If there is one thing that we are all guilty of at times, it is not standing up for what we truly believe to be right.
This can end up being one of the biggest regrets in life.
When we fail to stand up for ourselves or for others, we always wonder how we could have handled things differently.
No matter who or what we are up against, we have the strength within us to fight for what we believe in and to defend our own rights.
When we do this, not only do we feel better about ourselves, but we also inspire others to do the same.
Today we are going to take a look at a compilation of our favorite standing up for yourself quotes. How many will resonate with you?
Let's get started!
Standing Up For Yourself Quotes
1. “Stay strong. Stand up. Have a voice.” – Shawn Johnson
2. “You don’t have to accept the things you are not ok with.” – Unknown
3. “It’s important to stand up for what you believe in.” – Cody Linley
4. “Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” – Rumi
5. “Stand up for yourself. Never give anyone permission to abuse you.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
6. “There’s a difference between being mean and standing up for yourself.” – Unknown
7. “When you stand for something, you’ve got to stand for it all the way, not half way.” – Kevin Gates
8. “That’s what we were told—stand up for yourself. But that’s hard to do if you don’t know who you are.” – Shane Koyczan
9. “Stand up for what is right even if you stand alone. Stand up for truth, regardless of who steps on it.” – Suzy Kassem
10. “All things are possible if you are willing to put yourself on the line. You cannot stand back and hope for the best. You have to act” – Elizabeth Edwards
11. “You will never gain anyone’s approval by begging for it. When you stand confident in your own worth, respect follows.” – Mandy Hale
12. “You can't keep hiding behind your fear, you have to face it head on. – Alan Young
13. “Give to us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for – because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything.” – Peter Marshall
14. “Sometimes, in order to follow our moral compass and/or our hearts, we have to make unpopular decisions or stand up for what we believe in.” – Tabatha Coffey
15. “Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own destiny. All the strength and succor you want is within yourself. Therefore make your own future.” – Swami Vivekanand
16. “Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.” – Stephen Covey
17. “Man, alone can transform the power of his thoughts into physical reality; man, alone can dream, and make his dream come true.” – Napoleon Hill
18. “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” – Earl Nightingale
19. “On the way home my father said tiredly he hoped some day I’d realize it was necessary to live with people. I didn’t understand him. He said a lot of other things that made me feel sorry for him, because he just couldn’t stand up to a situation.” – Dan J. Marlowe
20. “The only way he knew how to conquer the demon was by confronting it.” – Shad’e Zuiweta
21. “If you believe very strongly in something, stand up and fight for it.” – Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
22. “It takes a lot of courage to stand up for yourself, but it's always worth it in the end.” – Alan Young
23. “Be brave and stand up for yourself. Don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't do” – Alan Young
24. “Stand up for yourself even if nobody is on your side.” – Unknown
25. “It’s easy to stand with the crowd. It takes courage to stand alone. – Mahatma Gandhi
26. “It’s almost as easy to stand up as it is to sit down.” – Charles Lindbergh
Celebrity Standing Up For Yourself Quotes
27. “When you connect with that love and that compassion, that's when everything unfolds.” – Ellen DeGeneres
28. “Stand up and face your fears, or they will defeat you.” – LL Cool J
29. “But most of my songs were about believing in yourself, standing up for yourself and fighting for what you believe in.” – Dee Snider
30. “Don’t yell at people. Stand up for what’s right. Put yourself in the other person’s place. Respect women. Don’t take no for an answer. Laugh at yourself. Don’t believe what you are told” – Greg Proops
31. “You have two choices. you can keep running and hiding and blaming the world for your problems, or you can stand up for yourself and decide to be somebody important.” – Sidney Sheldon
32. “Be different, stand out, and work your butt off.” – Reba McEntire
33. “Whenever one person stands up and says, ‘Wait a minute, this is wrong,’ it helps other people do the same.” – Gloria Steinem
34. “Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, and don’t give up the fight.” – Bob Marley (Lyrics)
35. “Sometimes it just feels so amazing to finally stand up for yourself. I highly recommend it. Life is too short to be taken for granted.” – Demi Lovato
36. “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” – Oprah Winfrey
37. “Lord knows / Dreams are hard to follow / But don't let anyone / Tear them away / Hold On / There will be tomorrow / In time you'll find the way.” – Mariah Carey
38. “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” – Colin Kaepernick
39. “I always stand up for what I believe and what I want to.” – Forest Whitaker
40. “To me, bravery is to stand up for what you believe in.” – Sophie Turner
41. “It’s really important to stand up for yourself and not always agree with what people say if indeed you don’t feel that that’s true.” – Lily Collins
42. “When you come from a family of ten children you learn very early on in life to stand up for yourself and hold your ground regarding the things you’re passionate about.” – Sufe Bradshaw
43. “Earning respect doesn’t mean to always let go but to stand up for yourself!” – Somya Kedia
RELATED: 88 Quotes That’ll Inspire you to be your Unapologetic Self
Maya Angelou Standing Up For Yourself Quotes
44. “Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.” – Maya Angelou
45. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.” – Maya Angelou
46. “Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else.” – Maya Angelou
47. “I not only have the right to stand up for myself, but I have the responsibility. I can’t ask somebody else to stand up for me if I won’t stand up for myself. And once you stand up for yourself, you’d be surprised that people say ‘Can I be of help?” – Maya Angelou
Doreen Virtue Standing Up For Yourself Quotes
48. I learned that you can stand up for yourself and still maintain your zen!” – Doreen Virtue
49. “When you stand up for yourself, you are standing up for everyone who will follow your positive example!” – Doreen Virtue
Standing Up For Yourself Quotes from the World of Politics
50. “As I said, if you don’t stand up for yourself, people aren’t going to think that you can stand up for them.” – Sidney Blumenthal
51. “Trust your own instincts, go inside, follow your heart. Right from the start. Go ahead and stand up for what you believe in. As I’ve learned, that’s the path to happiness.” – Lesley Ann Warren
52. “Never be afraid to stand with the minority when the minority is right, for the minority which is right will one day be the majority.” – William Jennings Bryan
53. “Civilization must stand up and combat the current collapse of governance, the rise of violence, and the spread of chaos and fear in many parts of the world.” – Rudy Giuliani
54. “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something in your life.” – Winston Churchill
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Standing Up For Yourself Quotes from Literature
55. “How many more of us are faking the facade? How many more of us are pretending to be something we’re not? Even better, how many of us will have the courage to be ourselves regardless of what others think?” – Katie McGarry
56. “Man, alone can transform the power of his thoughts into physical reality; man, alone can dream, and make his dream come true.” – Napoleon Hill
57. “When you finish a thing you ought to be able to say to yourself: There, I am willing to stand for that piece of work. It is not pretty well done; it is done as well as I can do it; done to a complete finish. I will stand for that.” – Orison Swett Marden
58. “We get weak and we fall down. It’s when we stand up again that we become stronger. You will learn from this and be better for it. It’s okay to fall once in a while. You’ll pick yourself up, eventually.” – E.L. Todd
59. “Standing up for yourself doesn’t always involve verbal confrontation. Sometimes it’s about not wasting energy on people who are negative.” – Sherry Argov
60. “If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.” – H.G. Wells
61. “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” – Mark Twain
62. “Life is to be enjoyed, not endured. So follow your dreams, embrace change and live what you love” – Aysel Gunar
63. “Formal education teaches how to stand, but to see the rainbow you must come out and walk many steps on your own.” – Amit Ray
64. “I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to wish for a perfect life. the things that knock you down in life are tests, forcing you to make a choice between giving in and remaining on the ground or wiping the dirt off and standing up even taller than you did before you were knocked down. I'm choosing to stand up taller. I'll probably get knocked down a few more times before this life is through with me, but I can guarantee you I'll never stay on the ground.” – Colleen Hoover
65. “Thinking for yourself and making your own decisions can be frightening. Letting go of other people’s expectations can leave you feeling empty for a time. And yet seeing yourself as an independent adult who can stand up for your own choices frees you to accept yourself as you are.” – Ellen Bass
66. “The victim inside us all ceases when we stand up in opposition of that which oppresses or intimidates us. Something powerfully intrinsic happens when the courage to no longer be silent awakens within us and we are compelled to confront our problems rather than cower to them. The things that torment us thrive on our hushed fears and insecurities and they are made powerless by a resilient voice; An inner voice that says, ‘No More'!” – Jason Versey
67. “And listen to me: what you’ve done here carries power with it, of a different sort. Don’t let Solya take all the credit, and don’t be shy of using it.” – Naomi Novik
68. “Let us be certain of who we want to be. Let us choose for ourselves our path in life, and let us try to strew that path with flowers.” – Émilie Du Châtelet
69. “Stand up for yourself by not standing yourself up.” – Gina Greenlee
70. “Not after one month, not after one week, not after one day, not after one hour, not even after one minute, only after one second is the best time for a defeated person to stand up and fight for his future victory!” – Mehmet Murat ildan
71. “Tell your story even if you have a small audience.” – Mitta Xinindlu
72. “Don't let anyone tell you who you are–you have to have a bigger idea of who you are than how society sees you.” – Julie Lythcott-Haims
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More Standing Up For Yourself Quotes
73. “You stand up for what you believe in.” – Doja Cat
74. “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” – Albert Einstein
75. “Silence is the most expensive to buy.” – Ljupka Cvetanova
76. “You have to stand up for some things in this world.” – Marjory Stoneman Douglas
77. “When you stand up for yourself, you are standing up for your truth. And your truth is powerful.” – Alan Young
78. “If you build the guts to do something, anything, then you better save enough to face the consequences.” – Criss Jami
79. “Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” – Rumi
80. “The bravest thing you can do is stand up for yourself when you're being treated unfairly.” – Alan Young
81. “If we don’t stand up for children, then we don’t stand for much.” – Marian Wright Edelman
82. “You really need faith in yourself to make art and to stand up for what you believe in.” – Elizabeth Peyton
83. “Follow your dreams, they know the way.”- Kobe Yamada
84. “Anything that threatens, hinders, obstructs, denies, delays your capacity to stand fully up for yourself, within yourself, take it down.” – Iyanla Vanzant
85. “Don’t believe that winning is really everything. It’s more important to stand for something. If you don’t stand for something, what do you win?” – Lane Kirkland
86. “Speak up. Believe in yourself. Take risks.” – Unknown
87. “Stand alone with no shame.” – Mitta Xinindlu
88. “Being able to admit you’re wrong is important, but so is standing up for yourself when you’re right.” – Suzy Kassem
89. “Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself, you should speak up even if you don’t get the answer you were looking for; its the fact that you said something that matters.” – Unknown
90. “Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own destiny. All the strength and succor you want is within yourself. Therefore make your own future.” – Swami Vivekananda
91. “Shift yourself away from the slippery ground of bad attitudes and you'll not drift off!” – Israelmore Ayivor
Are You Inspired?
Did any of these 91 standing up for yourself quotes hit a note with you? Have they inspired you to be able to take a stand when you feel it is right?
We hope you have enjoyed reading these quotes, and that you are able to glean from them and put them to use in your day-to-day life.
Please comment below your favorite quote about standing up for yourself, as we'd love to know.
Alan is the founder of Subconscious Servant. He has a passion for learning about topics such as spirituality and the metaphysical world. The thing he loves to explore most though is manifesting with the law of attraction ✨.