--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Self-approval is acquired mainly from the…" description: "\"Self-approval is acquired mainly from the approval of other people.\" — Mark Twain" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a0/mark-twain-22_approval_self-approval-is-acquired-mainly-from-th_192355.png" --- # Self-approval is acquired mainly from the approval of… ![“Self-approval is acquired mainly from the approval of other people.” quote by Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a0/mark-twain-22_approval_self-approval-is-acquired-mainly-from-th_192355.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a0/mark-twain-22_approval_self-approval-is-acquired-mainly-from-th_192355.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a0/mark-twain-22_approval_self-approval-is-acquired-mainly-from-th_192355.png) > “Self-approval is acquired mainly from the approval of other people.” [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Relying on others' approval for self‑esteem makes approval approval fragile and external. **In simple terms:** Self‑approval shouldn't depend on others. Key Takeaway Cultivate internal validation. Themes self‑esteem independence authenticity Mood thoughtful encouraging Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - career decisions - personal relationships - creative projects Key Concepts psychology social influence Questions to Reflect On - What internal standards guide you? - How can you balance external feedback with self‑trust? A Different Perspective External validation can still be useful at times. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Approval](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/approval/) [Approval of others](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/approval-of-others/) [Identity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/identity/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Self approval](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-approval/) ## Related quotes > [“She had told me that the approval of other people should never be my goal”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessie-burton/she-had-told-me-that-the-approval-of-other-people-should-never-be-my/) [Jessie Burton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessie-burton/) > [“Their opinions are not your oxygen. They should only fan your fucking flames.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/curtis-tyrone-jones/their-opinions-are-not-your-oxygen-they-should-only-fan-your-fucking/) [Curtis Tyrone Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/curtis-tyrone-jones/) > [ When I dropped out \[from a law school\], everybody was disappointed... But I found that disappointing people is a good thing, because disapproval is… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/demetri-martin/when-i-dropped-out-from-a-law-school-everybody-was-disappointed-but-i/) [Demetri Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/demetri-martin/) > [Lean too much on the approval of people, and it becomes a bed of thorns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tehyi-hsieh/lean-too-much-on-the-approval-of-people-and-it-becomes-a-bed-of-thorns/) [Tehyi Hsieh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tehyi-hsieh/) > [A smile is a symbol of acceptance and approval, which is something most of the people in the world desperately need.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/innah-delos-angeles/a-smile-is-a-symbol-of-acceptance-and-approval-which-is-something/) [Innah Delos Angeles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/innah-delos-angeles/) > [I have never seen people who could do real work except under the stimulus of encouragement and enthusiasm and the approval of the people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-c-forbes/i-have-never-seen-people-who-could-do-real-work-except-under-the/) [B. C. Forbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-c-forbes/) > [Shut your eyes so the heart may become your eye, and with that vision look upon another world. If you can step away from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/shut-your-eyes-so-the-heart-may-become-your-eye-and-with-that-vision/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [I honestly think that it was when the actual voices started to stand up for me. It was the iconic artists like Tony Bennett…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-buble/i-honestly-think-that-it-was-when-the-actual-voices-started-to-stand/) [Michael Buble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-buble/) > [I'm still at the age where I'm constantly seeking approval of people I have respect for.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliot-paulina-sumner/i-m-still-at-the-age-where-i-m-constantly-seeking-approval-of-people/) [Eliot Paulina Sumner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliot-paulina-sumner/) > [“Social approval never undermines self approval.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sravani-saha-nakhro/social-approval-never-undermines-self-approval/) [Sravani Saha Nakhro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sravani-saha-nakhro/) > [What do you call love, hate, charity, revenge, humanity, magnanimity, forgiveness? Different results of the one master impulse: the necessity of securing one's self-approval](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/what-do-you-call-love-hate-charity-revenge-humanity-magnanimity/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [What do we call love, hate, charity, revenge, humanity, forgiveness? Different results of the master impulse, the necessity of securing one's self-approval.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/what-do-we-call-love-hate-charity-revenge-humanity-forgiveness/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Hardly a man in the world has an opinion upon morals, politics or religion which he got otherwise than through his associations and sympathies.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/hardly-a-man-in-the-world-has-an-opinion-upon-morals-politics-or/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [It is our nature to conform; it is a force which not many can successfully resist. What is its seat? The inborn requirement of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-is-our-nature-to-conform-it-is-a-force-which-not-many-can/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [It may be called the Master Passion, the hunger for self-approval.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-may-be-called-the-master-passion-the-hunger-for-self-approval/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## More by Mark Twain > [Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/sing-like-no-one-s-listening-love-like-you-ve-never-been-hurt-dance/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [If you had made the acquiring of ignorance the study of your life, you could not have graduated with higher honor than you could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-you-had-made-the-acquiring-of-ignorance-the-study-of-your-life-you/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“The Creator sat upon the throne, thinking. Behind him stretched the illimitable continent of heaven, steeped in a glory of light and color; before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-creator-sat-upon-the-throne-thinking-behind-him-stretched-the/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [It's easy to quit smoking. I've done it hundreds of times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-s-easy-to-quit-smoking-i-ve-done-it-hundreds-of-times/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“It is never wrong to do the right thing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-is-never-wrong-to-do-the-right-thing/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [A man accustomed to American food and American domestic cookery would not starve to death suddenly in Europe, but I think he would gradually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/a-man-accustomed-to-american-food-and-american-domestic-cookery-would/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [There is nothing training can't cannot do. Nothing is above its reach.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/there-is-nothing-training-can-t-cannot-do-nothing-is-above-its-reach/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [I never write Metropolis for seven cents because I can get the same price for city. I never write policeman because I can get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-never-write-metropolis-for-seven-cents-because-i-can-get-the-same/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [The higher animals get their teeth without pain or inconvenience. Man gets his through months and months of cruel torture; he will never get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-higher-animals-get-their-teeth-without-pain-or-inconvenience-man/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“As far as I can see, Italy, for fifteen hundred years, has turned all her energies, all her finances, and all her industry to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/as-far-as-i-can-see-italy-for-fifteen-hundred-years-has-turned-all/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Begin with the determination to succeed and the work is half done already.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/begin-with-the-determination-to-succeed-and-the-work-is-half-done/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Many public-school children seem to know only two dates—1492 and 4th of July; and as a rule they don't know what happened on either…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/many-public-school-children-seem-to-know-only-two-dates-1492-and-4th/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [If we could imagine such a man, that is a man who could invent the fly and send him out on his mission and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-we-could-imagine-such-a-man-that-is-a-man-who-could-invent-the-fly/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/you-perceive-now-that-these-things-are-all-impossible-except-in-a/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Lord save us all from a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/lord-save-us-all-from-a-hope-tree-that-has-lost-the-faculty-of/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) [Explore all 3,277 Mark Twain quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## More Approval quotes > [Anyone who's read my 'Terror in the Skies' series knows that I have not been writing with an eye toward approval from any government…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-jacobsen/anyone-who-s-read-my-terror-in-the-skies-series-knows-that-i-have-not/) [Annie Jacobsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-jacobsen/) > [we need not avoid our active lives, but simply bring to them a new vision and shift of gravity. for in the center we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-monk-kidd/we-need-not-avoid-our-active-lives-but-simply-bring-to-them-a-new/) [Sue Monk Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-monk-kidd/) > [Lean too much on the approval of people, and it becomes a bed of thorns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tehyi-hsieh/lean-too-much-on-the-approval-of-people-and-it-becomes-a-bed-of-thorns/) [Tehyi Hsieh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tehyi-hsieh/) > [But I always reassure them that as far as my contractual rights can go, I will protect them and make sure that they have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-roach/but-i-always-reassure-them-that-as-far-as-my-contractual-rights-can/) [Jay Roach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-roach/) > [Growing up in that fashion is a breeding ground for insecurity and doubt; it also leaves you questioning motives. It took me a long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/damon-runyon/growing-up-in-that-fashion-is-a-breeding-ground-for-insecurity-and/) [Damon Runyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/damon-runyon/) > [A year ago, my approval rating was in the 30s, my nominee for the supreme court had just withdrawn, and my vice president had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/a-year-ago-my-approval-rating-was-in-the-30s-my-nominee-for-the/) [George W. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-w-bush/) > [Approval is a greater motivator than disapproval, but we have to disapprove on occasion when we correct. It’s necessary. I make corrections only after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-wooden/approval-is-a-greater-motivator-than-disapproval-but-we-have-to/) [John Wooden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-wooden/) > [These days people are mean to people just because they don't like the way they look. No-one should be hated because of their flaws.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonya-parker/these-days-people-are-mean-to-people-just-because-they-don-t-like-the/) [Sonya Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonya-parker/) > [I got this emptiness inside that got me fighting for approval because I missed out on my daddy saying, Way to Go.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lecrae/i-got-this-emptiness-inside-that-got-me-fighting-for-approval-because/) [Lecrae](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lecrae/) > [My dad taught me swears when I was a toddler, and I saw, at a really early age, that if I shocked people, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roseanne-barr/my-dad-taught-me-swears-when-i-was-a-toddler-and-i-saw-at-a-really/) [Roseanne Barr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roseanne-barr/) > [If torture is going to be administered as a last resort in the ticking-bomb case, to save enormous numbers of lives, it ought to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-dershowitz/if-torture-is-going-to-be-administered-as-a-last-resort-in-the/) [Alan Dershowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-dershowitz/) > [Comedy is a very approval-oriented field.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-chappelle/comedy-is-a-very-approval-oriented-field/) [Dave Chappelle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-chappelle/) > [Whenever you are too worried about someone else's approval, that person loses respect for you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherry-argov/whenever-you-are-too-worried-about-someone-else-s-approval-that/) [Sherry Argov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherry-argov/) > [Pleasure is Nature's test, her sign of approval.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/pleasure-is-nature-s-test-her-sign-of-approval/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Do you really mean the only reason you try to be good is to gain God's approval and reward? That's not morality, that's just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/do-you-really-mean-the-only-reason-you-try-to-be-good-is-to-gain-god/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) [Browse all 904 Approval quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/approval/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Self-approval is acquired mainly from the approval of other people.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Twain" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/self-approval-is-acquired-mainly-from-the-approval-of-other-people/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Approval" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/self-approval-is-acquired-mainly-from-the-approval-of-other-people/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a0/mark-twain-22_approval_self-approval-is-acquired-mainly-from-th_192355.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a0/mark-twain-22_approval_self-approval-is-acquired-mainly-from-th_192355.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a0/mark-twain-22_approval_self-approval-is-acquired-mainly-from-th_192355.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Self-approval is acquired mainly from the approval of other people.” — Mark Twain", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mark Twain", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Self-approval is acquired mainly from the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/self-approval-is-acquired-mainly-from-the-approval-of-other-people/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/self-approval-is-acquired-mainly-from-the-approval-of-other-people/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```