50 Best Body Positivity Quotes
Body-positive quotes can help you love your body more, so start here!
Several factors play into good physical and mental health. Body image is one of them. The truth is, though, being happy with how your body looks can be a struggle, especially if you’re a woman. Want proof? While a recent survey found that 74 percent of men are dissatisfied with their bodies, that number rises to 83 percent for women.
The solution to this problem isn't an easy one, and for many of us, eight months spent at home feeling anxious hasn't exactly done wonders for any existing body image issues. While it's always a good idea to talk to a mental health expert if you're dealing with body image issues, there are other things you can do on a daily basis that can help. Body image experts often recommend pinning positive notes in key areas like your bathroom mirror so it’s the first thing you see in the morning—and body positive quotes can be a great place to start with these notes.
Long story short, positive body image quotes can serve as little reminders that can be an effective strategy for staying positive in the way you think about yourself. Need inspiration? Here are 50 body-positive quotes to get you started.
50 Body-Positive Quotes
1. “The most powerful thing anyone can say to us is what we say to ourselves.”— Christine D’Ercole
2. “You have been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” — Louise Hay
3. “To love yourself right now, just as you are, is to give yourself heaven. Don’t wait until you die. If you wait, you die now. If you love, you live now.” — Alan Cohen
4. “Since I don’t look like every other girl, it takes a while to be okay with that. To be different. But different is good.” — Serena Williams
5. “You can’t hate yourself happy. You can’t criticize yourself thin. You can’t shame yourself worthy. Real change begins with self-love and self-care.” — Jessica Ortner
6. "I definitely have body issues, but everybody does. When you come to the realization that everybody does—even the people that I consider flawless—then you can start to live with the way you are." — Taylor Swift
7. "Your words have so much power. Every day, if you tell yourself 'I love you,' if you give yourself one word of validation, it will change your mind." — Ashley Graham
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8. “Hating our bodies is something that we learn, and it sure as hell is something that we can unlearn.” — Megan Jayne Crabbe
9. “I don’t want to wait until I’m 73 to embrace my body. To look back and think of my beauty: How did I miss it? Let’s not wait another moment.” ― Ashley Asti
10. “I say I love myself, and they’re like, ‘oh my gosh’, she’s so brave. She’s so political. For what? All I said is ‘I love myself, bitch!'” — Lizzo
11. “Stop trying to fix your body. It was never broken.” — Eve Ensler
12. “Don’t waste so much time thinking about how much you weigh. There is no more mind-numbing, boring, idiotic, self-destructive diversion from the fun of living.” — Meryl Streep
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13. “Life is so much more beautiful and complex than a number on a scale.” — Tess Munster
14. “As a child, I never heard one woman say to me, ‘I love my body’. Not my mother, my elder sister, my best friend. No one woman has ever said, ‘I am so proud of my body.’ So I make sure to say it to my daughter because a positive physical outlook has to start at an early age.” — Kate Winslet
15. “In order to find real happiness, you must learn to love yourself for the totality of who you are and not just what you look like.” — Portia de Rossi
16. "You have to stand up and say, 'There's nothing wrong with me or my shape or who I am, you're the one with the problem!'" — Jennifer Lopez
17. “To love yourself as you are is a miracle, and to seek yourself is to have found yourself, for now. And now is all we have, and love is who we are.” — Anne Lamott
18. “People often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder.” — Salma Hayek
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19. “How I feel about myself is more important than how I look. Feeling confident, being comfortable in your skin—that’s what really makes you beautiful.” — Bobbi Brown
20. “Each individual woman’s body demands to be accepted on its own terms.” — Gloria Steinem
21. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say I was thin. I do, however, know better. The fact is, I’m not thin. But here’s my newfound reality: You don’t have to be thin to look great.” — Lisa Kogan
22. “Weight loss does not make people happy. Or peaceful. Being thin does not address the emptiness that has no shape or weight or name. Even a wildly successful diet is a colossal failure because inside the new body is the same sinking heart.” — Geneen Roth
23. “Everybody has a part of her body that she doesn’t like, but I’ve stopped complaining about mine because I don’t want to critique nature’s handiwork … My job is simply to allow the light to shine out of the masterpiece.” — Alfre Woodard
24. “I realize everybody wants what they don’t have. But at the end of the day, what you have inside is much more beautiful than what’s on the outside.” — Selena Gomez
25. “My weight? It is what it is. You could get hit by a bus tomorrow. It’s about being content. And sometimes other priorities win.” — Melissa McCarthy
26. “I think about my body as a tool to do the stuff I need to do, but not the be all and end all of my existence.” — Lena Dunham
27. “I don’t have perfect teeth. I’m not stick thin. I want to be the person who feels great in her body and can say that she loves it and doesn’t want to change anything.” — Emma Watson
28. "The fact of the matter is, I absolutely do try to conform to normal standards of beauty. I am just not remotely successful at it. [But] I never want to be part of the problem. I want to always be as body-positive as girls hope that I am." — Mindy Kaling
29. “I’d rather look a little chubby on camera and look like a person in real life than to look great on screen and look like a scarecrow in real life.” — Jennifer Lawrence
30. “I’ve made peace with the fact that the things that I thought were weaknesses or flaws were just me. I like them.” — Sandra Bullock
31. “I want to enjoy life, and I can’t if I’m not eating and miserable.” — Kate Upton
32. “If you focus on the inside, you’ll feel just as great about the outside. I feel attractive when I’m doing good and helping people.” — Keke Palmer
33. “Step away from the mean girls and say bye-bye to feeling bad about your looks. Are you ready to stop colluding with a culture that makes so many of us feel physically inadequate? Say goodbye to your inner critic, and take this pledge to be kinder to yourself and others.” — Oprah
34. “Who cares if there are lumps on my thighs? I’m guilty of having human legs made up of fat, muscle, and skin, and sometimes when you sit, they get bumpy!” — Kristen Bell
35. “Be happy in your own skin. If you are unhealthy, start by making small changes to become healthier. You are unique, beautiful, and worthy." — Octavia Spencer
36. “We hear the term body positivity all the time. To be honest, I don’t always feel positive about my body. Sometimes I do not like what I see. I don’t sit there and dwell on it. I also don’t lie to myself.” — Demi Lovato
37. “You define beauty yourself, society doesn’t define your beauty.” — Lady Gaga
38. "I certainly don't feel like I have the perfect body type ... It's through your own eyes. It's just important to have that confidence and self-esteem no matter what body type you have." — Alex Morgan
39. “You all can judge my body all you want, but at the end of the day it’s MY body. I love it and I’m comfortable in my own skin.” — Simone Biles
40. “I'm comfortable in my body and I don't mind putting it on display. Honestly, I like how unique it is. My big arms, my bigger hands, these long legs—I love being different. If everybody was the same, it'd be a boring-ass world.” — Brittney Griner
41. “Your body is your home, your vessel in life. It needs to be respected and loved.” — Iskra Lawrence
42. “And I said to my body softly, ‘I want to be your friend.’ It took a long breath and replied, ‘I have been waiting my whole life for this.’” — Nayyirah Waheed
43. “Being a healthy woman isn’t about getting on a scale or measuring your waistline. We need to start focusing on what matters — on how we feel, and how we feel about ourselves.” — Michelle Obama
44. “Don’t let your mind bully your body.” — June Tomaso Wood
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45. “I’m pretty comfortable with my body. I’m imperfect. The imperfections are there. People are going to see them, but I take the view you only live once.” — Kate Hudson
46. “So the question is, which boulder are you going to choose to roll? The ‘must lose weight’ boulder or the ‘you I will boldly, defiantly accept the body I've got and LIVE IN IT’ boulder?” — Kate Harding
47. “To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.” — Thich Nhat Hanh
48. “I’ve finally recognized my body for what it is: a personality-delivery system, designed expressly to carry my character from place to place, now and in the years to come.” — Anna Quindlen
49. “Girls of all kinds can be beautiful—from the thin, plus-sized, short, very tall, ebony to porcelain-skinned; the quirky, clumsy, shy, outgoing and all in between. It’s not easy though because many people still put beauty into a confining, narrow box…think outside of the box.” – Tyra Banks
50. “Work out because you love your body, not because you hate it.” – Torre Washington
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