Mary Oliver Quotes

I’m not perfect and I don’t have to be.

If you're not someone who has a natural and effortless love for yourself, it's hard to let go of your desire to please other people, and that's really not an ingredient for a happy life.

I must let go of my need for the world to love me.

Maybe I don't take myself so seriously any more. And I don't care how I'm judged. I'm past all that.

What I am is how I came out. No one's perfect and you just have to accept your flaws and learn to love yourself.

I gave up my struggle with perfection a long time ago. That is a concept I don't find very interesting anymore. Everyone just wants to look good in the photographs. I think that is where some of the pressure comes from. Be happy. Be yourself, the day is about a lot more.

You are who you are, and you should love that person.

I'm starting to shake it off, I am quite self-conscious, and it's only when I'm playing roles that I can escape that. The older I get, the more people tell me it's absolutely fine to be the way you are with all your quirks and nuances, and I wish I'd learnt that younger - I would have relaxed a bit more.

Love myself I do. Not everything, but I love the good as well as the bad. I love my crazy lifestyle, and I love my hard discipline. I love my freedom of speech and the way my eyes get dark when I'm tired. I love that I have learned to trust people with my heart, even if it will get broken. I am proud of everything that I am and will become.

That's really truly what my message is - finding self love within yourself and not comparing yourself to others - because there's no such thing as perfection, because perfection doesn't exist.

'Naked' embodies what everyone, at the end of the day, really wants and how they should feel.

I'm alright with being disliked rather than trying to be perfect, because you get to relax then.

Hate, hatred for yourself, for other people, will confine you, but love can set you free.

I am the excuse to explore your identity. To be exactly who you are and to feel unafraid. To not judge yourself, to not hate yourself.

When you acknowledge that there is nothing repulsive or unforgivable or shameful about yourself, it becomes easier to be that authentic person and feel like you're living a less performed life.

Once you forgive yourself, the self-rejection in your mind is over. Self-acceptance begins, and the self-love will grow so strong that you will finally accept yourself just the way you are. That's the beginning of the free human. Forgiveness is the key.

The greatest value comes from loving yourself for who you are. I've been teaching myself this for years, so I hope that by showing what I've learned, others can find the same freedom and joy I have.

I am what I wanted and I want what I am.

Operate from a place of love, be kind, and be yourself.

On this sacred path of Radical Acceptance, rather than striving for perfection, we discover how to love ourselves into wholeness.

I am tired of hiding and I am tired of lying by omission. I suffered for years because I was scared to be out. My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered and my relationships suffered. And I'm standing here today, with all of you, on the other side of that pain.

The most important thing is to be whatever you are without shame.

Love is letting go of fear.

One has just to be oneself. That's my basic message. The moment you accept yourself as you are, all burdens, all mountainous burdens, simply disappear. Then life is a sheer joy, a festival of lights.