As kids we have to listen to our parents because we care. Soon our various relatives, friends, mentors and even people we barely know tell us how to live our lives, because we care. If you want to swim right, they tell you left is the way. And then begins the flurry of doubt that maybe what you want to do, or are doing, is wrong as if all the self doubt wasn't enough.

So here we bring to you 35 quotes that will lead you to where you want to be, all the time telling you to take that leap of faith. Don't care about what they want. Worry about yourself today. After all, self-care is the best kind of care that you can give.

35 Quotes About Not Caring What People Think Too Much

1. “The eyes of others our prisons; their thoughts our cages.” ― Virginia Woolf

2. “A dame that knows the ropes isn't likely to get tied up.” ― Mae West

3. “You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. It's their mistake, not my failing.” ― Richard P. Feynman

4. “Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.”—Lao Tzu

5. “Never dull your shine for somebody else.” ― Tyra Banks

6. “If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that... I believe in what I do, and I'll say it.” ― John Lennon

7. “I do not care so much what I am to others as I care what I am to myself.” ― Michel de Montaigne

8. “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”— Dr. Seuss

9. “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will. “― Suzy Kassem

10. “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”— Oscar Wilde

11. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”—Steve Jobs

12. “Some people say, “Never let them see you cry.” I say, if you’re so mad you could just cry, then cry. It terrifies everyone.” ― Tina Fey

13. “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.”— Albert Einstein

14. “Some people say you are going the wrong way, when it’s simply a way of your own.”— Angelina Jolie

15. “I don’t care what you think about me. I don’t think about you at all.”— Coco Chanel

16. “Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what.” ― Erma Bombeck

17. “There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.” ― Marianne Williamson

18. “Believe in yourself and there will come a day when others will have no choice but to believe with you.” ― Cynthia Kersey

19. “No name-calling truly bites deep unless, in some dark part of us, we believe it. If we are confident enough then it is just noise.” ― Laurell K. Hamilton

20. “When it comes down to it, I let them think what they want. If they care enough to bother with what I do, then I'm already better than them.” ― Marilyn Monroe

21. “Don’t waste your energy trying to educate or change opinions; go over, under, through, and opinions will change organically when you’re the boss. Or they won’t. Who cares? Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it.” ― Tina Fey

22. “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.” ― Charlotte Brontë

23. “I want to be around people that do things. I don’t want to be around people anymore that judge or talk about what people do. I want to be around people that dream and support and do things.” ― Amy Poehler

24. “You probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do.” ― Olin Miller

25. “There is nothing more attractive than confidence, once she sees her own beauty, everyone else will.” ― Habeeb Akande

26. “Few and mean as my gifts may be, I actually am, and do not need for my own assurance or the assurance of my fellows any secondary testimony.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

27. “People who repeatedly attack your confidence and self-esteem are quite aware of your potential, even if you are not.” ― Wayne Gerard Trotman

28. “So many people along the way, whatever it is you aspire to do, will tell you it can't be done. But it all it takes is imagination. You dream. You plan. You reach.”― Michael Phelps

29. “Well, laddie, if you've let an old buzzard like me hurt your confidence, you couldn't have had much in the first place.” ― Tamora Pierce

30. “Most people just want to see you fall, that's more reason to stand tall.” ― Emma Michelle

31. “There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” ― Aristotle

32. “He thinks himself rather an exceptional young man, thoroughly sophisticated, well adjusted to his environment, and somewhat more significant than any one else he knows.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald

33. “When I was growing up I always wanted to be someone. Now I realize I should have been more specific.” ― Lily Tomlin

34. “One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.” ― Sigmund Freud

35. “My dear, I don't give a damn.” ― Margaret Mitchell

Final Thoughts

If you care too much about what others think, you'll be unhappy. These quotes about not caring what people think too much are great reminders. Here're more tips to help you focus on yourself more: 10 Things to Remember if You Care Too Much About What Others Think