People Pleaser Quotes

“You will never gain anyone's approval by begging for it. When you stand confident in your own worth, respect follows.”
― Mandy Hale, The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass

“Some people stand and move as if they have no right to the space they occupy. They wonder why others often fail to treat them with respect--not realizing that they have signalled others that it is not necessary to treat them with respect.”
― Nathaniel Branden, Six Pillars of Self-Esteem

“I had nothing to contribute. I played no part. I was on the edge.
Different.
Alone.
Everything around me, grey.
It was the same old feeling, back again.
I was in the middle of the group but I might as well have been a million miles away from these people.”
― Tim Relf, Stag

“I really can't stand it when people are angry at me. Like, I know it might be simple for others, but I can't focus on anything else. I can't just forget about it and go on with my own life. It's like there's something hard wedged inside my own chest. I'll always feel guilty. I'll always want to make amends.”
― Ann Liang, I Hope This Doesn't Find You

“One of the hardest lessons I've had to learn is that no matter how good a person you are, no matter how much you try to understand others, be empathetic, or reach out to help, some people just will not like you. Ever.”
― Vanessa Ooms, Do It For You: How to Stop People-Pleasing and Find Peace

“I had never before considered that people near me might have problems that were not caused by me. I had been created to please people. If the people around me weren't happy, I must be doing something wrong. Lynn helped me see that I lacked the power to make other people feel anything.”
― Joan Frances Casey, The Flock: The Autobiography of a Multiple Personality

“Nobody applauds nature, yet she still glows.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, Song of a Nature Lover

“And other times—too often, maybe—I don't dare have an opinion in case it upsets anyone.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, Mr. Fox

“Trying to please everyone is like trying to fly. Take it from me, worst experience ever.”
― Bhekisipho Nyathi

“Samantha has no needs or wants. She exists to serve someone else's.”
― Tess Sharpe, The Girls I've Been

“I'd tried so hard. Given my all to be the perfect Elsie he wanted and..." It almost hurts too much to say it.

"You gave him a perfect version of you, and he still didn't want you," Jack says prosaically. Almost detached. Like I'm a gravitational singularity that can be explained, cataloged, predicted. I'm momentarily stunned by how right he is. Then I'm surprised that I'm even surprised.

"And what you took away from it was that you had to try harder.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“As concepts like people-pleasing and self-care become more mainstream, complex ideas like boundaries are often diluted in ways that ultimately discourage us from building healthy relationships. We’re told that if someone doesn’t bring us “love and light at all times,” we should “cut them out.” We’re told that if someone disagrees with us, we should leave them behind to “protect our peace.” We’re told that if someone can’t meet every single one of our needs, we “deserve better.”

These one-dimensional platitudes ignore the reality that human relationships are complicated. They impede our healing by encouraging us to seek an unattainable standard, and they prevent us from looking inward to assess how we may be contributing to our own unhappiness or disempowerment.”
― Hailey Paige Magee, Stop People Pleasing: And Find Your Power

“This healing isn’t a one-time event; it is a process of rededicating ourselves to ourselves, over and over again. Every time we redirect our attention back to our feelings, our desires, and our dreams, we are healing. Every time we soothe ourselves through our guilt instead of reacting to it, we are healing. Every time we use our voice where we would have once stayed silent, we are healing.”
― Hailey Paige Magee, Stop People Pleasing: And Find Your Power

“I couldn't think of a reply except No, so I said, 'Sure.”
― Olivia Sudjic, Sympathy

“Vehicles need maintenance, not friendships.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, Night of a Thousand Thoughts

“Really, it wasn’t exhausting to be recognized. It was exhausting to feel alone in a crowd.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Sinner

“Why do I keep doing this? Why can't I stop this stupid pleasing everyone bullshit? I'm so fucking sick of myself.”
― Molly Roden Winter, More: A Memoir of Open Marriage

“The desire to please people is the desire to not be singular.”
― Rita Bullwinkel, Headshot