It is human nature to want to be liked and accepted and unfortunately, the world is full of negative people and negative opinions. I know that I am not alone what I say that I used to live in fear of what people would think of my outfit, social media posts, relationships, and personality. Focusing on what other people think of you and what they want you to be prevents you from living up to the fullest potential.

There will always be someone who disapproves of your relationship because they don’t truly understand what you feel, someone who thinks you should’ve gone with the mauve long sleeve instead of the grey sweater your chose, and someone who will judge you for speaking your mind.

There will always be someone who thinks just a little differently than you do. You should learn to appreciate your own thoughts and decisions yourself and not let a mean or judgmental comment influence your life. I've decided that if I feel good about myself and where my life is headed, that's all that matters. It isn’t easy to stop letting the opinions of others control your life, but it’s so rewarding in the end.

Here are some phenomenal quotes that will help you take control of your own life and stop caring about what others think.

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

2. “Never dull your shine for somebody else.” -- Tyra Banks

3. “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

4. “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

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

6. “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

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

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

9. “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

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

11. “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

12. “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will." -- Suzy Kassem

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

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

15. “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

16. “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

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

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

19. “Don’t worry about who doesn’t like you, who has more, or who’s doing what.” -- Erma Bombeck

20. “The eyes of others our prisons; their thoughts our cages.” ---- Virginia Woolf

21. “A dame that knows the ropes isn’t likely to get tied up.” -- Mae West

22. “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

23. “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

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

25. “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

26. “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

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