Quotes by Nathaniel Branden

About Nathaniel Branden:

Nathaniel Branden was a Canadian–American psychotherapist and writer known for his work in the psychology of self-esteem. A former associate and romantic partner of Ayn Rand, Branden also played a prominent role in the 1960s in promoting Rand's philosophy, Objectivism. Rand and Branden split acrimoniously in 1968, after which Branden focused on developing his own psychological theories and modes of therapy.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Self esteem is the reputation we acquire with ourselves.

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

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

It is naive to think that self-assertiveness is easy. To live self-assertively--which means to live authentically--is an act of high courage. That is why so many people spend the better part of their lives in hiding--from others and also from themsel...

Nathaniel Branden

A bully hides his fears with fake bravado. That is the opposite of self-assertiveness.

Nathaniel Branden

Genuine self esteem – please understand this – genuine self esteem is not competitive or comparative. Genuine self esteem isn’t expressed by self-glorification at the expense of others, or by trying to make yourself superior to everyone else, o...

Nathaniel Branden

Self-discipline is the ability to organize your behavior over time in the service of specific goals.

Nathaniel Branden

It is not only negative feelings that become blocked. The repression extends to more and more of his emotional capacity.When one is given an anesthetic in preparation for surgery, it is not merely the capacity to experience pain that is suspended; th...

Nathaniel Branden

The challenge for people today--and it is not and easy one--is to maintain high personal standards even while feeling that one is living in a moral sewer.

Nathaniel Branden

The idea of original sin--of guilt with no possibility of innocence, no freedom of choice, no alternatives--inherently militates against self-esteem. The very notion of guilt without volition or responsibility is an assault on reason as well as on mo...

Nathaniel Branden

Suffering is just about the easiest of all human activities; being happy is just about the hardest. And happiness requires, not surrender to guilt, but emancipation from guilt.

Nathaniel Branden

All positive interactions with other human beings involve, to some degree, the experience of visibility-- that is, the experience of being seen and understood.

Nathaniel Branden

It is painful to face the self we know we have never had the integrity to honor and assert.

Nathaniel Branden

We are parts of one universe, true enough. We stand within an almost infinite network of relationships. Yet each of us is a single point of consciousness, a unique event, a private, unrepeatable world. This is the essence of our aloneness.

Nathaniel Branden

Integrity is congruence between what you know, what you profess, and what you do.

Nathaniel Branden

It is humiliating to realize that when you drive yourself underground, when you fake who you are, often you do so for people you do not even like or respect.

Nathaniel Branden

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

Nathaniel Branden

Self-esteem is not a luxury; it is a profound spiritual need.

Nathaniel Branden

One of the great self-deceptions--and one of the great foolishnesses--is to tell yourself, Only I will know. Only you will know that you are a liar; only you will know you deal unethically with people who trust you; only you will know you have no int...

Nathaniel Branden

Most people do not erode their self-esteem over big issues but over small ones, little acts of betrayal and hypocrisy forgotten (repressed) very quickly. But the computer in your subconscious mind forgets nothing. It records your spiritual profit and...

Nathaniel Branden

Author Bio

  • NameNathaniel Branden
  • Descriptionpsychotherapist, writer
  • BornApril 9, 1930
  • DiedDecember 3, 2014
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionPsychologist; Psychotherapist; Author