41 Confidence Quotes to Inspire Children

Confidence is directly linked to growth mindset, resilience, and motivation--all keys to a happy and successful life. Children who believe in themselves recover more easily from setbacks and failure and they’re more willing to take on challenges. They know mistakes don’t change their self-worth.

There are many ways to build a child’s confidence. One simple strategy is to use inspiring confidence quotes. In this post, we’ve collected 41 empowering confidence quotes to share with children.

How to Use Confidence Quotes

Here are a few confidence-boosting activities to try with the self-confidence quotes below:

• Ask children to choose a favourite quote and write about what it means to them. How can they apply it in their own life? Younger children can illustrate a favourite quote.
• Have a Quote of the Week or Quote of the Month for children to reflect on, journal about, and memorize.
• Pin confidence quotes around the room for consistent encouragement and inspiration.
• Ask children to find their own quotes about confidence to add to the collection.
• Each time you share a quote, lead a discussion about what the quote means and how you can all put it into practice. Encourage children to do one thing inspired by the quote that week, then ask them to share examples later in the week. Try sharing an example of your own as well!

The more children hear about confidence, talk about it, see it modeled, and begin to practice it in their own lives, the more self-confident they’ll become.

41 Confidence Quotes to Inspire Children

1. “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” -Lucille Ball

2. "If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves." -Thomas Alva Edison

3. “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

4. “Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” -Christopher Robin

5. “Low self-confidence isn't a life sentence. Self-confidence can be learned, practiced, and mastered--just like any other skill. Once you master it, everything in your life will change for the better." -Barrie Davenport

6. "It is confidence in our bodies, minds, and spirits that allows us to keep looking for new adventures." -Oprah Winfrey

7. "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

8. "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frighten us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be?" -Marianne Williamson

9. “The most beautiful thing you can wear is confidence.” -Blake Lively

10. "Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude." -Thomas Jefferson

11. "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

12. "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." -Eleanor Roosevelt

13. “The greatest mistake you can make in life is continually fearing that you’ll make one.” -Elbert Hubbard

14. “Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.” -Benjamin Disraeli

15. “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” -Helen Keller

16. “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

17. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” -Winston Churchill

18. “As is our confidence, so is our capacity.” -William Hazlitt

19. “Confidence comes not from always being right, but from not fearing to be wrong.” -Peter T. McIntyre

20. “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy.” -Norman Vincent Peale

21. “Confidence is a lot of this game or any game. If you don’t think you can, you won’t.” -Jerry West

22. “You have to have confidence in your ability and then be tough enough to follow through.” -Rosalynn Carter

23. “When you have confidence, you can do anything.” -Sloane Stevens

24. “Successful people often exude confidence--it’s obvious that they believe in themselves and what they’re doing. It isn’t their success that makes them confident, however. The confidence was there first.” -Travis Bradberry

25. “Have confidence that if you’ve done a little thing well, you can do a bigger thing well too.” -David Storey

26. “When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things.” -Joe Namath

27. “I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time.” -Anna Freud

28. “Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” -Benjamin Spock

29. “Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” -e.e. Cummings

30. “Noble and great. Courageous and determined. Faithful and fearless. That is who you are and who you have always been. And understanding it can change your life because this knowledge carries a confidence that cannot be duplicated any other way.” -Sheri L. Drew

31. “Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.” -Oprah Winfrey

32. “Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.” -Samuel Johnson

33. “Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy.” -Brian Tracy

34. “Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles, and less than perfect conditions. So what? Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident, and more and more successful.” -Mark Victor Hansen

35. “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

36. “It doesn’t matter if thousands of people believe in you unless you believe in yourself.” -Maddy Malhotra

37. “You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.” -Michael Jordan

38. “As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

39. “Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, really believe, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way to solution.” -David J. Schwartz

40 “Stop thinking you’re doing it all wrong. Your path doesn’t look like anybody else’s because it can’t, it shouldn’t, and it won’t.” -Eleanor Brownn

41. “Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.” -Golda Meir

Additional Tools to Build Confidence

Quotes about self-confidence are just one tool you can use to boost children’s confidence. It’s important to model confidence, spend quality time, cultivate a sense of belonging, and help children discover their passions and interests. 

You can also download our digital Confidence and Self-Esteem Kit, which is packed with worksheets and activities that promote self-esteem. These activities are an excellent complement to this collection of inspiring confidence quotes!