100 Self Doubt Quotes To Boost Your Confidence

There’s nothing worse than having a big dream but lacking the confidence to go after it. Self doubt can make you question your own abilities and hold you back from reaching your full potential. 

To help boost your confidence in yourself, I have put together this list of self doubt quotes to remind you of just how strong and capable you truly are!

The key to overcoming any challenge or reaching any big goal is overcoming your own self doubt first. So let’s dig into this list of 100 self doubt quotes so that you can start believing in yourself and unleashing your full potential!

Why Is It So Difficult to Overcome Self Doubt?

The main reason it is so difficult to overcome self doubt is because it is often hard to recognize.

Self doubt often sounds like your own familiar thoughts, so your instinct will be to trust it. We all have our own negative self talk voice inside our heads that sounds like us, but only focuses on what we can’t do. It can be hard to silence this inner critic when you aren’t able to recognize it.

After a while, these self doubts can turn into deep routed limiting beliefs. Many people hold these beliefs so strongly that they almost become a part of their identity. These beliefs shape perspectives, influence decisions, and hold people back from exploring their full potential.

Learning to overcome limiting beliefs requires a conscious effort to challenge and reshape them. And that’s where this list of self doubt quotes comes in!

How To Use These Self Doubt Quotes to Boost Your Confidence

It can be a challenge to boost confidence since self doubt often comes from deeply routed limiting beliefs. But there are plenty of inspirational quotes about self doubt that can help you turn things around right now!

As a certified life coach, the most helpful tools I recommend to people looking to boost their self confidence are positive affirmations and motivational quotes. Positive words have the power to reprogram automatic negative thoughts and replace them with more helpful and empowering ones. 

Many people have success using quotes and affirmations as journaling prompts. Choose a quote that resonates with you and use it to reflect and draw out your inner strength. Focus on how it feels to believe that you can do whatever you put your mind to.

You can also write your favorite quotes on sticky notes and place them throughout your house. Making inspirational quotes visible means that you are more likely to be consistently reminded of their messages.

Strategically place these sticky notes in areas you visit often. This will help you create a supportive environment that encourages a more confident mindset that will help you believe in yourself.

Self Doubt Quotes To Overcome Any Challenge

1. “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” – Sylvia Plath
2. “Don’t let others tell you what you can’t do. Don’t let the limitations of others limit your vision. If you can remove your self-doubt and believe in yourself, you can achieve what you never thought possible.” – Roy T. Bennett
3. “The only way to silence Self-Doubt is by consciously activating another thought. In other words, remove a negative thought by replacing it with another thought.” – Leandra De Andrade
4. “Self-trust is the first secret of success.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
5. “Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.” – Oprah Winfrey
6. “Don’t stop yourself from greatness before you’ve begun from fear or from self-doubt. You were put here on this planet to do great things, to pioneer change by the way of your own personal uniqueness, and to express yourself and share your happiness with others.” – Kaiden Blake
7. “Let all your moments of self-doubt, fear, or disappointment fuel your drive to be great.” – Devin McCourty
8. “When our commitment is wavering, the best way to stay on track is to consider the progress we’ve already made. As we recognize what we’ve invested and attained, it seems like a waste to give up, and our confidence and commitment surge.” – Adam M. Grant
9. “Self-doubt is the greatest enemy of any new good habit.” – Victoria Mora
10. “A person’s greatest limitations are not genetic, but imposed by self-doubt, insecurities, indecision, and timidity.” – Kilroy J. Oldster
11. “Faith doesn’t mean that you never doubt. It only means that you never act upon your doubts.” – Orson Scott Card
12. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
13. “Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing.” – Theodore Roosevelt
14. “If you don’t have some self-doubts and fears when you pursue a dream, then you haven’t dreamed big enough.” – Joe Vitale
15. “Doubts in your mind are a much greater roadblock to success than obstacles on the journey.” – Orrin Woodward
16. “Profound, bottomless self-doubt – it has no value – what’s the point? In a way, it takes up as much time as anything else.” – Jonathan Foer
17. “You must be careful never to allow doubt to paralyze you. always take the decisions you need to take, even if you’re not sure you’re doing the right thing.” – Paulo Coelho
18. “Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it.” – Judy Blume
19. “Stand up straight and realize who you are, that you tower over your circumstances.” – Maya Angelou
20. “We learn from failure, not from success.” – Bram Stoker

Motivational Quotes To Boost Your Confidence

21. “Successful people have fear, successful people have doubts, and successful people have worries. They just don’t let these feelings stop them.” – T. Harv Eker
22. “Everything you want to accomplish is already within yourself so when you start to roll in self-doubt and think negative thoughts then you’ll fall off. So keep visualising and keep knowing what you’re destined for, it’ll come to you.” – NLE Choppa
23. “Don’t regret the past or fear the future. Both bring misery through self-doubt.” – Deepak Chopra
24. “He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
25. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
26. “Doubt is a killer. You just have to know who you are and what you stand for.” – Jennifer Lopez
27. “You have to remember the value of your individuality – that you have something special and different to offer that no one else can.” – Jennifer Lopez
28. “Let all your moments of self-doubt, fear or disappointment fuel your drive to be great. Because it will be in those moments of fear that we have to realize we must redefine success and what it means to us.” – Jason McCourty
29. “If you want to move to a new level in your life, you must break through your comfort zone and practice doing things that are not comfortable.” – T. Harv Eker
30. “Doubt… is an illness that comes from knowledge and leads to madness.” – Gustave Flaubert
31. “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” – Dale Carnegie
32. “You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.” – Michael Jordan
33. “A hero is someone who, in spite of weakness, doubt or not always knowing the answers, goes ahead and overcomes anyway.” – Christopher Reeve
34. “The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you.” – William Jennings Bryan
35. “The difference in winning and losing is most often… not quitting.” – Walt Disney
36. “Don’t let rejection create self-doubt. The founder of Starbucks was turned down by 217 of the 242 investors he initially spoke with.” – Elizabeth Galbut
37. “When it comes to procrastination and overthinking, we have to overcome our self-doubt.” – Jay Shetty
38. “Belief in oneself is incredibly infectious. It generates momentum, the collective force of which far outweighs any kernel of self-doubt that may creep in.” – Aimee Mullins
39. “Pressure is self-doubt when you’re unprepared.” – Tom Herman
40. “Sometimes, when I am in a moment of self-doubt, I think – you’re Violet Chachki, you can do and achieve whatever you want.” – Violet Chachki

Inspirational Quotes To Overcome Self Doubt

41. “Believe in your infinite potential. Your only limitations are those you set upon yourself. Believe in yourself, your abilities, and your own potential. Never let self-doubt hold you captive. You are worthy of all that you dream of and hope for.” – Roy T. Bennett
42. “If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.” – Vincent Van Gogh
43. “Don’t waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour’s duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
44. “You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
45. “You can either waltz boldly onto the stage of life and live the way you know your spirit is nudging you to, or you can sit quietly by the wall, receding into the shadows of fear and self-doubt.” – Oprah Winfrey
46. “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” – Paul Coelho
47. “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.” – Mary Anne Radmacher
48. “Even a wise man knows doubt from time to time, it is the fool who allows it to rule his judgment.” – Jennifer Hudock
49. “Do not be awe struck by other people and try to copy them. Nobody can be you as efficiently as you.” – Norman Vincent Peale
50. “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” – Mark Twain
51. “The reason why you doubt yourself so much is that you have never seen yourself in action. You have never seen yourself breaking limits. You have never seen yourself standing in the spotlight and getting cheered by the audience.” – Michael Bassey Johnson
52. “When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things.” – Joe Namath
53. “I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things, which I dare not confess to my own soul.” – Bram Stoker
54. “You don’t need to doubt yourself – plenty of people will do that for free!” – Francis Shenstone
55. “If you doubt you can accomplish something, then you can’t accomplish it. You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.” – Rosalynn Carter
56. “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” – Napoleon Hill
57. “Never bend your head. Hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.” – Helen Keller
58. “Erase self-doubt by working to build your strengths instead of focusing on your weaknesses.” – Rodolfo Costa
59. “I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence but it comes from within. It is there all the time.” – Anna Freud
60. “Fearless is having doubts. Lots of them. To me, FEARLESS is living in spite of those things that scare you to death.” – Taylor Swift

Favorite Quotes When Experiencing Self Doubt

61. “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” – William Shakespeare
62. “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.” – Suzy Kassem
63. “When in doubt, doubt the doubt!” – Deepak Chopra
64. “One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.” – Henry Ford
65. “I don’t believe anyone ever suspects how completely unsure I am of my work and myself and what tortures of self-doubting the doubt of others has always given me.” – Tennessee Williams
66. “I believe every day your life speaks to you – through every experience, through the people you meet, and even through pain, fear and self-doubt.” – Oprah Winfrey
67. “One percent doubt is zero percent faith.” – Oprah Winfrey
68. “I have self-doubt. I have insecurity. I have fear of failure. I have nights when I show up at the arena and I’m like, ‘My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knees hurt. I don’t have it. I just want to chill.’ We all have self-doubt. You don’t deny it, but you also don’t capitulate to it. You embrace it.” – Kobe Bryant
69. “Because of self-doubt, the fear of failure, or laziness, most people usually bite off way less than they can chew.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana
70. “I can’t think of anyone I admire who isn’t fuelled by self-doubt. It’s an essential ingredient. It’s the grit in the oyster.” – Richard Eyre
71. “Self-doubt is real. Everyone has it. Having confidence and losing confidence is real, too, and everyone has been in that position.” – Venus Williams
72. “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.” – Bertrand Russell
73. “The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.” – Robert Hughes
74. “I think you’re not a human being unless you have doubts and fears.” – Mike Krzyzewski
75. “A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it.” – Ambrose Bierce
76. “I’m not too fond of the hard work and the constant battle with self-doubt that goes on when I write, but I figure that’s part of the territory.” – Robert Sheckley
77. “Technology has solved old economic problems by giving us new psychological problems. The internet has not just open-sourced information, it has also open-sourced insecurity, self-doubt, and shame.” – Mark Manson
78. “When you’re different, sometimes you don’t see the millions of people who accept you for what you are. All you notice is the person who doesn’t.” – Jodi Picoult
79. “Sometimes, my self-doubt became self-limiting.” – Marillyn Hewson
80. “Acting as if you were what you want to become and know you can become is the way to remove self-doubt and enter your real-magic kingdom.” – Wayne Dyer

Inspiring Self Doubt Quotes To Unleash Your Full Potential

81. “Willpower is the key to success. Successful people strive no matter what they feel by applying their will to overcome apathy, doubt or fear.” – Dan Millman
82. “Always have faith in yourself and the universe, for one will not get you anywhere without the other. Both must be equally strong to reach your desires, for they are the wings that will lift you to your dreams.” – Suzy Kassem
83. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
84. “Do the thing and you will have the power.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
85. “Be confident, not certain.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
86. “I’ve learned that the mastery of self-doubt is the key to success.” – Will Smith
87. “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” – Norman Vincent Peale
88. “Our happiness depends on the habit of mind we cultivate.” – Norman Vincent Peale
89. “Focus more on your desire than your doubt, and the dream will take care of itself.” – Mark Twain
90. “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” – Michael Jordan
91. “You have been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” – Louise L. Hay
92. “Just remember to never doubt yourself, we are all capable of amazing things.” – Rob Cristophe
93. “Doubt is a question mark; faith is an exclamation point. The most compelling, believable, realistic stories have included them both.” – Criss Jami
94. “Your dream doesn’t have an expiration date. Take a deep breath and try again.”  –  K.T. Witten
95. “Try a thing you haven’t done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time to figure out whether you like it or not.” – Virgil Thomson
96. “However you arrive at the ability to ignore self-doubt – if you can acquire it or possess it or find it or discover it – move beyond self-doubt.” – Dwight Yoakam
97. “Don’t let the fear of striking out hold you back.” – Babe Ruth
98. “When you doubt your power, you give power to your doubt.” – Honore de Balzac
99. “The world around you may ask you to stop Dreaming Big, as it could create insecurity in their lives. Dream Big anyway, dance to your own music and let them dance to theirs.” – Mridula Singh
100. “You do not need to pay attention to those voices within you that create pain, or make you feel less competent, smart or able.” – Sanaya Roman

Using Self Doubt Quotes

If you are feeling held back by your own self doubt, I am hopeful that this list of quotes has given you a renewed perspective on your capabilities and the strength to challenge your limiting beliefs. 

Self-doubt can be a formidable barrier to living the life you want to live. Choose your favorite self-doubt quote from this list and use it to fire you up with all the confidence you need to take on whatever challenges life is throwing at you today!

If you are looking for more inspiration to conquer your self doubt, check out our collection of confidence affirmations! And check out our list of faith everything will be alright quotes for more encouragement!

Don’t forget to share this post with your friends and family on social media! If you know someone who could use self doubt quotes, this post could be just what they need!

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