves. – Unknown
109. You never know what you have until you clean your room. – Unknown
FAQs about self care quotes
Why is self care important?
Self care is very important to live a life that is fulfilling and that makes you happy. Self care isn’t selfish. In fact, it’s the opposite. When you make an effort to make time for yourself and be happy, you will find you have more time and energy for helping others and contributing to the world in ways that heave meaning for you. It also helps you set boundaries in unhealthy relationships.
What does self care mean?
Self care means taking care of yourself, body, mind and soul. It’s about building balance into your life, so you thrive in all 8 areas of the self care wheel. Take time out to get to know yourself and live a life that truly makes you happy.
Conclusion & next reads
Self care is important to thrive in every area of your life. Start with one area, perhaps one that you are really struggling with right now, and take steps to build your confidence and peace in that area. Then move on to another area of the self care wheel.
Here’s a list of over 70 self care activities you can start trying today.
If you’re feeling burnt out, read all about the symptoms, prevention and recovery from burnout here.
If you’re looking for a healthier body, then check out every girl’s guide to free radicals and antioxidants (with a free grocery list).
And if you just want to sip on a yummy hot drink while you work on your self care, then stock up on these divine detox teas (get free shipping with the coupon code: SHIPIT) or Hawaiian coffee that Forbes called the best coffee in America.
Here’s why that coffee is so good for you ->> 14 health benefits of drinking coffee
