Verified Quotes
Every quote on this page is verified against the named source work.
Albert Ellis, Creator of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and one of psychology's bluntest voices, gets quoted everywhere and sourced almost nowhere. The 5 quotes below are different: each one is checked word for word against the cited work, starting with Albert Ellis, A Guide to Rational Living, not copied from aggregator sites that pass misattributions along. The source is named under every line, so you can trace each quote back to the page it came from.
Read Albert Ellis's full profile and how they reason →3 verified quotes
On taking ownership instead of blaming circumstances:
The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.Albert Ellis, Albert Ellis, A Guide to Rational Living
On the demand that things must go your way:
There are three musts that hold us back: I must do well. You must treat me well. And the world must be easy.Albert Ellis, Albert Ellis, A Guide to Rational Living
On accepting yourself after a big mistake:
Unconditional self acceptance means you fully accept yourself whether or not you behave intelligently, correctly, or competently.Albert Ellis, Albert Ellis, A Guide to Rational Living
2 verified quotes
On realizing a spiral of negative thoughts is self made, and can be unmade:
You largely constructed your depression. It wasn't given to you. Therefore, you can deconstruct it.Albert Ellis, Albert Ellis, How to Stubbornly Refuse to Make Yourself Miserable About Anything, Yes Anything
On staying stuck in resentment over old wounds:
No matter how badly you were treated in the past, that has little to do with you today, for you mainly upset yourself about the past treatment now, through the beliefs you hold today.Albert Ellis, Albert Ellis, How to Stubbornly Refuse to Make Yourself Miserable About Anything, Yes Anything