21 powerful quotes about not being good enough

Have you ever felt you’re not quite good enough? Not being good enough is something most of us worry about, at least occasionally.

If you have, you’re not alone. Other people may appear to be sailing through life without a care in the world, but you’ll usually find that’s not their reality. No one’s life is perfect.

We all experience that feeling of not being good enough, maybe not all the time but certainly some of the time. We all have that fear of being ‘found out’ occasionally.

And of course, we all need to feel loved and appreciated. We all need to feel that our lives matter to someone. Most people are conscientious, and most of us are keen to please others, especially our parents.

We genuinely want to meet the expectations our parents have of us. However, the bar can be set quite high at times, and inevitably we feel we’ve let them down if our lives don’t meet what we believe their expectations to be.

The treadmill of other parental expectations:

Parents mean well by having expectations of us, and in many ways those expectations can motivate us to achieve more than perhaps we would have achieved otherwise.

However, those expectations can often be rooted in their own vanity. Rooted in their desire to be able to boast about how well their children are doing in life, relative to other peoples’ kids.

They imagine by doing this they will get a little reflected glory. If their kids are doing well, then they must be great parents, surely? That’s the logic anyway.

Everyone needs a challenge, and we all need goals that will stretch us.

However, if the bar is set too high, it can be damaging when the inevitable failure occurs. At the very least it can knock our confidence. At the other extreme, it can result in longer-term mental health problems.

As individuals, we must endeavour to do our best.

And as long as we’ve done the best we can, then we shouldn’t worry about whether that fulfilled someone else’s expectations of us or not.

We must constantly remind ourselves that we’re as good as anyone and that our lives matter just as much as the next person’s.

You’re as good as anyone:

You are good enough, dear reader, even if you don’t realize it.

You’ll never please everyone, so don’t try.

Just focus on pleasing yourself and being the best version of yourself that you can reasonably be.

Here are 21 thought-provoking quotes about not being good enough to help you reflect on the issue.

Quotes about not being good enough (1-10):

Who hurt you? My own expectations. ~Author Unknown
The way you speak of yourself; the way you degrade yourself; into smallness; this is abuse. ~Rupi Kaur
And it is easy to believe you are not good enough if you listen to everybody else. ~Mackenzie Astin
Rejection doesn’t mean you aren’t good enough; it means the other person failed to notice what you have to offer. ~Author Unknown
My problem was not, not being good enough, my problem was thinking I had to be. ~Author Unknown
At your absolute best, you still won’t be good enough for the wrong person. ~Author Unknown
The worst thing about that kind of prejudice is that while you feel hurt and angry and all the rest of it, it feeds you self-doubt. You start thinking perhaps I am not good enough. ~Nina Simone
My biggest fear is that I’m not good enough. I have this voice in my head that I’ve been battling for years that says, ‘You’re not really talented enough. You don’t really deserve this.’ ~Rachel Platten
Self-doubt is the anchor that keeps our ships from sailing. ~Author Unknown
Don’t allow someone to make you feel like you’re not good enough. ~Author Unknown

Quotes about not being good enough (11-15):

All I can tell you really is if you get to the point where someone is telling you that you are not great or not good enough, just follow your heart and don’t let anybody crush your dream. ~Patti LaBelle
Sick of crying, tired of trying, yes I’m smiling but inside I’m dying. ~Author Unknown
It’s not vanity to feel you have a right to be beautiful. Women are taught to feel we’re not good enough, that we must live up to someone else’s standards. But my aim is to cherish myself as I am. ~Elle Macpherson
Sometimes all you can do is smile. Move on with your day, hold back the tears and pretend you’re okay. ~Author Unknown
Shame is the most powerful, master emotion. It’s the fear that we’re not good enough. ~Brene Brown

Quotes about not being good enough (16-21):

There’s too much darkness in the world. Everywhere you turn, someone is tryin’ to tear someone down in some way; everywhere you go, there’s a feeling of inadequacy or a feeling that you’re not good enough. I want to bring a certain light to the world. ~Alicia Keys
If your mom asks you to do the dishes, do not pull out your pirate attitude. But if someone tells you you’re not good enough, says your dreams are too lofty, or claims there is no room in showbiz for a dancing violinist – well then, by all means, pull out your eye patch, my friend, and take to the high seas. ~Lindsey Stirling
We’re all different, so even though someone is getting a skill before you, it doesn’t mean that you’re not good enough; it just means you have to wait a little bit, and the skill will come when it comes. ~Laurie Hernandez
And above all things never think that you’re not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. My belief is that in life people will take you at your own reckoning. ~Isaac Asimov
Realize that everyone that you think is perfect feels like they’re not good enough, too. ~Alessia Cara
Models are some of the most insecure people I’ve ever met. They’re constantly being told they’re not good enough. You’ve really got to practice loving yourself. ~Miranda Kerr

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