Not Good Enough Quotes

“The only person that deserves a special place in your life is someone that never made you feel like you were an option in theirs.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“...and you drink a little too much and try a little too hard. And you go home to a cold bed and think, 'That was fine'. And your life is a long line of fine.”
― Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl

“I’m fifteen and I feel like girl my age are under a lot of pressure that boys are not under. I know I am smart, I know I am kind and funny, and I know that everyone around me keeps telling me that I can be whatever I want to be. I know all this but I just don’t feel that way. I always feel like if I don’t look a certain way, if boys don’t think I’m ‘sexy’ or ‘hot’ then I’ve failed and it doesn’t even matter if I am a doctor or writer, I’ll still feel like nothing. I hate that I feel like that because it makes me seem shallow, but I know all of my friends feel like that, and even my little sister. I feel like successful women are only considered a success if they are successful AND hot, and I worry constantly that I won’t be. What if my boobs don’t grow, what if I don’t have the perfect body, what if my hips don’t widen and give me a little waist, if none of that happens I feel like what’s the point of doing anything because I’ll just be the ‘fat ugly girl’ regardless of whether I do become a doctor or not.
I wish people would think about what pressure they are putting on everyone, not just teenage girls, but even older people – I watch my mum tear herself apart every day because her boobs are sagging and her skin is wrinkling, she feels like she is ugly even though she is amazing, but then I feel like I can’t judge because I do the same to myself. I wish the people who had real power and control the images and messages we get fed all day actually thought about what they did for once.
I know the girls on page 3 are probably starving themselves. I know the girls in adverts are airbrushed. I know beauty is on the inside. But I still feel like I’m not good enough.”
― Laura Bates, Everyday Sexism

“Never be too angry beyond repairs. Anger is nothing good to be part of your tributes. Are you angry with someone? The sun is sinking, just drop it now.”
― Israelmore Ayivor

“Perfectionism at its core isn't about high standards. It's about fear. Fear of failure. Fear of looking stupid, fear of making a mistake, fear of being judged, criticized, and ridiculed. It's the fear that one simple fact might be true:

You're just not good enough.”
― Marie Forleo, Everything is Figureoutable

“...a great man. But...not quite great enough.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, Paladin of Souls

“But I was not good enough. You should understand this about me—I am not a hero; not one to tap unknown reserves of courage; not one to rise to circumstance. I am the understudy who chokes on his lines when he is forced onto the stage. I am never, ever good enough.”
― Dexter Palmer, The Dream of Perpetual Motion

“I've always felt the need to prove myself against other people. I mean, I'm quite a weak person physically, and I think in school, I wouldn't say I was bullied but you do feel scared sometimes, or frightened, and the only thing I thought I had that was different from other people was the fact that I was actually quite intelligent. I like reading and passing exams or whatever. But even things like A-Levels - say somebody else got straight As - I would not feel as good as them, because I didn't know what percentages we had. I wanted to know that I had ninety-eight per cent and they had ninety-five per cent. It wasn't enough. I felt next to somebody with the same qualifications as me, I would not feel as good. You don't even know what it means. So you're constantly trying to get better and improve all the time.”
― Rob Jovanovic, A Version of Reason: In Search of Richey Edwards

“At any other time it's better. You can do the things you feel you should; you're an expert at going through the motions. Your handshakes with strangers are firm and your gaze never wavers; you think of steel and diamonds when you stare. In monotone you repeat the legendary words of long-dead lovers to those you claim to love; you take them into bed with you, and you mimic the rhythmic motions you've read of in manuals. When protocol demands it you dutifully drop to your knees and pray to a god who no longer exists. But in this hour you must admit to yourself that this is not enough, that you are not good enough. And when you knock your fist against your chest you hear a hollow ringing echo, and all your thoughts are accompanied by the ticks of clockwork spinning behind your eyes, and everything you eat and drink has the aftertaste of rust.”
― Dexter Palmer, The Dream of Perpetual Motion

“A world full of "certainties"
All the plans, all the vanities.
Where black covers the white
Suited in "confidence"- the constant fight.
A million roads I dream to take
One destination, knowing not I turn where.
A green veil covers for two years, some two decades.
But the "plan" awaits, new roads to make.
I pant, I struggle, I do my best
While they say,
"You are, dear, but so inadequate".”
― Sanhita Baruah

“...he didn't break his stare. Waiting.

Mate.

My- mate.

This beautiful, strong, selfless male... Who had sacrificed and wrecked himself for his family, his people, and didn't feel it was enough, that he wasn't enough for anyone... Azriel thought he didn't deserve someone like Mor. And I wondered if Rhys... if he somehow felt the same about me.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“I was never good enough for my mum and she never let me forget it" I whisper out just as we make it to the entrance of their building "Ryan doesn't speak the words, but sometimes he makes me feel that way.”
― Sarah Clay, Never Enough

“An acquired taste.” Elle sucked her bottom lip between her teeth to keep it from doing something stupid like quivering. “Nothing I do is ever going to be good enough, is it?”
― Alexandria Bellefleur, Written in the Stars

“You told me about the time with Cassian, but did you and Azriel ever...?'

A sharp laugh. 'No. Azriel? After that time with Cassian, I swore off any of Rhys's friends. Azriel's got no shortage of lovers, though, don't worry. He's better at keeping them secret than we are, but... he has them.'

'So if he were ever interested would you...?'


The issue, actually, wouldn't be me. It'd be him. I could peel off my clothes right in front of him and he wouldn't move an inch. He might have defied and proved those Illyrian pricks wrong at every turn, but it won't matter if Rhys makes him Prince of Velaris- he'll see himself as a bastard-born nobody, and not good enough for anyone. Especially me.'

'But... are you interested?'

'Why are you asking me such things?' Her voice became tight, sharp. More wary than I'd ever heard.

'I'm still trying to figure out how you all work together.'

A snort, that wariness gone. I tried not to look too relieved. 'We have five centuries of tangled history for you to sort through. Good luck.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“Yet no matter how great I shone, I was the glitter of a single star amid a galaxy of constellations.”
― M.A. Kuzniar, Upon a Frosted Star

“If we can convince our own minds we aren't good enough, we can't really be disappointed when we don't get what we truly want.”
― Anthony Nerada, Skater Boy

“What did you get, Mr Edwards?'
'Three As.'
'And what were you expecting?'
Mr Edwards looks right into the camera and, completely deadpan, says,
'Three As.'

For Edwards, the perfectionist, this still wasn't good enough. He wanted no, needed - to be the best and a simple grade wasn't enough to confirm this, even to himself.”
― Rob Jovanovic, A Version of Reason: In Search of Richey Edwards

“When I got my A-Levels, I got straight As, but I thought they weren't as good as other people's straight As,' said Edwards. 'They would look at me as if their As were better. We didn't get percentage marks, so three As weren't enough. I wanted to know I'd got, like, ninety-flve per cent. Three As is meaningless unless you're arrogant enough to think you're as good as them. Which I'm not. I need to see it written down to know.”
― Rob Jovanovic, A Version of Reason: In Search of Richey Edwards

“Narcissists lie! When they said you weren’t good enough, it was a lie. They knew you were a better person than them, so they stole your confidence and light to feel powerful.”
― Tracy Malone